Coconut Cream Pie Coffee Cooler

I'm a coffee junkie, that just goes without saying. I don't drink it to wake up or even to stay awake, I drink it because it tastes good to me, simply put. I drink the majority of my coffee hot, but I love a good iced coffee with it's creamy sweetness. Yum! And frappaccinos? Love them! Making a run to Starbucks isn't always convenient though, not to mention it can get expensive! So with this super-duper summer heat I often find myself wanting to whip up my own iced coffee and blended coffee coolers to satisfy my cravings. I've found that in order to build a nice creamy base that doesn't taste watered down using vanilla or other flavors of yogurt works best. And it's important that when brewing your coffee you brew it extra strong when making coffee coolers and iced coffee. Coconut Cream Pie Coffee Cooler 8 oz coconut cream pie flavored yogurt 3/4 cup crushed ice 2 tablespoons sugar, more or less to taste 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled 1/4 cup heavy cream or (fat free) half-and-half 2 graham crackers (usually half of a cookie sheet), crumbled Put all ingredients except graham cracker crumbs into blender. Blend until combined and smooth. Break graham crackers into small pieces and add to blender. Pulse to mix. Serve in a chilled glass with a straw. Yields 1 large serving. Stay tuned for my next coffee creation perfect for helping you beat the heat.

Two Years Strong and Going

I'm a few days late celebrating the two year anniversary of the launch of my beloved blog. Okay, six days to be exact, but much better late than never right? I'm kind of sad that life is often so busy and rushed that milestone dates often slip my mind until after the fact. But I suppose a blog anniversary isn't quite the milestone that a wedding anniversary or a loved one's birthday is, so this isn't quite a tragedy. But, I digress. What better way to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or other special event than with cupcakes? Devils food cupcakes with chocolate coffee buttercream..I made these cupcakes for the first time last year as part of an article for A Nice Cuppa. The recipe comes from the book 500 Cupcakes. The book lives up to the name, but to my disappointment, most of those 500 cupcake recipes are slight, sometimes very slight, variations on a basic recipes. After hitting the two year mark with my blog it makes me wonder what lies ahead. I hope that my blog will be here for many years to come, that my skills in the kitchen will continue to grow and grow. That I will be able to build party planning and catering business into everything I dream of. Only time will tell, but you my dear readers, I thank for the last two years with me, even during the slow times when it seemed that I may have disappeared. Devils Food Cupcakes 2 c self rising flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 cup brown sugar 2 sticks butter, softened 2 eggs seperated 3 1/2 oz semisweet choc, melted 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup milk Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 medium size muffin cups with paper liners. Sift flour & baking powder together in medium bowl, set aside. In bowl of mixer, cream together sugar and butter. Add egg yolks, beat well. Add melted chocolate & vanilla, mixing well. Add flour & milk alternately, beating well with each addition. Beat egg whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form and gently fold into batter. Spoon batter into cups filling 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pans from oven & cool 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan & cool on rack. Chocolate Coffee Buttercream 1 stick butter, softened 1 tbsp milk 3 1/2 oz semisweet choc, melted 1 tsp vanilla 2 c confectioners sugar, sifted 1 tsp hot coffee + 2 tbsp instant coffee granules Beat in milk until smooth. Stir in melted chocolate & vanilla. Beat in confectioners sugar until thick and creamy. Stir in cooled coffee mixture. Spread over cupcakes. Store unfrosted in airtight container for up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months. The original frosting recipe called for 3/4 c confectioners sugar, but the consistancy seemed a bit thin, and honestly I like a generous amount of frosting on my cupcakes. The cupcakes themselves were pretty good, but not as moist and dense and I like. And considering that I had to seperate the eggs, beat the egg whites then fold them in, I think next time I would opt to use another cupcake recipe.

Chewy Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies

So I don't know what it's like where you my dear readers are, but here it's HOT, HOT, HOT. We broke record temps yesterday and it's looking like there's a good chance we will do so again today. It's even mid-afternoon yet and we've already reached 101 degrees. Guess what? With our southern humidity it feels like it's 104, but hey what's another 3 degrees when it's already over 100 right? It's more than I want to deal with! With all this heat and the air conditioners working overtime the last thing I want to do is heat up the oven or turn the stove on, so I thought now would be the perfect time to reach into the archives and share some recipes from the past. Before my illness when I was still doing some freelance writing I tried out a recipe for chewy chocolate, chocolate chip espresso cookies from Short and Sweet: Quick Desserts with Eight Ingredients or Less by Gale Gand.. The cookies great. They were a delicious cross between a cookie and a fudgy brownie. And I loved the fact that the recipe brought together the flavors of chocolate and espresso - two of my faves! I made a few minor changes to the recipe using instant espresso instead of regular finely ground espresso as called for. Gand offers the option of scooping the batter out onto the cookie sheets and freezing before baking, which I did. When opting not to freeze the cookies pre-bake the baking time is decreased to 5 minutes per the original recipe. Unless I wanted to eat my cookies with a spoon the bake time definitely had to be increased. My oven is pretty right on so if you skip the freezing step keep an eye on these yummy little cookies as they are baking. If I closed my eyes while I was eating these, I'd swear I was eating the world's perfect fudgy brownie. Shaped like a cookie of course. If you like chocolate these are a must try. Be warned though, they are not for the faint of heart, so if you can't handle a good serious dose of chocolate use caution. Chewy Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies 1 3/4 cups plus 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 4 Tbsp unsalted butter 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 large eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp instant espresso powder (original recipe calls for 1 tsp finely ground espresso) 1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Melt the 1 3/4 cups chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave for 1 minute, stir and continue microwaving in 1 minute intervals until melted and smooth. 2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the instant espresso powder and mix, then mix in the chocolate mixture. Mix in the dry ingredients and the remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Let the dough firm up in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes. 3. Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoon onto a sheet pan and freeze. If you don’t have room in your freezer for a sheet pan, simply scoop the cookies into a smaller pan, then freeze, making sure the cookies do not clump together. 4. When ready to serve, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Without thawing the cookies, arrange them 2 inches apart on a sheet pan that has been generously buttered or is lined with parchment paper. Bake for 7 minutes. Serve warm. *Note: You can also bake the cookies without freezing them, to do this reduce the baking time to 5 minutes.(I found the cookies needed a longer bake time than 5 minutes.)