Cooking with Coffee...Coffee in Sweets
Carrie Masek
Last time on Coffee by the Blog, we talked about coffee in savory dishes. This time, we're going to the sweet side. Some desserts, like tiramisu, are known for having coffee as an important ingredient, but there are many sweet recipes that use coffee to add intensity to the flavor and complexity. to the sweetness. We've already shared our favorite cookie recipe with you. Here's the one we like for chocolate pudding. While nothing beats the convenience of pudding from a box, this grown up version uses coffee to take the childhood treat to the next level.
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Chocolate Pudding*
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 cups milk
2 Tb sugar
½ tsp salt
1 square semisweet chocolate
2 squares bitter chocolate
2 Tb brewed coffee
1 rounded TB cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar
whipped cream
Directions:
1. Pour the milk into a saucepan, add sugar, salt and chocolate. Stir over low heat until the chocolate has melted and blended in.
2. Mix coffee and cornstarch together until smooth and add to the hot milk mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and thick. Remove from heat.
3. Wring out a towel in hot water and cover the pan with it. This will prevent a skin from forming on top of the pudding. Let pudding cool, then stir in vanilla.
4. Turn into a serving dish (or scoop servings into individual bowls) and serve with a bowl of softly whipped cream and a dish of powdered sugar.
5. Each person tops his helping of pudding with cream and sprinkles it all with sugar.
You may not use much sugar, but be sure to whip enough cream. The combination of slightly sweet whipped cream with the intensely chocolate pudding is amazing!
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Surfing the web, we found many sweet recipes that took advantage of coffee's intensity and complexity. Here are links to some that caught our eye, along with suggestions for the coffee to enjoy with them:
Breakfast (Cloudburst Blend or Springtime Twist)
Cappucino Pancakes with Mocha Syrup
Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins
Breakfast Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lunch/afternoon snack (Morning Mist or Harvest Roast)
Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes
Turkish Coffee Brownies
Coffee Ice Cream
Dinner/Late night treat (San Francisco Foglifter or Sea Salt Breeze)
Tiramisu
Dark Roast Coffee Gelee
Chocolate Cake
Coffee and Roasted Almond Chocolate Bark
Espresso Truffles
Next time on Coffee by the Blog, more new coffees...including an amazing single estate microlot from El Salvador.
~ Carrie, Paul and all of us at Coffee by the Roast
*recipe from More Taste Than Money by Harriet Hands