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It's Not Coffee Break Without Coffee Cake

 

There’s nothing like a coffee cake to top off coffee week, especially right before the weekend. Our featured biscotti this week is great for a quick snack, but lingering over a moist piece of sour cream banana coffee cake with a nice cup of joe and the Sunday Times is taking perfect to a new level. 

 

The Real Simple recipe uses 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter, 3 eggs, 2 ripe bananas, 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon baking soda. All ingredients you probably have on hand, so no need to head out in your pajamas.

Get your Bundt pan and electric mixer out for this one.

If sour cream and bananas aren’t your style, Paula Deen has a great Ultimate Coffee Cake made with dinner rolls, butterscotch pudding mix, pecans, butter and brown sugar -- it’s a dangerously delicious weekend treat, a bit like a southern Monkey Bread. This recipe needs to rise overnight, so plan accordingly.

 

If you’re just looking for a regular cinnamon flavored coffee cake, check out this traditional recipe, which has a low fat alternative. 

A Little Something To Go With That Coffee: Hazelnut Biscotti

No matter how good that cup of coffee is, you need an accompanying treat. Otherwise, it’s just not a coffee break. So how about that old favorite, the biscotti?

Today’s biscotti is not like the biscotti of years ago, the kind my mother would buy in a package at the grocery store. The cookies were one flavor, and unless you dunked them, they were pretty, well, blah. Now you can get any flavor imaginable, any way you like them -- almost too many choices.   

I prefer some flavor, but I also don’t want my coffee overpowered. Martha Stewart has a nice recipe for a hazelnut biscotti that’s relatively simple to make. Along with a good electric mixer, you need 1 1/2 cups shelled hazelnuts, 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds, 1 tablespoon grated orange zest, a taste of salt, 3 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.  Cook hazelnuts at 350 degrees until the skins blister (about 15 minutes). When cool, remove skins. In the mixer bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, anise seeds, zest, and salt. Beat together eggs, yolks, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients, and mix until a sticky dough is formed. Work in nuts.   Click here to see what’s next and find out how to get your biscotti looking as pretty as the ones in the coffee shop. And brew a good cup while you’re waiting for them to come out of the oven. 

Coffee Break

I’m a hopeless coffee addict. I can’t even get out of bed in the morning until I hear my grinder kick on, filling my house with the tantalizing smell of Starbucks Italian Roast or Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend. So when my coffee grinder started to sputter and cough as it performed its daily duties, I got very nervous. I had to live on pre-ground coffee until I was able to research and purchase my next grind and brew.

If you love coffee, you have to be able to grind your own beans. I’m a firm believer. The coffee just tastes better, the smell is heaven, and you feel like you’re instantly in a coffee house. Plus, I think you can get better flavors if you buy beans. 

 

So, in honor of my new coffee pot, this week we’ll be featuring the best iced coffee drinks as we welcome the warm weather.

 

Bobby Flay has a great recipe for chocolate caramel hazelnut iced coffee. You’ll need 2 cups of hot espresso, 1/4 cup of simple syrup (sugar and water heated together), 1/4 cup melted bittersweet chocolate, 2 tablespoons caramel syrup, 1/4 cup Frangelico liqueur, ice, and whipped cream. 

Stir together the espresso, simple syrup, melted chocolate, caramel syrup and hazelnut liqueur in a heat-proof pitcher. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Serve over ice, with whipped cream on top. Awesome for a warm summer evening, sitting with friends on the porch steps.

And it reminds me -- I need an espresso machine. 

Fashionably new Strawberries.

Technically, a fashion designer didn’t come up with this recipe (that I know of), but they sound like something straight off a runway: Green Tea Latte Strawberries.

I had the inkling to look up some variations on the chocolate covered strawberries because a friend made some traditional milk chocolate ones today and shared them with me. They were delicious, but I wanted to see if there was anything fancy, new or different out there, and these babies seem to be exactly what I’m looking for. I plan on making them this weekend, so if anyone makes them first, be sure to let me know how they turn out!

The recipe calls for white chocolate, strawberries and a teaspoon of matcha powder (green tea powder - Tazo makes a good one). Shortening is optional, but I don’t think I’ll use it. Smooth chocolate matters less to me than good chocolate.

Simply melt the chocolate in your double boiler, blend in the powder, dip the strawberries, and refrigerate after cooling. Quick, easy and I bet they are absolutely delicious. Of course, if you don’t care for white chocolate or green tea, simply substitute for your favorite milk or dark chocolate. Either way, chocolate covered strawberries are a delicacy I could deal with any day.

Make Mine a Double Please.

 I am a caffeine junkie and a strong cappuccino is at the top of my daily gotta do list.  

Take-out coffee prices have gotten prohibitive for me (plus do you really ENJOY it in traffic) and so  over the Thanksgiving weekend while most other folks were pulling out their holiday decorations, I purchased a cappuccino maker and dusted off my eclectic collection cups and saucers. It should pay for itself in a few months.

For those of you who have not been turned out, Cappuccino is an Italian coffee drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed-milk foam. Besides a shot of espresso, the most important element in preparing a cappuccino is the texture and temperature of the milk. When the milk is steamed for a cappuccino, it gives the milk a velvety texture and sweetness. The traditional cappuccino consists of an espresso, on which the the hot foamed milk is poured. There are quite a few variations.

Barristas who make a living serving coffee have learned to make beautiful designs in the steamed milk. I haven't gotten there yet but am loving the taste over the paper while still in my jammies!