Eiskaffee (Ice Cream Coffee)

Eiskaffee, pronounced as if, "ice-café," is a common beverage in German and Austrian coffeehouses and in many restaurants (I'm not sure about in Switzerland or in other German ethnic-linguistic areas in Europe). It is quite simple to make.

For 2 servings:

2 cups black coffee, chilled
sugar to taste (optional)*
2 large scoops or 4 smaller scoops, vanilla ice cream
whipped cream, ahh, no limit!
chocolate shavings
rolled cream filled wafer cookies

This is not usually served in coffee cups, but rather in tall glasses, or you can use glass mugs (with handle). Make the coffee by whatever method you choose, but boiled coffee gives better flavor, in my opinion, and I don't mean just for this recipe, although I also use a coffee maker, sort of alternating between the two methods. If you boil the coffee, you will need to use a fine strainer to catch the grounds. Chill the coffee in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours, but better if even longer. Put the ice cream into the glasses/mugs, pour the cold coffee over the ice cream. Pile on the whipped cream ... ah ... I mean, judiciously add whipped cream to the top .. oh the hell with that! PILE ON THE WHIPPED CREAM! Add some chocolate shavings. It is very traditional to serve rolled cream filled wafer cookies (or just wafer cookies) with Eiskaffee.

* If you prefer sweeter coffee, add the sugar after brewing the coffee and stir to dissolve, before chilling the coffee. Remember, however, the ice cream and whipped cream will give sweetness to the coffee, but a little sugar is not a bad idea for those who are accustomed to such.

Add the ice cream to the glass ...

Add the cold coffee ...

Add the whipped cream and chocolate shavings ....

Don't forget the rolled cream filled wafer ....

WORD HISTORY:

Swart-This now archaic word goes back to Indo European "swordo," which had the notion "dark:" thus also, "dirty." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "swartaz," which meant "dark, black." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sweart," which meant "black, lacking light," and also the figurative, "wicked, evil." It then became "swart," but another English word, "blæc," overtook the color meaning of "swart" in the 1300s, and modern English knows this form as "black." While now confined to some poetry and literature uses, "swart" has limited use, but the derived adjective, "swarthy," is still alive and kicking, more typically used in reference to people of "dark" complexion. Forms of "swart" are THE words for "black" in all of the other Germanic languages: German has "schwarz," Low German has "swatt" and "schwoat," depending upon dialect, with the "r" sound obviously having died out, West Frisian has "swart," Dutch has "zwart," Luxemburgisch has "schwaarz," Icelandic has "svartur," Norwegian and Swedish both have "svart," Danish has "sort," with the "v" sound having died out, and Yiddish has "shvarts."