Coffee. Oatmeal. Together?

Yes, that is correct. Coffee and oatmeal intertwining with each other, creating an out of this world bowl of oat fulfilling bliss.

Obviously I’m a fan of oatmeal. (I briefly talked about my love affair here.) Oatmeal is the ultimate base to create many different palette pleasing dishes. And since coffee is a slight obsession that I inhibit, why not mingle the two? That is when I came up with this bowl of oats:

Hazelnut Mocha Oats

• 1 small ripe banana (about 5-7 inches long)

• ½ cup oats, non-instant

• 1 cup water

• 1 stick of Starbucks VIA

• 1-2 tbsp. Nutella (Nutella is an Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread commonly found in the grocery aisle with peanut butter.)

In a microwave safe bowl, pour in 1 cup of water with your VIA. Stir until VIA has dissolved. Next slice your banana in thin slices and toss them into your bowl with the dissolved VIA. Pour in the oats and give them a quick stir. Place the bowl into a microwave and microwave for 2 ½ – 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir in Nutella. Feel free to mash the oatmeal mixture a little bit to really soften the banana. Grab a spoon, enjoy!

Of course you may add a splash of milk if you’d like. Or if indulgence is your objective, dollop a few tablespoons of chocolate chips on top. Making this oatmeal upon your stove top is an option too.

<3CoffeeVanilla

White Chocolate Mocha Cookies & Chocolate Chip Cookies

The idea for this recipe came to me while tweeting on Twitter. There was all this talk about ‘Peppermint Mocha Lattes’ and ‘White Chocolate Mocha Lattes.’ And thats when it occurred to me, make it into a cookie! Once again I’ve decided to take some help from the store by using a store bought sugar cookie mix. What can I say, time saved making cookies is time spent at Starbucks. Or at least making another pot of Christmas Blend and being captivated by the heavenly aroma.

White Chocolate Mocha Cookies:

• 1 17.5oz Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix Pouch

• 1 stick butter

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder (sifting the cocoa powder makes the process of mixing a million times easier)

• 3 tbsp. Instant espresso (or 1-2 Starbucks VIA sticks)

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 3 cups white chocolate chips (I used a Hoffman’s white chocolate bar but I’m not sure how many ounces it was.)

• about 7 candy canes crushed (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (I threw the package away and can not recall the exact temperature, though I’m pretty certain it read 350. Just read the back of your mix to insure that you preheat your oven to the correct cooking time.)

Blend together butter, egg and instant espresso powder with an electric mixer. Next beat in the cocoa powder and sugar cookie mix until the ingredients have been incorporated with each other. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop tablespoon sized balls onto a greased (or parchment paper lined) cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Once cookies have baked and have cooled for 10 minutes, create a double boiler on your stove by placing a smaller pot on top of a larger pot, filling about an inch of water in the larger pot. Pour your white chocolate chips into the smaller pot and turn your burner onto medium-low. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Dip your chocolate cookies into the white chocolate half way. Continue process until all the cookies have been dipped.

If you want to take the extra step of making these cookies into White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Cookies, then you can place about 7 candy canes into a large zip lock bag. Now either take a rolling pin or a meat tenderizer and bash away at the candy canes. (A great therapeutic approach to releasing stress.) Crush the candy canes until they are crushed but are not in the resemblance of saw dust. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes onto the white chocolate before the chocolate sets. Give the cookies about 30 minutes for the chocolate to set before you devour with delight.

This recipe yields 3 dozen cookies.

This next cookie recipe is the recipe that I was briefly speaking about in my last blog post. No it does not involve coffee (but it can of course with an extra step…) but these chocolate chip cookies are so incredible that I had to share. Me not sharing the recipe for these cookies is inevitable. This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies which is great for when baking for a mass quantity. Or if you have a considerably massive sweet tooth.

My Grandmother’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 4 ½ cups flour

• 2 tsp. Baking soda

• ½ tsp. Salt

• 2 cups softened salted butter

• 1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

• ½ cup sugar

• 2 3.4oz packages instant vanilla pudding

• 4 eggs

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Optional ‘garnish’:

• about 4-6 cups dark chocolate chips

• 3 tablespoons instant espresso powder (or 1-2 sticks of the coveted Starbucks VIA)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Set these aside. In large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar and sugar with an electric mixer on high. Continue to beat for 3-4 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the instant pudding and mix until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla, beat on low until incorporated.

Blend in the flour mixture in batches until all in well incorporated, by now the batter will be very stiff. Stir in the chocolate chips. With a large spoon (Or a cookie scooper!), drop by rounded tablespoons onto an un-greased cookie sheet. (I like to use parchment paper or a silicone mat.)

Bake for 8-12 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet.

Optional ‘garnish’:

As I mentioned previously, you can easily incorporate coffee into this recipe. There really is no such thing as too much coffee. Melt the dark chocolate chips along with the instant espresso powder on a double boiler on medium-low. Stirring constantly. Once chocolate and espresso have melted, dip your chocolate chip cookies half-way into the chocolaty delight. Repeat until all of the cookies have been dipped. Or you can just dip half of the cookies and leave the other half in their original state of magnificent chewy wonder. The choice is yours.