Cooking With Gourmet Coffee

Chocolate Crackle Kona Shake

Ingredients;

1 cup of your favorite Kona Coffee brewed double-strength and chilled
3-4 tbsp. chocolate syrup
5 cups of vanilla ice cream
1 square dark chocolate

Instructions;

Blend coffee, chocolate syrup & ice cream in blender until blended. Melt chocolate in microwave or over double boiler. Slowly drizze melted chocolate into blender while blending on low speed or “pulse” blend.
Pour into chilled glasses. Top with whipped cream and a cherry. Serve!
(makes two large or four small servings)

Cherry Chocolate Kona Frappé

Ingredients;

1 cup fresh-brewed kona coffee
3 large scoops cherry custard ice cream
4 tbsp chocolate syrup
2 tbsp. sugar
1 cup ice cubes

Instructions;

Blend ice cream, sugar and chocolate syrup until just blended.
Add the coffee and ice cubes (at the same time) and blend on highest speed until ice is finely crushed and mixture is well blended.
Pour into chilled glasses and top with whipped cream and a long stemmed cherry. (makes four servings)

Kona Cappuccino

This favorite, named after the hooded robes worn by the Capuchin monks, is especially exquisite when made with Kona (instead of espresso)

Ingredients;

1/2 cup kona coffee, brewed double strength.
1/2 cup milk
cinnamon

Instructions;

In a small saucepan, heat the milk until hot, but not boiling.
Pour into blender immediately and blend at highest speed for
 about a minute – or until frothy. Gently pour the milk into the
coffee so that any unfrothed liquid pours into the coffee.
The foam will slide onto the top. Use a spoon to pile the foam
into a peak. Sprinkle with cinnamon. (makes one serving)

Peppermint Café au Lait

Ingredients;

1 1/2 cupsfresh-brewed Kona coffee. (brew a little stronger than usual)
1 hot milk or table cream
Peppermint sticks (or candy canes!)

Instructions;

Combine milk and coffee. Pour into cups and serve with peppermint
“stir” sticks. Stir in sugar to taste, if desired.
Quick, simple – yet decadent! (makes 3-4 servings)

This coffee drink is named after the US state of Georgia, a famous place for its peaches.

Ingredients :
 
1 can (450-500g)Sliced peaches in syrup
750 ml Strong coffee
120 ml Whipping cream
25 ml  Brown sugar
1.5 ml  Ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon  Ground ginger
 Zest of orange rind, to decorate
 
Method :
Drain the peaches, retaining the syrup.
In a blender, process half of the coffee and peaches for 1 minute.
In a clean bowl, whip the cream, taking care not to over whip.
Place 250 ml cup cold water, the sugar, cinnamon, ginger and peach syrup in a saucepan.
Bring to the boil over a moderate heat.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute.
 
Add the blended peaches and the remaining coffee to the pan and stir well.
 
Serve topped with whipped cream and decorated with orange zest.
Serves 6

2 cups fat free skim or 1% lowfat milk
3/4 cup brewed espresso or double-strength
coffee, preferably dark-roast
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 ounces dark or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

The night before, fill an ice-cube tray with milk. Freeze solid. Chill brewed coffee in refrigerator.
Finish in two batches, so the blender won’t overflow: place half the milk cubes in the container.
Add half the coffee and one teaspoon of the sugar and blend until smooth. Add one ounce chopped chocolate and blend 10 to 30 seconds, until chocolate is well blended.
Pour into tall, frosted glasses and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Makes 2 servings.

Coffee Pairing: Dark-Roasted Blends

By:   Mackenzie Schieck

What’s a Blend?

These are beans from multiple regions, blended and roasted together to create a uniquely flavored coffee.

Coffee Descriptors

Body: refers to the weight of coffee on your tongue. Some coffees are very light and crisp, while others tend to linger. Body ranges from light to full.
Note: while body usually correlates to strength, it is possible for a coffee to be strong in flavor, yet lighter in body.

Acidity: this sounds like a bad thing, right? But, it actually has nothing to do with being sour or bitter; acidity simply refers to the brightness or tang of a coffee and ranges from high to low.

Get to know characteristics of these dark-roasted blends so you can begin pairing them with complimentary foods to bring the best out in each.

That’s Strong Coffee

In addition to the main regional coffees mentioned in Coffee Pairing (see sidebar), there are a few notable dark-roasted blends you’re likely to find at most coffee shops. Look out, though–these are not your grandmother’s instant flavor crystals:

Espresso Roast: these are usually dark, robust blends with a caramel-like sweetness. Espresso roasts are specifically created to stand up to the intense process of brewing espresso, but can be brewed using other methods with great results.

• Body: full

• Acidity: low

• Flavor Pairings: caramel, chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom

Try these recipes for pairing with Espresso Blends:

Apple Strudel Muffins Chocolate and Almond Biscotti Monkey Bread I Raisin Buttermilk Coffee Cake Too Much Chocolate Cake Walnut Brownie Pie

Italian Roast: the name refers to the way in which the coffee is roasted: very dark, as is popular in Italy. Italian roasts are a blend of beans from different regions, but often have those from Latin America in common.

• Body: Full

• Acidity: Low

• Flavor Pairings: chocolate, caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, nuts

Try these recipes for pairing with Italian Roasts:

Creamiest Chocolate Mousse Chewy Brownie Cookies Brown Sugar Banana Nut Bread I Caramel Apple Coffee Cake Applesauce Doughnuts Gingerbread Cookies I

French Roast: these blends are roasted even darker than the Italian Roast. While French Roasts are not actually full-bodied, their flavor is strong and intense, often with a smoky quality–they have a relatively small, but loyal following.

• Body: light to medium

• Acidity: low

• Flavor Pairings: toasted almonds, toasted hazelnuts, caramelized sugar

Try these recipes for pairing with French Roasts:

Biscotti Toscani Golden Coconut Almond Muffins Heavenly Chipped Chocolate and Hazelnut Cheesecake Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Caramel-Glazed Flan

From Lisa & Tony Sierra,

Spanish Coffee for Breakfast

If you’d like to prepare café con leche like a Spaniard, here are suggestions for a good cup of café:

Use Good Coffee – Use freshly ground coffee beans of a strong variety, such as French Roast. This type of roast makes dark, strong coffee. Skip the coffee that comes in a can. The grind is probably too large and the quality of the coffee beans themselves is probably not the best.

Use Water that Tastes Good – If you like the taste of the water that comes out of your faucet in the kitchen, use it! But, if you do not drink your tap water because it has too many minerals in it, or it tastes of chlorine, then don’t make coffee with it! If it does not taste good enough to drink straight out from the tap, then coffee made with it won’t taste good either. In that case, use filtered or bottled water. If you have a water softener in your house, again we recommend that you use filtered or bottled water, since softened water may have sodium in it that can change the flavor of the coffee.

Make the Coffee in an Espresso Maker – This does not mean you have to purchase a fancy machine! Most Spaniards have a coffee maker similar to the one in the photo. Depending on the size you buy, a simple stove-top espresso maker costs between $10-$20.
To make the coffee, simply fill the bottom portion with cold water. Fill the metal filter area in the middle with finely ground coffee and screw the pieces together. Place the coffee pot on the stove and heat until the water boils up into the top chamber and it fills up. When you hear air spurting and the top of the pot is full of coffee, it’s ready and you can turn the burner off.

Heat the Milk – Although you can heat the milk on the stove top in a pan, it’s hard to clean that up! We have found it is easier to pour the approximate amount of milk we will use into a large cup and put it in the microwave until it is almost boiling. In Spain you’ll probably find most restaurants serving whole milk, but 2% milk makes a great café con leche in our opinion.

Mix Together – Once you’ve heated the milk and the coffee is ready, it is time to mix them. Everyone’s tastes are different and microwaves vary in how much power (watts) they use, so we can’t tell you exactly how much milk to use or how long to leave it in the microwave. We can tell you that the typical proportion is about 1/3 cup of coffee to 2/3 cup hot milk. We recommend putting 1/2 cup of hot milk in a mug first, then slowly adding the hot coffee. If it needs more of one or the other, you can add it until you get it just right!