Complicated Coffee

Sometimes it's just not enough to make coffee and add some creamer, milk and/or sugar.  Sometimes you just need something fancy. Something special.  Something...Complicated.

And sometimes you want the complicated coffee without too much work.  And let's face it-- going to Starbucks every day would make us go broke.  Well, it would make me go broke.  [...more broke.] And I really don't know that I should be driving without caffeine in my system.

Typically, my homemade complicated coffee involves too many damn dishes for one cup of coffee, but I found a shortcut today.  Super easy, super tasty:  peppermint white chocolate mocha.


Alright, alright, it's not really a mocha because I don't have an espresso machine, but it is a delicious alternative to regular coffee.

Put some white chocolate chips in a coffee cup.

Mmmm... white chocolate chips.

Pour in some freshly brewed, very hot coffee.  Stir until white chocolate chips are melted.

Splash in some milk and/or add a bit of sugar [if desired].
Add ONE DROP of peppermint extract.  Trust me, one is enough.  And it must be peppermint-- not mint extract.
Stir it all up, and enjoy.  Complicated coffee, simply made.  :]

Yum.

Oh, coffee.  How I love taking pictures of you.

Also!  Had to restart the injury clock.  Twice.  Oil burn while making orange chicken and burned my finger on a hot plate.  Ouch.

Mmmm... Mocha Muffins

I got a bit of a late start on the muffins today.  I volunteered to help in my son's classroom today.  It is times like those that validate my decision not to become a teacher.

You remember when you were a kid and you wanted all those careers and goals that, looking back, were terrible choices?  Yeah, teacher was one of them.  I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, a high school English teacher, a high school band teacher... all of which are horrible ideas for my personality.  I can see it now, me giving 3rd graders Fs and detentions for getting "there" "their" and "they're" mixed up.

  
Another bad idea I had?  Having six children.  Can you even imagine?  SIX.  I can't.  We have three between the two of us, and that is more than enough.

Anyway... MUFFINS.  Last summer break, I went on a muffin kick. Muffins are delicious, go great with coffee, and are super easy to grab and go on your way out the door.  I had never made muffins from scratch, and I decided I wanted to find the perfect muffin.  I must have made a dozen batches of muffins in the space of two weeks.

And I think I came pretty damn close to perfection:

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. 

I used this recipe as a base.  Again, thanks Allrecipes.com and Shelley Ross.    

I like to make these muffins somewhat healthier; it makes me feel less guilty about eating so many.  I substitute the margarine with half butter, half applesauce.  I also use whole wheat flour for half of the all-purpose flour.  [I have also used whole wheat pastry flour for all the flour, with much success.]

I add extra coffee and vanilla, less bananas, and use mini chocolate chips.  After making one million batches of these muffins, this is the version that I like.  And I swear my family lets the bananas go bad so I will make more muffins.

Here is the tried and true altered recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas
• 4 tablespoons strong coffee
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips

     

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mash bananas using stand mixer.
3. Add butter, applesauce, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, coffee, and vanilla in mixer.  Mix until combined.
4. Add salt, baking powder, and baking soda, and blend until combined.
5. Turn the mixer to lowest setting, mix in flour until it disappears.  
6. Add chocolate chips and mix in with wooden spoon. Spoon mixture into greased muffin pans.
7. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Step 8?  Eat delicious muffin with a cup of coffee.  Mmm...

The recipe makes about 24 regular sized muffins.  Don't forget to share.

In Search of the Perfect Scone

Now that I've had three cups of coffee, maybe I'm awake enough to start my day.

So, this first post will follow my quest for the holy grail perfect vanilla scone.  I was going to make vanilla bean scones, but I just found out that a jar of vanilla beans is $13.99.  And it only comes with two beans.  That's seven dollars per bean.  Being that I am a baller on a budget, I opted for just regular vanilla scones.  And then I spent $14 on these:

Back to the scones.  I used this recipe as a base.  Thank you "Grandma Johnson" and Allrecipes.com.

I didn't exactly have all the kitchen tools I needed for the recipe [like a rolling pin or a ...pastry blender...?] so I needed to think of some ghetto creative alternatives for my scones.   

First creative maneuver was using my stand mixer to fluff the flour.  I don't own a flour sifter.  I let the flour mix by itself before adding the other dry ingredients.  Second, I don't own a pastry blender to "cut" the butter into the dough.  Instead, I stuck the butter in the freezer overnight and grated it using a cheese grater.  That gave me the smallish chunks of butter I was looking for without buying fancy kitchen tools.  

The third creative method was finding a replacement for a rolling pin.  I found this double shot glass worked just as well.

Here's the pan before it goes in the oven.  I could only put six on the tray, because I have the world's smallest oven.  No seriously. 24 inches.  

I put some glaze on them when they were fully cooled. Mmmm....glaze.  

The scones turned out softer than I am used to-- which may or may not have resulted from me over-handling or over-mixing the dough. But I found I liked the softer scone. 

The scones turned out really tasty.  [the dough tasted good, too]  

So tasty, I may just have to make another cup of coffee to go with it.

Here's the altered recipe:

Ingredients

SCONES:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup  frozen butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

GLAZE:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon milk

Directions

1. In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. 
4. Grate frozen butter.  Stir into flour mixture. 
5. Stir the sour cream mixture, vanilla, and lightly beaten egg into the flour mixture until just moistened. 
6. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.
8. Cool on wire rack.
9. Mix powdered sugar and vanilla in a small cup.  Add milk a few drops at a time until desired consistency.
10. Glaze scones.  Wait for glaze to harden.