NEW COFFEE and COOKIES RECIPES

5/21/20 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

True confession: We still live in the dark ages at our house.  We do not have cable TV and I write for a local newspaper not on Facebook. 

Our television operates off an antenna and So. Lane Television. So, my conversations and news are conducted the old-fashioned way through telephone, email, texts, newspapers and snail mail cards and letters. Oops! I forgot to add the computer. I know. I’m ancient.

Therefore, I’m always the last one to know about the latest fad in almost everything—even food. My daughter-in-law, Betsy, is married to my son John. They live in California where he’s a church pastor. She teaches 6^th grade and just won the Teacher of the Year award. Yea, Betsy!

Betsy and I talk a lot about recipes. She and John share the cooking at their house but she (and youngest son Joshua) do all the baking. Her last email to me was hilarious. Her sister Kitty (who lives in Yosemite) recently sent her a newspaper list of comfort foods that people are cooking during this Covid-19 pandemic.

They include: Banana bread, pizza dough, French toast, chocolate cake, carrot cake, fried rice and Dalgona Coffee. Her response: “I love this! So far, we’ve made most of them (pizza dough with real sour dough starter)  and I’ve had cravings for carrot cake.”

Well, I was impressed and surprised. Dalgona Coffee? What in the world is that? I had never heard of it. Of course, I’m not real fond of coffee. I like an Oatmeal Cookie Chai at BaDooBaz on a cold day or an Iced Hazelnut Latte on a warm day at the Espresso Bar’n but that’s about it. If I want caffeine, I drink tea or a Diet Coke!

So, I looked up this Dalgona Coffee that Betsy was raving about. Turns out it’s been around the world for awhile but only came to the U.S. in January of this year from So. Korea. Who knew? It has taken the country by a storm so I made one. It’s easy as can be (4 ingredients) but it tastes too much like very strong coffee for me.  So, I’m putting the recipe out here for you to try. Let me know how you like it.

The last recipe is a fun cookie to go with coffee, tea or milk. Really good! Try one and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

DALGONA COFFEE (Whipped Coffee)

Pour 1 cup milk over ice in a tall glass or mug

Put into a blender or stand mixer bowl:

2 tablespoons instant coffee

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoon hot water

Whip ingredients until fluffy and toffee-colored; about 3-4 minutes.

Spoon the whipped coffee on top of the milk. Stir the coffee mixture into the milk before drinking. Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy! Serves 1-2.

BERRY CRINKLE COOKIES

(From “A Cozy Kitchen”)

3/4 cup white granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries, (or a combo)

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup neutral oil (vegetable oil)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 drop fuchsia food coloring gel, (optional)

4 drops red food coloring gel  

1/2 cup powdered sugar (more if needed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with a sheet of parchment and set aside.

In a blender, add the sugar and freeze-dried strawberries/raspberries. Blend until the freeze-dried berries are ground up, a few teeny bits of freeze-dried strawberries are ok.

In a medium bowl, add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until combined.

To the bowl of a stand-up mixer add the sugar/strawberry mixture and oil. Beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. With the machine running on low speed, add one egg at a time. And then add the vanilla extract, fuchsia food coloring gel and red food coloring gel. Mix until combined.

Add the flour mixture and mix just until no flour speckles appear and the dough is cohesive, about 30 seconds to a minute.

Sift the powdered sugar into a small to medium bowl. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough, rolling them in between your palms until balls form. Roll them in the sifted powdered sugar.

Transfer the dough balls to the lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. About 8 per baking sheet.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time. Put the first sheet to the oven to bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, until they appear crackly and puffed up.

Remove from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They may fall a bit as they cool. Add more powdered sugar if needed.

Contact Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner by email bchatty@bettykaiser.com