Godiva Coffee Cocktails

Here at the Ancient Fire Wine Blog there is a simple theme, adult beverages. Whether we are making hooch at home, tasting and reviewing commercial offerings, pairing drinks with dinner or opining on sips our readers shouldn't miss, we've got your imbibing covered. So it was with great excitement that two new cocktail creations were born using flavored coffees from Godiva received as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

Margot and I love coffee, no really, we LOVE it. The hallmark of any vacation destination for us is the coffee we find, and sometimes we spend considerable time searching for the right cup. Oddly we don’t make alcohol infused coffee cocktails that often so the ideas of how to use the Godiva coffees we received were slow to come.

In time, the ideas gelled and we offer the two cocktails below as the fruits of our artistic labors.

Not Your Average Pumpkin Pie

8 oz brewed Godiva Pumpkin Spice coffee, hot

1 ½ oz liquid coffee creamer or half & half

1 Tbsp butter

1 oz gold rum

1 oz spiced simple syrup

½ oz hand-infused black rum

Spray whipped cream

Grated nutmeg

Warm the rums, butter and simple syrup until hot, not boiling. Mix with the coffee and pour into cocktail glass. Cover the top with whipped cream and grate the nutmeg over the top.

Barking Up the Right Tree Mocha

4 oz brewed Godiva Caramel Pecan Bark coffee, well chilled

1 oz dark chocolate syrup

1 oz liquid coffee creamer or half & half

2 oz mocha liqueur

Spray whipped cream

Caramel sauce

Blend all the liquid ingredients with a whisk. Pour into a martini glass and cover with whipped cream. Garnish with caramel sauce.

Both of these drinks channel the flavors of the coffee with the added bump of some liquor and additional complexity from the other ingredients. They may not be the kind of drink you would take several of in succession, but they certainly offer a celebratory and revelerous slant that might just fit at your next brunch or work perfectly after dinner instead of dessert.

Cheers!

Jason

Disclosure of Material Connection: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Curried Pumpkin Soup

2 cups baked pumpkin
2 cups water
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, diced
2 Tbsp garlic paste
1 Tbsp ginger paste
2 Tbsp green curry paste
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup non-fat coffee creamer
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp nutmeg

For this recipe I used fresh pumpkin that was baked in October and had been frozen. You can use canned pumpkin if you like.

Place the water and pumpkin in a blender and blend smooth.

In a large saucepan heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Sauté the shallots, garlic paste, ginger paste and curry paste for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Bring the soup to a simmer and reduce the heat. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve hot. This soup is spicy on account of the green curry paste we used. My wife added some sour cream to cut down the heat. Alternatively you could produce a less spicy soup using less of the paste and compensating with additional garlic, ginger, and spices of your choosing.

Cheers!

Jason

Taking It Easy – Baking Cookies

( Pumpkin Pie Bars )

Being a good patient I was following my doctor’s orders to the letter. No stacking firewood, no lawn cleanup and no high impact workouts. He didn’t say anything about time in the kitchen though. It turns out that standing at the counter for too long can be more taxing when you are fighting an infection and haven’t got back to sleeping normally yet. I fought through it though.

As I was working through the messages in my Foodbuzz this past weekend inbox I came across two cookie recipes that screamed Fall! It turns out both are from the Brown Eyed Baker which comes as no surprise!

Pumpkin Pie Bars

and

Gingered Carrot Cake Cookies

The only difference in my final product as compared to the recipes linked above is that for the Pumkin Pie Bars I used freshly roasted pumpkin and I used walnuts in the Carrot Cake Cookies.

Both of these recipes are very straightforward and came out exactly as advertised. I am a sucker for anything pumpkin and pumpkin bars had such a wonderful texture I was very glad they were destined for the freezer. Eating too many is would not be good for your health!

Both of these cookies were thoroughly enjoyed with a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (Margot's idea) on a cool autumn afternoon. While my cooking adventures slowly come back to normal it is moments like these that make me realize that simple is ALWAYS better!

Cheers!

--Jason