Recipe: Coffee Fluff

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSenior Vice President of Content at AT Media
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and former Editor-in-Chief of The Kitchn. She is the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning, The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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updated May 3, 2019
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Credit: Faith Durand

Makes4 cups

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This luscious creamy dessert is not for the faint of heart. That’s not because it’s difficult — a child could put it together. It’s not exotic either — it’s the grown-up version of a nursery dessert of whipped pudding and Jell-O. No, there’s just one reason that Coffee Fluff takes some gumption.

The bulk of this dessert? Two cups of whipped cream. Whipped cream folded together with a dark coffee jelly. It’s utterly splendid, but those two cups of cream take some getting used to. You can console yourself with the fact that this is very low in sugar.

In fact, if you need to avoid sugar entirely and are given to sugar substitutes, this would be a perfect candidate. Just switch out the sugar for your sugar sub of choice.

Regardless, this dessert is a heavenly indulgence – all creamyness, with tiny nuggets of bittersweet coffee jelly that roll over the tongue, and only a wisp of sweetness. It’s far more grown-up than those Jell-O pudding cups we all loved when we were six, but you may find yourself grinning in just the same way when you eat it.

Those of you familiar with the books of Laurie Colwin will of course recognize this from her essay on coffee. She offers it there with general instructions and not very specific measurements. We tested it out, added some more precise measurements and tinkered with it slightly. But all the credit for the recipe still goes to the inestimable Colwin.

Don’t forget the shaved chocolate.

Comments

Coffee Fluff

Makes 4 cups

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

For the gelatin:

  • 4 tablespoons

    ground coffee

  • 2 cups

    water

  • 1/4 cup

    brown sugar

  • 2 envelopes

    gelatin

  • Pinch of salt

For the cream:

  • 2 cups

    heavy whipping cream

  • 3 tablespoons

    rum or cognac (optional)

  • 1 teaspoon

    pure vanilla extract

  • Pinch of salt

  • Chocolate shavings and curls, for serving

Instructions

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  1. Brew the coffee with the water using a French press. (You can substitute espresso or Chemex-brewed coffee if you prefer.) Put in a small bowl or a glass measuring cup. Stir in the sugar and pinch of salt and sprinkle the gelatin over top. Let it soften for a few minutes then whisk vigorously until gelatin is thoroughly dissolved. Refrigerate until it is set — about two hours.

  2. Add the liquor, vanilla and a pinch of the salt to the cream. Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Remove the cream to a separate bowl, and whip the coffee gelatin, quite firm by this point, until it is frothy and creamy. It will look like a thick dark mocha espresso drink, or creamy cafe au lait, but still with tiny flecks of brown coffee jelly. Stir this frothed coffee jelly and the cream together. Spoon into a mold or individual cups and refrigerate again until set - at least an hour. It will still be quite soft and creamy, like a refrigerator version of ice cream.

  3. Serve, as Colwin suggests, with a few chocolate shavings on top.

Recipe Notes

Originally published January 29, 2008.

(Images: Faith Durand)

Filed in:
Beverages
Coffee
Dessert