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Coffee Knowledge

Posted at 7:12 AM by Brittany, on July 14, 2015

Let’s talk coffee, shall we?

I was given a blend of beans the other day with no information other than the person it was from, and the name he had given it. I was excited to try his homemade blend and see if my coffee knowledge was up to speed. Upon grinding the beans I immediately detected scents of berries, a characteristic of a sun-dried coffee.

Once the fresh ground coffee steeped in my French press for four(ish) minutes, I plunged, poured, smelled, slurped, and savored. My palate was overwhelmed with flavors of blueberries and nuts, and I immediately knew this blend had African and Latin American grown beans. What I didn’t pick up on was the Indonesian beans, which I was told about after I had guessed the blend. Apparently the full body and herbal flavor typical of Indonesian beans comes out as the coffee cools.

I didn’t wait long enough to let it cool. 😉

My life quote.

I haven’t been focusing on the tasting aspect of my job lately, simply because I’ve been focusing on grasping everything there is to grasp about being a supervisor. Now that I’ve got a handle on things I want to get back to my coffee tasting adventures.

I remember a time many moons ago when I tried to combine two very different coffee blends into one because I wanted to save space in my pantry. Coffee is coffee right?

Oh how wrong I was, I ended up throwing it all out. RIP handpicked beans.

I’m now comfortable with combining blends, knowing which will pair well, and which will not. When I noticed I was a handful of Maui beans shy of a full French press I knew exactly which blend to complete my morning brew. The Pike Place special reserve has similar notes to the Maui coffee and they went together perfectly.

They also paired perfectly with my new obsession: two ingredient almond butter maple cookies. The simpler the ingredients the better for me. 1 cup of almond butter mixed with 1/4 cup maple syrup and a dash of salt gave 10 chewy, nutty cookies that I couldn’t get enough of. Two cookies per serving thanks to the “fit in my hand” rule.

I sprinkled some cinnamon and salt on top. Bake at 350F for 10-12minutes.

Those cookies and coffee were the perfect fuel for a few extremely enjoyable runs.

I debated on up-cycling some discarded snake skin I saw while on this 5 mile run (which turned into 5.10 because I insisted on a 10min or below pace) but then I found this paracord bracelet in perfect condition! I love finding treasure!

Q: Do you pick up treasures you find while out exploring the land, or leave them behind? I usually leave behind the used Kleenex pieces and needles, but $$ and hiking tools are a must grab! Also I was totally joking about the snake skin.

| 46 Comments Tagged Almond Butter, Coffee, Coffee Master, Cookie, Garmin, Run

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cookies – Gluten Free & Vegan

Posted at 7:22 AM by Brittany, on April 23, 2014

When I first took the plunge and adapted a vegan lifestyle, I felt inspired. Suddenly my meals and baked goods were each a new experiment, and I was revamping my old favorites to make them new. I fell completely in love with plant based foods.

Fast forward two years and my baking sometimes has another label slapped onto it -gluten free. I haven’t talked about it much on the blog, because I really dislike labels, but I have adapted a 95% GF diet. Simply because I feel better without all the breads/wheat intake.

My digestion is amazing, and I don’t feel sluggish or bloated. I say 95% because I will occasionally eat a roll, a cupcake with whole wheat flour, or if I go out to a restaurant I will eat what I am served, but when I am at home I go GF for most of my meals.

I’ve been baking a lot of treats lately that don’t call for flour at all, which has made this adventure easy, but I decided it was time to revamp my all time favorite cookie recipe. I made it gluten free, and added ground coffee…because I could. Don’t let the terms “vegan” and “gluten free” fool you though, these are one of my more naughty treats.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose GF flour (I use Namaste Foods GF flour, it’s a cupforcup flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 tablespoons fresh* ground UN-brewed coffee beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup xylitol (or raw sugar)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup applesauce
1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips

*fresh coffee has the most flavor

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. I use stone wear to bake my cookies so that I don’t have to line a baking sheet, but if you don’t have any line a cookie sheet and set aside.
Combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, ground coffee and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil, brown sugar and xylitol until well combined. Mix in the vanilla, and applesauce until light and creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Place cookies onto a lined cookie sheet, or large pizza stone. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted.

Now..keep in mind…these are gluten free. The raw cookie dough itself is not as tasty as regular floured dough, but I did still eat enough dough to feel slightly sick. What can I say, I’m a dough digger. These are fluffy, soft, and full of sugar. Perfect.

I shared these treats with some civilians* and they loved them. I found that the flatter and wider the cookie, the more balanced the flavors. Shorter and taller cookies had a bit of the flour taste, so make sure you make them an even size. I am officially obsessed.

*non vegan/GF eaters

Q: Does the title GF/Vegan scare you…or intrigue you?