I'm jazzed to check out

[spindrifter]

the Starbucks instant coffee, VIA, to see how it might be as a cooking ingredient--i.e., in chocolate recipes. I admit that I'm curious to see how it will stand up to a "real" cup of coffee.

[eleny]

1. I got my hubby a box of those Folgers coffee singles

The ones that look like big teabags. He says they're very good and just about like regular brewed coffee. So if Folgers can do it I bet Starbucks has worked it out.

I'm not a Starbucks fan. It's a little on the strong side for me. But I bet you're right about using it for cooking. It does have an extra rich flavor. The coffee flavor sure wouldn't get lost!

[grasswire]

2. my family member who owns a coffee house...

....laughed his arse off when he heard about their new product yesterday.

[NMDemDist2]

3. yeah, my response was "WTF??!!?"

:wtf:

[housewolf]

4. Mine too!

WTF are they doing????

I know times are crazy now but... Starbuck instant coffee????????

:rofl:



I'm so sorry your trip was so hard, but a big pat on your back and hugs for doing so much to help a friend in need.

:hug: :hug: :hug:

[NMDemDist2]

5. thanks hon

like i told him today, if I were alone and dying he'd come take care of me

he choked up when he was thanking me for my efforts and I turned and looked him straight in the eye and said "You are my FRIEND man."

I hate getting old.

sigh

[troubleinwinter]

6. I use Medaglia D'Oro instant espresso for cooking.

Lots of grocery stores carry it.

[grasswire]

7. yeah, I bought some yesterday

Planning to make a coffee-toffie pie, I am.

[troubleinwinter]

8. Well now, ya just KNOW we hafta have that recipe!!!!!

[grasswire]

9. I'll have to look it up and post it tomorrow

It originated at the now-extinct Blum's lunch room in San Franciso. I haven't tasted it for many years -- made it only a couple of times. But it's good.

[grasswire]

10. I found it on the Net

BLUM'S COFFEE - TOFFEE PIE

1 stick pie crust mix (can you still buy that?)
1/4 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 c. chopped walnuts, finely chopped
1 sq. unsweetened chocolate, grated
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. water

Use a pastry blender or fork, crumble pie crust until very fine. Blend in brown sugar, nuts and grated chocolate. (Remove 1 tablespoon mix and sprinkle in shallow pan to be baked the same time as crust.) Add water to remaining pastry. Blend well. Press firmly into bottom and sides of well-buttered 8 inch pie pan. Moisten fingers with cold water for easy handling of pastry. Bake crust at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Bake separated - pastry crumbs, 5 minutes. Cool.

CHOCOLATE-COFFEE FILLING:

1/2 c. butter (1 cube)
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. instant coffee

Cream butter. Add sugar gradually, beat until fluffy and light. Stir in chocolate and instant coffee. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat 5 minutes after each egg. (Use medium speed with electric mixer.) Chill until firm.

WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING:

1 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. instant coffee
3 tbsp. powdered sugar

Whip cream until stiff. Fold in instant coffee and sugar. Spread on cobbled pie. Sprinkle with crumbs. Chill 2 hours before serving. Remove from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving.

[troubleinwinter]

12. "1 stick pie crust mix (can you still buy that?)"

They still sell a Betty Crocker pie crust mix in a box... "just add water".

We have some chocolate in the crust there, but we're missing the chocolate in the filling.

This pie isn't baked except for the crust?

[grasswire]

15. interesting!!

Many recipes on the Internet omit that crucial chocolate in the filling. Here's a link to the Sacramento Bee's publishing of it.

http://www.sacbee.com/162/story/935942.html

One ounce of unsweetened chocolate, melted, goes in the filling.

Also, the Bee recommends using pasteurized eggs, as the filling is not baked.

[troubleinwinter]

11. BLUM'S!!!!!!

As a kid I went to one in San Francisco many times with my grandmother (in the days when people got dressed up to go to "The City")! I remember going to the one in Berkeley (where we lived) on warm summer evenings for sundaes and a take-home bag of chocolate covered 'seafoam' candy.

Blum's was just fantabulous.

[grasswire]

16. do you remember the flower cart outside of Gump's?

We always used to buy bunches of violets there (in season).

Good times, good times.

[hippywife]

13. Bill used to drink Folgers and

I hated the smell of it. When it was brewing it smelled exactly like cat pee. Exactly!

Now I have him grinding his own beans for each pot from a local roaster who buys his organic beans fair trade from the Cafe Feminino Coop and he returns all the profits to the coop, Grounds for Health, and a local women's charity. The smell is incredible. If he didn't drink it so strong, I'm mighty tempted to have a little.

ETA: I don't drink coffee because I don't need the caffiene. I'm already to edgy as it is. ;)

[troubleinwinter]

14. My daily coffee for 25 years

was Medaglia D'Oro, "Italian style" espresso coffee, as taught to me by my step-grandmother-in-law from Italy. Made in ordinary coffee strength.



When I moved to AZ, I could not find it at any market. I tried all manner of things. I finally FOUND MY coffee. They are "Cuban style" espressos:





As far as I can tell, they are identical to MD'O, cost less than 2/3, and are in all the stores. Ind I dig that yellow & red can!

About caffeine- I have read that dark roasting roasts off some of the caffeine. I used to take a mug to bed, read a half hour, drink my dark coffee and fall asleep. It's the OFFICE coffee (the usual Folger's MJB type stuff) that jangles me! And that stuff tastes so nasty, I've never figured out why anybody drinks that so-called "coffee".

I knew a man who was an FBI pilot. They had to have physicals each year. One year, half of the crews at his facility were grounded. They finally traced it to the fact that nobody EVER cleaned the deposits from the filter area of the coffee machine! The caffeine had built up over the years to the point that they were overdosing on caffeine!! They cleaned it, and passed to take to the air. WTH??!!

[hippywife]

17. Interesting.

Bill will not let me wash the filter or pot (I still do it once in awhile when he isn't looking) because he says I'm washing out all the flavor. :eyes: I think he has plenty of flavor with the new coffees.

After everything I've learned, there is no way I could even consider buying any coffee or chocolate/cocoa anymore that isn't fair trade. I can't stop people from blowing themselves and each other up around the world but I figure I can do this small thing to help some of them earn a fair living for themselves.

[pengillian101]

18. Bill will not let me wash the filter or pot

Ha! I had an ex-husband like that - and his coffee thermos and coffee mug were also verboten from a wash.

No wonder I didn't drink coffee back then. :hi: