Coffee Calling
Coffee’s got a lot more to offer than just a morning perk up. Not only does it make a fine finish to an evening meal, but its variety of flavors and roasts work well with a number of tasty sweet and savory treats.
I’ll always remember the day my love affair with coffee began. It was in a little café overlooking the Seine River and the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. My friend, who was living there at the time, ordered us a café au lait and a warm, buttery pain au chocolate (chocolate croissant). The pastry was heavenly to say the least, but the coffee had a transformative power for me. It was rich with a toasty finish, and the steamed whole milk gave it a full body. It was nothing like the stale, drip stuff I’d tasted growing up. I still dream about that coffee in Paris.
Many people have a love affair with this rich, roasted brew not unlike the one I began years ago in Paris. For most people, coffee is as much a defining characteristic as individual fashion sense or the type of car you drive. Some like it dark roasted and served strong and black. Others like it smooth with vanilla flavoring, a dash of cream, and a pinch of sugar. Regardless of how you take your coffee, there’s little doubt of its stronghold in our daily lives.
While I’ll always remember that delicious café au lait with my Parisian pastry, I love to enjoy coffee with a good piece of chocolate such as a creamy Ghirardelli mint and milk chocolate square, a nutty Lindt hazelnut truffle, or the 86% Intense Dark Chocolate from World Market’s collection of premium chocolates.
Coffee and Chocolate Pairing
If you’re a coffee and chocolate fan, try something new when entertaining guests. Instead of serving up a simple cake, create a coffee pairing using different roasts and a variety of chocolates. Not only will you experience the varied difference in coffee blends and roasts, but you’ll see how much flavor comes out when each is paired with different chocolate.
- World Market’s Fair Trade Costa Rican coffee with Milka Noisette or Marzipan chocolates. This full-bodied coffee has a clean, yet robust acidity that works well with the creaminess of these fine German chocolates. (NOTE: When you see the Fair Trade stamp it means that the growers were guaranteed a fair price and fair labor conditions.)
- World Market’s French Roast with Cadbury Dairy Milk. The French Roast comes in either 8-ounce ground or whole bean or 24-ounce whole bean options and has a thin-bodied, bittersweet flavor that balances nicely with the smooth, silken texture of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate.
- World Market’s Flavored – Texas Turtle Coffee with Cadbury Chocolate Éclairs. This pairing is for the caramel lover in us all. The caramel flavor in the coffee is brought out by the caramel center in the chocolate éclair.
- World Market Kauai Peaberry – Macfarm’s Chocolate-Covered Macadamia Nuts. The salty dry roast on these Hawaiian macadamia nuts is heaven with the coffee-flavored dark chocolate. The Kauai Peaberry adds the perfect bold and robust flavor to match.
As an added bonus, add ground espresso beans to a batch of chocolate chip cookies and serve with a nice espresso such as Illy dark roast ground espresso.
Espresso-Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons instant espresso or coffee powder
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 300º. Cream butter and sugars together in a medium bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients and beat into moist mixture. Stir in espresso and chocolate chips. Place small spoonfuls of batter onto un-greased cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Coffee As A Main Dish
If you really want to wow your family and friends you can use coffee in your entrée as well. Simply combine ¼ cup of finely ground espresso beans with 1 tablespoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of ancho chile powder, and ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Rub this on 2 pounds of pork tenderloin or venison backstrap. Throw this on the grill for about 15-18 minutes (turning the sides equally), and you’ve got an amazing, savory, coffee-infused entrée.
