Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I made this new recipe today that was just awesome! It flaked exactly right and was ever smooth as well. It took the general Poppy Seed Mix from Martha White and added a little twang to it. If this all sounds great you might want to try.. Coffee Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. They are fantastic. It really is a fairly simple recipe.

Here's what you need:

• 1 package of Martha White Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Mix
• 1/4 cup of dry milk powder
• 1/4 cup of warm water
• 16 tablespoons of coffee
• shortening for greasing

Here's what you do:

1. Pour the muffin mix into a medium size bowl
2. Mix the milk powder and warm water together
3. Pour the milk mixture into the dry and mix together until fully moistened.
4. Grease 8 medium muffin cups.
5. Preheat the oven to 425degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Fill the muffin cups about 1/2 full.
7. Pour in 2 tablespoons of brewed coffee into each cup and stir around with the opposite end of the spoon.
8. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for about 14 to 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Serve while they are warm.

These Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with a twist are absolutely wonderful... trust me!
Enjoy your coffee recipe for all it's worth!

Coffee Memory Box

Here is a cute and innovative idea for your next decorations in the home. How about creating a memory box from your favorite coffee shop.

Here is what you'll need:

• a glass memory box that you can put up on your wall
• 1 washed throwaway coffee cup from your favorite coffee shop
• pictures that you have taken
• coffee beans
• glue gun
• scrapbooking paper
• any other memorabilia such as postcards or wrapers
• Tape
• Scissors

Here is what you do:

1. Tape the scrapbooking paper to the back of the memory box cardboard
2. Glue your pictures down on the scrapbooking paper leaving enough room for the cup
3. Cut the throwaway coffee cup in half using the scissors and glue it down
4. Fill in the memory box by gluing down the other memorabilia and coffee beans
5. Allow to dry
6. Close up the memory box and put up on wall
7. Enjoy your beautifully decorated memory box for years to come down the road.

Enjoy your coffee for all it's worth!

Coffee Facts

I have posted some of your favorite coffee recipes, an ethiopian legend about coffee, and many more things about coffee. There are so many fascinating facts when it comes to coffee. Is there anything else that you would like to know when it comes to coffee? Are there any questions that you have when it comes to your coffee knowledge or this blog? Please let me know by writing me at kpegbam@yahoo.com. I would be glad to answer these questions for you. If you wish to remain anonymous just tell me and I would grant your wish. When it comes to this blog, feedback is much appreciated so I can keep on providing you the most desired coffee knowledge.

Thanks in advance for your advice or questions...

Until then, enjoy your coffee for all it's worth!

Cafe au Lait Mix

Are you looking for a present for somebody who absolutely loves coffee? Is there a special get together that you are going to and you want to give something to your party host? Did you forget to give your mom something for Mother's Day? Well, if any of this is true, How about you give them an easy special gift that is made by you.
It is called "Cafe au Lait Mix" it looks and tastes just as wonderful as it sounds. This recipe can also be found in some of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbooks. You could easily decorate the outside of this jar any way you like, but I recommend pretty bows and silk flowers for the season.

Here is what you need:

• 1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer
• 1/2 cup buttermints, lightly crushed
• 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 2/3 cup instant coffee crystals
• round hard candies

Here is what you do:

1. In a medium bowl stir the nondairy creamer, buttermints, powdered sugar, and the milk powder together.
2. Layer this mixture with the coffee crystals so that it represents an every-other layer effect with the coffee. The pattern should look almost like a zebra. You may have enough for 2-2cup jars.
3. Insert the round hard candies at the top of the jar with your own special touch. The jars should be filled snugly.
4. Decorate the jar. Hot glue the preparation directions onto it that read "For each serving, place 1/4 cup of the mix in a mug and add 2/3 cup boiling water. Stir until the mix dissolves. Serve with the candy, if desired."

Grape and Coffee Jam

If you have been standing at in front of the grapes at the Grocery store and dreaming about their juiciness and the wonderful taste of them. Then, you stop to think about your coffee that you had just before going to the store and wonder how this thinking would go together. Stop! I found the recipe just for you. It takes your favorite kind of seedless grapes and mixes it with your favorite brewed coffee in order to make a Jam out of it. This recipe is called "Grape and Coffee Jam." It is certain to brighten up your taste buds.

Here's what you need:

• 3 1/2 pounds of your favorite kind of seedless grapes
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 4 cups sugar

Here's what you do:

1. Wash and remove the grapes from the stems. Measure out 8 cups of them. Remove the skins from half of these grapes (keep the skins for further cooking). 
2. Combine all of the grapes together and place them in a large kettle.
3. Cover them and cook them over the stove until they are very soft. It should take around 10 minutes.
4. Press the grapes through a strainer and stir in the uncooked grape skins, water and brewed coffee.
5. Cover once again and cook for 10 minutes more.
6. Stir the mixture. Pour in the sugar. Stir again and recover.
7. Bring the mixture to a full boil while stirring it often. Boil, uncovered for about 12 minutes or until the mixture gets really sticky and drips off a metal spoon almost as if it was silly putty.
8. Remove the pan from the heat and remove the thickest parts of the foam.
9. Pour into canning jars, leaving a little bit of space for the headspace.
10. Wipe the rim of the jar clean and adjust the lid onto the jar (check out "canning tips" for more info on this step)
11. Remove jars and cool.

Enjoy your coffee for all it's worth.

Live Longer

NPR News is a great radio news station. It has articles on various aspects of culture and world news. Yesterday (May 17th, 2012) it had an article titled "Can Coffee Help You Live Longer? We Really Want To Know." This article specialized in a study done by Neal Freedman and his colleagues from the National Cancer Institute. In this study they looked at the relationship between coffee and Health in which they analyzed nearly 500,000 Americans from the age of 50 to 71 years old. Within this study they found that coffee drinkers had modestly lower risks of deaths than the non-drinkers within the study. Using this study a "modest" drinker is defined as a person who drinks around 2 or 3 cups of coffee a day. According to the study it says “Those who drank at least two or three cups a day were about 10 percent or 15 percent less likely to die for any reason during the 13 years of the study.” Just be weary of drinking more than this because there might be an inverse association after that. Those who drank modestly were cutting their risk of heart disease, lung disease, strokes, injuries, accidents, diabetes, and infections. This study didn’t necessarily prove that coffee made someone live longer, but it did prove that it may help someone to be healthier.

          This study used all kinds of coffee. Therefore, it could not pinpoint which kind of coffee is the best for you or even how they differ from one another.

          All of this research is there to help you know that coffee lovers are not hurting themselves and just might be helping themselves to stay a little bit healthier for a while longer down the road. So, don’t be afraid to grab your favorite cup of Joe, cappuccino, or latte just be weary of the calorie count.

Enjoy your coffee for all it’s worth!

Cafe La Promise

Here is a painting of Cafe La Promise it is a lovely cafe. It is owned by a couple in Taiping. They make lots of homemade drinks and cakes. They also make some great smoothies. One of their best sellers is their peach and mango smoothie. This place is a wonderful place if you are looking for a wonderful mix of your favorite foods because they mix it up just right. Some of the other great drinks include: coffee float, Mocha Freeze, Iced Cappuccino, and a Red Bean Milkshake. This little cafe is a must for those who are traveling to Malaysia. It is visited by lots of students year round.

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Coffee Energy Balls

Here is a great recipe for Coffee Energy Balls. They taste wonderful and are wonderful for you. Take one bite of these and they are certain to make you more alive, alert, and energetic. These energy balls are easy to make and smell amazing. If all of this sounds good to you than look below for the recipe Coffee Energy Balls.

Here's what you need:

• 3 1/2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup walnuts or cashews
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup flaxseed
• 1 cup chocolate chips 
• 1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup instant coffee granules
• 2/3 cup honey 

Here's what you do: 

1. Mix the oats, walnuts or cashews, flaxseed, and chocolate chips together. 
2. Pour the water in a saucepan and warm up the water on high heat. 
3. Add the cinnamon, vanilla, coffee granules, and honey. 
4. Let the wet mixture boil for 2 minutes. 
5. Pour the wet mix into the dry mixture. 
6. Add the peanut butter and mix all ingredients together. 
7. Roll into bite-size balls. The size you roll them will determine how many you made. This should be able to make around 15). 
8. Store in sealed container in the refrigerator. 

Enjoy your coffee treat for all it's worth!

MAATOUK

I came across MAATOUK COFFEE this weekend while I was shopping at an International Market. MAATOUK is a wonderful coffee company. They sell coffee that is wonderful through and through. They make Gourmet blends with some Caribbean and make a great original blend. 

      What is most fascinating about this company isn't the way they make the coffee, the great business that they have, or even the thousands of people who drink their coffee each day. For what is most fascinating about this company is the resilience that they have. This company has gone through many struggles and trials. 

       This is their story. In 1960, Mahmoud Maatouk originally established the Maison du Cafe roastery in Beirut. This roastery blossomed into a succession of gourmet establishments. When the civil war erupted in Lebanon it destroyed many businesses. At that time the Maatouk family moved to the UK and produced Lebanese coffee blends there. 

       Then, the political chaos in Lebanon forced the Maatouk's to expand to Dusseldorf, Germany. This business prospered for many of years, but they still longed for their home country of Lebanon. 

    In the early 1990's they abondoned this business and set forth for their homeland. They re-founded a coffee factory in Dohat al Hoss. This became the Maatouk revival where there was a fusion of taste, culture, and revival coming all together. This company got so big that in 2001 a state-of-the-art coffee factory opened in Bchamoun, Lebanon in a great industrial area. 

    They reopened their original doors in 2003 and the story just gets bigger and brighter from there. 

    The Maatouk's are certainly the resilient ones.

Enjoy your coffee for all it's worth.

Check out www.maatouk.com

An Ethiopian Legend About Coffee

It was more than 500 years ago in the country of Ethiopia in Africa. This was when there used to be lots of goat shepherds who took very good care of their sheep. Goats were allowed to roam about eating what plants they could. The goats lavished on grass all day and ate leaves that fell from the trees at night. 
      A man named Kaldi was a very good goat shepherd he took very good care of his goats. He loved them so. He fell asleep one night and when he woke up he saw his goats eating lots of fruit off of a peculiar plant. So, he tried to get the goats to sleep by rubbing them and coaxing them down, but they just would not go to sleep. In fact the goats were full of energy. This caught him by curiosity. So, he decided to try and eat the leaves off of this plant. Shortly afterwards, he was full of excitement. 
     The next morning he ran over to the Abbot of the monastery; that was right next to his pasture. He held up the branches off of the plant and showed it to the Abbot. Then, he proceeded to tell the story of how his goats could not sleep and when he tried the plant it burst him to energy and excitement. After Kaldi told the whole story to the Abbot, the Abbot took the branches out of his hand and cooked a drink out of it. 
      The Abbot was very surprised when he took the drink and began to sip it. It was the bitterest drink he had ever tried. He was so disturbed by the bitterness he took the drink and threw it into the fire. This is when he noticed an overwhelming wonderful aroma coming from the fire. It was out of this exquisite aroma that he decided to take the "cherries" and roast them. Then, he would make a drink out of it that way. 
     After he was done with this, he tasted the drink. The drink was amazing. Soon after this, the word began to spread all across the Arabian Peninsula of this drink. This amazing drink called "Coffee." 

Check out other "Coffee Mythology."
Enjoy your coffee for all it's worth!

Iced Coffee Milkshake

Here is a new recipe to try. It seems to be a great recipe for the summer. This recipe will take your likes for vanilla ice cream and coffee and put it together to make one great treat! You put it together and you have an Iced Coffee Milkshake. I got the North Sea coffee Company Iced Coffee Milk Mix coffee packets from Big Lots while shopping there this weekend.

Here's what you need:

• 1 North Sea Iced Coffee Milk Mix Packet.
• 1/2 cup of cold milk
• 1 large scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream
• 5 large ice cubes

Here's what you do:

1. Empty Contents of one drink packet into the blender. Put in the cold milk and vanilla ice cream.
2. Blend them all together.
3. Put the 5 Large ice cubes in your drinking glass.
4. Pour the blended mixture over the ice cubes.

Enjoy your coffee for all it's worth!

What Does COFFEE Stand for?

Coffee is such a great drink. It is one of those drinks that you can get almost anywhere (depending on your taste). It helps with your short term memory and can help with that long term memory too. Coffee is a great antioxidant and it really helps the body get up and moving. In celebration of people everywhere who love this drink I have come up with what COFFEE really stands for.

C=Crowd Pleasing

O=Outstanding

F=Full of Life

F=Fantastic

E=Exuberating

E=Energy dignified cup of Joe

Enjoy your coffee for all it’s worth!

Haagen Dazs Coffee Ice Cream

With the weather constantly warming up and lots of people wanting to be outside. There is nothing better than Coffee Ice Cream. Coffee Ice Cream is a wonderful treat and there may be no better place to get it from than Haagen- Dazs. On their website, Haagen-Dazs discusses their history and their different flavors.

Haagen-Dazs started with a man named Reuben Mattus in the 1920’s. He was a young entrepreneur who had a passion for and absolutely loved the finest and purest of ice creams. He started by selling fruit pops and ice cream pops out of a horse drawn wagon. He did this in Bronx, New York. People loved his ice cream from the start. In 1960, Reuben Mattus and his wife Founded “Haagen- Dazs.”

Today, they still sell the finest and purest of ice creams. One of their favorites is simply named “Coffee.”

“Coffee” is sold in single servings and 28oz. cartons. In order to make it Haagen-Dazs took the finest Brazilian Coffee beans, roasted them, and brewed them. They brewed them to a perfect until they had brought out the richest and most complex flavor. Then, they blended this with their pure and creamy Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Check it out! This flavor just might “wow” you and send you on your way!

Enjoy your “coffee” for all it’s worth!

Cappuccino Flats

I found a wonderful coffee cookie recipe that is just Amazing. When Jacqueline Cline wrote into "Taste of Home" about them she said that "people can't believe they're made in my own kitchen instead of a gourmet bakery!" These cookies are just that good and more. If this sounds great to you how about you try Cappuccino Flats. This recipe makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Here is what you need:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
• 1 teaspoon really warm water
• 1 egg
• 2 squares that are 1 oz each of unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons shortening

Here is what you do:

1. Get out a large mixing bowl and cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars.
2. Dissolve the coffee in water and add to the mixture with the egg and melted squares.
3. Mix this together. Gradually add the flour, cinnamon, and salt while mixing between additions.
4. Shape into 6 1/2 inch rolls. Wrap each roll with plastic wrap.
5. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours or until firm.
6. Unwrap the rolls and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Use Flour to help separate.
7. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 350degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are firm.
8. Cool on Wire Racks. While cooling melt the chocolate chips and shortening together using a saucepan to ensure great color do not burn.
9. Dip each cookie halfway in the melted cholate chips and shortening.
10. Place on wax paper or tin foil to harden.

Enjoy your Cappuccino Flats!

Strawberry Dessert Coffee

Here is a quick and easy recipe. This recipe is a great success maker for those looking to spark up a conversaton. If you love strawberries it is just the thing for you. It does not take too long to make, but yet it is worth all of your efforts put together. The people who write the "Better Homes and Gardens" cookbooks have done a similar recipe like this using chocolate-flavored syrup instead of the Strawberry. You could also use chocolate-mint flavoring or hazelnut as well.

Here is what you need:

• 2/3 cup of your favorite stronger coffee
• 1 tablespoon strawberry-flavored syrup
• Whipped Cream
• Ground Cinnamon
• 2 or 3 Strawberries for the top

Here is what you do:

1. Stir the hot coffee and strawberry flavoring together in a cup.
2. Have fun topping it with the Whipped Cream.  
3. Place the strawberries on top of the whipped cream.
4. Sprinkle a little bit of the ground cinnamon on top.

 
Make time to mix things up today and remember..... enjoy your day.
Life is like a cup of coffee there is always a moment where you can flavor it up!
Enjoy your Coffee for all it's worth!