Coffee with a kick
You get your coffee and digestive in one cocktail glass. Sipping it got me thinking about other recipes that centre around the coffee bean.
Coffee has it all, it picks you up, tastes great and smells amazing.
The first coffee beans can be traced back to the Horn of Africa and are said to have spread with the slave trade.
It was first used as a medicinal aid. In the 14th century coffee trees were transplanted to Arabia. Here the people named it Kaweh and started to enjoy coffee as a drink.
One by one coffee houses started to spring up. They became places of discussion, a hot bed for sharing ideas and gossip, playing chess, singing and dancing.
Coffee’s popularity spread across the globe over the following centuries.
A French man first brought coffee to the Americas. Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu was a marine official who sailed across the Atlantic from Paris with a coffee tree he guarded through pirate attacks, storms and drought.
The plant was kept on deck in a special glass box to keep it warm and protect it from the salty sea. His ship arrived into port on the Island of Martinique and the coffee tree was re-planted and grew, and multiplied.
The first time I saw a coffee bean on a tree was in Australia and I was surprised to see how red and juicy the cherries grew and to discover that there was a green bean inside. This green unroasted bean is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Two types of coffee variety dominate the world market, the more sought after arabica and the less desirable robusta.
The arabica plant takes three years to produce and five before you can harvest its cherries.
It is a sensitive tree, susceptible to disease and only produces about one to two pounds of coffee per tree per year. It is by far the better tasting of the two. The robusta has a harsher flavour but is cheaper.
I PLACED half a small packet of saffron into half litre of vodka and left it sit for a few weeks. It is now a beautiful warm yellow colour and tastes and smells amazing.
I am planning to use it over the Christmas to make saffron martinis. I think it will also work great in a sponge cake.
I am going to try it with a light cardamon mascarpone filling. I will pass on the recipe if it all works out.
225g softened butter
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self raising flour
1/3 tsp of baking powder
100g walnuts, finely chopped
1 shot good coffee
Cream your butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a lined 9 inch baking tin and bake for 30 minutes at 160 degrees.
When the cake has cooled slice it through the centre and spread it with a layer of the icing. Cover the top and decorate as you wish. I mostly use broken walnuts or coffee beans.
For the icing:
120g butter
300g of icing sugar
1 shot of coffee
A drop of milk if it is not smooth enough.
Whip the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add your coffee and continue to mix. Add the milk if necessary.
200g softened butter
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
20g self-raising flour
1 shot espresso
A small handful of chocolate pieces
Ganache : You should have enough left over to make yourself a bicerin
200ml cream
200g dark chocolate pieces
Beat the butter and sugar until they are very light and fluffy. Mix the eggs and coffee and add them slowly to the butter mixture.
Make sure to regularly scrape the sides of your bowl to ensure all the ingredients are combined. If the mixture begins to separate just add a little of the flour.
Add the rest of the flower and the chocolate pieces and mix slowly.
Scoop your mixture into cupcake case, about a soup spoon per case. Bake for 15 minutes at 180C.
Remove from the oven and allow them to cool. Once cooled pipe a swirl of ganache onto the top of each one. If you do not have a piping bag spread the ganache on with a knife.
This tasty after-dinner drink is replacing the Irish coffee in many restaurants. There are many versions, some including chocolate and liquors which are all nice but this simple recipe is my favourite.
1 fl oz cold espresso
1.5 fl oz Kahlua or Tia Maria
1.5 fl oz vodka Ice
Pour the vodka and Kahlua and espresso into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake really well.
The shaking should give the cocktail a creamy layer on top.
Strain into a chilled martini glass.
You can top it with some coffee beans to decorate if you wish. Yum, yum, yum.
1 dstsp of chocolate ganache (see cupcake recipe above)
2 shots of good espresso
A good dollop of whipped cream
Put a dessert spoon of chocolate ganache into the bottom of a small cup.
If you have a coffee maker place this cup under the machine and make an espresso directly on top of the ganache. If not, make a strong coffee in a french press or a mocha pot and pour this over.
Add a generous dollop of cream and serve straight away. It is delicious, rich and luxurious.
A STEAMING cup of hot chocolate to warm my hands on these cold days. Ó Conaills Chocolate in Cork do a great cup. As well as having a shop on French Church Street they also have a stall at Mahon Point Market.
Congratulations to all at Mahon Point Market they were voted Best Framers Market 2010 by Good Food Ireland.
It is well deserved.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
