Espresso Hazelnut Granola Recipe

We made some of this delicious granola to give as Christmas gifts to family and friends and we thought we'd share our recipe with you. It's as easy and stirring some ingredients together and baking them! 

Espresso Hazelnut Granola

Makes 8 Servings

Stir together:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup large unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup whole hazelnuts
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Mix  together and heat:

3 tablespoons brewed Voyage espresso

2 tablespoon melted coconut oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir wet and dry ingredients together and spread in a greased 9x13" pan.

Bake at 300 degrees   for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Cool completely and add ½ cup chopped dark chocolate.

Happy New Year!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

20 Savory Coffee Recipes To Try

It's easy to find dessert recipes that use coffee. It goes so naturally with flavors like chocolate and nuts that it's a logical addition. It's more rare to find savory food that involves coffee. I've done some Googling and found a lot more than I expected and they are mouthwatering! I've seen a few recipes for coffee barbecue sauces and meat rubs before, but I was surprised to find everything from espresso vinaigrette to coffee crackers. Here are my top 20:

1. Coffee-Braised Short Ribs
This uses wine and cold brew coffee as both a marinade and part of the sauce. 

2. Roast Beef with Porcini Coffee Sauce
Mmmmm....reminiscent of a Boeuf Bourguignon, they add coffee to flavors of mushroom and wine. 

3. Coffee Barbecue Sauce
So many yummy flavors in this one. 

4. Barbecue Hoecakes with Vinegar Slaw
Chicken and corncakes with a brown sugar BBQ sauce.

5. Coffee-Rubbed Cheeseburgers with Texas Barbecue Sauce
Coffee and spice rubbed burgers with bacon and cheese.

6. Short Ribs Braised in Coffee Ancho Chile Sauce
Spicy and sweet....

7. Coffee-Marinated Bison Short Ribs
More coffee and maple syrup goodness.

8. Coffee and Spice-Coated Lamb with Arugula, Avocado, and Blood Orange Salad
This rub has coffee and cocoa, could it get any better?

9. Caribbean Shrimp Tropical Salad with Lime Coffee Vinaigrette
Here's an interesting one, using coffee in a vinaigrette. 

10. Apple Jack Ribs Smoked Over Coffee Beans with Coffee Barbecue Sauce

This one involves throwing coffee beans on the grill to get coffee-flavored smoke. 

11. Coffee Crackers with Aged Port Cheddar Spread

I'm super intrigued to try coffee crackers. 

12. Coffee Coloradito Mole
Adding coffee to an already chocolaty mole sauce, yum!

13. Cuban Style Polenta Tamales
Espresso in tamales sounds delicious

14. Chicken Wings with Thai Inspired Coffee Barbecue Sauce
Switching it up by adding Thai flavors to a barbecue sauce. 

15. Smoked Turkey Sandwich with Coffee Shallot Jam
Coffee jam sounds interesting.

16. Espresso-Chili Rubbed Pork with Sweet Potato Fries
Cayenne, coffee, orange, yum.....

17. Flank Steak with Coffee Peppercorn Marinade
The flavor combos on this one sound amazing!

18. Late Night Coffee-Brined Chicken
Here's a new way to do a whole chicken.

19. Coffee Bacon Sandwiches
Coffee and bacon can't go wrong. We have a pack of bacon waiting to be cooked and I may just try this one out.

20. Molasses and Coffee Pork Chops
Anyone who's ever put a spoonful of molasses in their coffee knows this is a good combo. Plus it's an Alton Brown recipe, so it's almost guaranteed to be delicious.

Have you ever tried using coffee in savory food? Share your experiences and recipes in the comments!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe

Now that fall is here, I've been devouring all things pumpkin! We've been making muffins and crisps like crazy. This week, I finally found the time to try making homemade pumpkin spice lattes. 

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
4 tablespoons pumpkin puree

Directions: 

Heat water in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Once it's warm, dissolve the brown sugar. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices and vanilla. (I made mine really spicy, you could cut back on the spices if you want.)
Pour it the mixture through a fine strainer to get the lumps out.

Now you have a syrup you can add to any kind of coffee!

Sprinkling a little extra pumpkin pie spice hid my lack of latte art skills!

Before stirring in the syrup. 

Summer Coffee Treats

We've been trying and sharing a variety of great summer coffee treats on Pinterest and Facebook. As the summer starts drawing to a close, I thought I would collect the best ones we've tried (and have yet to try) in one place.

• Cold brew your coffee. This is becoming my favorite way to make iced coffee. It's really simple to do and you don't need any brewing equipment. I've been using these instructions. (And did you know it's actually better when the beans have had two weeks to degas? A great way to use up almost-stale beans!) 
• Sweeten while you brew. We just tried out this brown sugar cold brew recipe from The Velvet Bird and it was delish!
• Try freezing your own coffee cubes so your coffee doesn't get diluted as the ice melts. You could make milk or cream cubes too, and even add sweetener if you want!
• Add some spice with cinnamon or nutmeg. 
• Flavor your coffee without all that sugar syrup: add a splash of vanilla or almond extract. 
• Top it off with some whipped cream. (Great on hot coffee too!)
• Mix up the milks: try some dairy alternatives: coconut, almond, soy, or hazelnut. Vietnamese coffee is made with sweetened condensed milk. 
• Blend your iced coffee and end up with a refreshing frappe! (My favorite add-in is Nutella!)
• Mix in some tea. Why not an iced "dirty chai"?
• Freeze some of your leftover coffee as ice pops. 
• Pour your coffee over ice cream to make Affogato. 
• Make coffee ice cream or frozen yogurt.

For even more ideas, see our Iced Coffee Recipe board on Pinterest. (Coffee Ice Creams and Popsicles here.)

Questions? Have any great iced coffee ideas to share? Leave a comment below!

Stay cool!
-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake

Happy National Cheesecake Day! 

I made a chocolate espresso cheesecake this weekend, (turns out that was National Coffee Milkshake Day, so I guess my timing's a little off) so I thought I would share the recipe. 

Holiday or not, the important thing (or "the 'portant thing" as my little brother would say) is that I made some really yummy cheesecakes. 

I used this recipe from Epicurious, but with some modifications and a different crust. I find that graham cracker crusts are usually soggy, so I use a fusion of a nut crust that my grandma makes for a frozen fruit dessert, and a regular graham cracker crust. Here is my modified version:

Chocolate Espresso Swirl Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust1/2 cup (1 stick)  butter, melted
1 package graham crackers
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup walnuts (or pecans)

Filling
2 double shots of espresso
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar (I cut down on the sugar a little.)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

Ganache
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli 60% Cacao chips.)
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F. 

Crust:

Break up the graham crackers. Put all crust ingredients in food processor. Process until the nuts are ground and the ingredients are well combined. Divide the crust between two 9-inch diameter springform pans. Press the crumbs on the bottom and 1 1/2 inches up the sides of each pan. Bake the crusts for 10-15 minutes, until they are light golden brown. (This helps keep the crust from getting soggy.)

Chocolate Ganache:

Heat the cream in a double boiler over low-medium heat. (We don't have a double boiler, so I use a metal or ovensafe glass bowl over a small pot.) Add the chocolate chips, stir occasionally until they are all melted. While the chocolate is melting, you can work on mixing the filling. 

Filling:

Using an electric mixer, (A Kitchenaid is great if you have one.) beat the cream cheese on high until VERY smooth and fluffy. (I beat it for at least five minutes.) Add the sugar and continue beating. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the espresso, vanilla, and the melted butter. (If we have it around, I usually throw in an spoonful of instant espresso powder for extra coffee flavor! Also note that if you add the ground coffee that the original recommends, you end up with a gritty cheescake.)

Split the filling between the two crusts. (The original recipe has you put it all in one, but it always overflows when I do that. Cheesecake burning on the bottom of the oven = not good.)  Drop several spoonfuls of melted chocolate mixture around on top of the filling, spacing it fairly evenly. Use a chopstick (a sharp knife works too) to swirl the chocolate into the filling. (I like to make mine look like latte art.)

I forgot to take any pictures this time, but here's a pre-baking Instagram picture from last time I made these. 

Bake the cheesecakes until edges are puffed and beginning to crack and top is golden brown, around 25-30 minutes (center will not be set). Cool on a rack. Chill for several hours or overnight. (Can be prepared up to 3 days ahead of serving.)

Enjoy!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters