Coffee Reviews

Southern Biscuits

The Ultimate Cookbook for Ultimate Biscuits!

Okay, look out. You know how I get when I’m all worked up about one of my culinary obsession:

cookbooks
coffee
chocolate

Recently, I received a copy of a gorgeous new cookbook to review. It’s Southern Biscuits, by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart and it is just perfection.

This beautiful, hardback 211 page cookbook quickly became a favorite in this southern kitchen and it will become a favorite in your kitchen as well, whether it’s a southern, northern, eastern, or western kitchen. Great cookbooks are like that – they’re insanely popular all around the world because of one universal truth: We all love outstanding food. We love making it, we love serving it, and we love eating it.

The first recipe I tried was Chicken and Drop Dumplings (page 153). I was beyond thrilled with the delicious outcome. It tastes exactly like you’d expect chicken and dumplings to taste if they were served in a great southern cook’s kitchen. My mouth’s watering just thinking about them.

Other recipes in Southern Biscuits include:

Black Pepper Biscuits
Pimento Cheese Biscuits
“Fast Food Biscuits”
“Big Nasty Biscuits”
Pancakes
Waffles
Easy Refrigerator Strawberry Jam
Chocolate Gravy
Biscuit Fried Pies
Berry-Biscuit Summer Pudding
Breaded Tomatoes
Rainy-day Beef Stew and Thyme Dumplings
Peach Coffee Cake
And many, many more that’ll make you the talk of town!

In addition to beautiful photographs and outstanding recipes, you’ll find pages dedicated entirely to creating the perfect biscuit. The authors explain what makes a “Southern Biscuit” extraordinary and give you a complete education in Biscuit Basics. Pages 12 through 31 are devoted to showing the reader, step by step how to make sure your biscuits are the most beautiful, fluffy, and delicious biscuits to ever hit a table. You’ll learn about the different ingredients and how each one is vital to great biscuits. You’ll learn the mysteries surrounding perfect kneading, shaping, cutting, folding, and dropping.

No matter how long you’ve been baking, I guarantee that’ll learn something new. And, in the kitchen as much as anywhere else, knowledge is sweet power!

Naturally, the stars of the show, however, are the many wonderful recipes in Southern Biscuits.

They’ll blow your mind.

One more thing, I started not to include this last paragraph – because it sounds kind of sales-y. As I “wrote” the words in my head, I thought,”You sound like you’re pitching something on television!” That’s not what I’m about – besides, I’d be horrible at selling anything. My skills lie in the buying aspect of any transaction… just ask my husband. However, if I were looking for a new cookbook to buy (something that I’m often doing, since I collect them!), this is information I’d want someone to give ME, so I’m giving it to YOU. I’m very, very, very familiar with cookbooks (to the tune of hundreds in my collection familiar) and I can tell you that this is a high quality cookbook. When I opened the package and looked through the cookbook, I turned to the inside cover to see the “retail” price. When I saw $21.99, I was honestly surprised. I’ve seen books half this impressive priced upwards of $30.00.

However, the look of surprise on my face THEN was nothing compared to what I saw when I went to Amazon to see what it would cost. (You see, when I’m reviewing products or telling you about things I love, I look for the best price for you – I’ve got your back!) Southern Biscuits, by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart is available on Amazon for $14.95!!! Believe me, that’s an unreal price for this beautiful cookbook.

The cookbook will be available on May 7, but you can order it now. Again, at the risk of sounding like a tv salesperson, if I were you I’d grab a copy right now. You’ll love it as much as I do.

Goji Gourmet Goji Berry Cookies

A Favorite Dessert meets the Goji Berry

by Joi

Goji Gourmet Goji Cherry Cacao Cookies

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing some extra-unique, extra-wholesome, and extraordinary cookies. They’re Goji Gourmet’s Goji Berry CookiesG and they’re as ingenious as they are delicious. They’re small, soft, and absolutely scrumptious. They’re perfect for kids or adults – basically anyone who has a sweet tooth they want to satisfy while staying on the healthy side of the dietary fence.

The Wholesomeness:

No preservatives
All-natural
No refined sugar added
High in antioxidants
Delicious
Low calorie
Handmade
Infused with Superfoods
Energizing
Great for kids
Mostly organic ingredients

The Varieties:

Goji Almond Oat
Goji Chocolate Chip
Goji Cherry Cacao
Goji Ginger Walnut
Goji Orange MintChip

What You Need to Know:

These cookies were featured on the Rachael Ray Show as snack of the day
Four of these little cookies take the edge off a sweet tooth better than any 10-calorie pack (Health.com)
Goji Berries have 8 times more antioxidants than pomegranates and 10 times more than blueberries. They have more iron than spinach or steak and 500 times more vitamin C, by weight, than oranges.
Goji Berries are rich in potassium, protein, and have 18 amino acids.
Goji Berries are loaded with magnesium, vitamins B1, B2, B6, and vitamin E.
Goji Berries are a natural aphrodisiac!

Visit Goji Gourmet for more nutritional information and order your own guilt-free cookies today!

I loved each variety but if I had to put them in order of my preference, they’d read like this: Goji Almond Oat (I absolutely cannot stay out of these cookies), the Goji Orange MintChip, the Goji Chocolate Chip, the Goji Cherry Cacao, and the Goji Ginger Walnut.

The Goji Almond Oat Cookies are addictive – they should come with a warning label saying as much. I’m also totally hooked on the Goji Orange MintChip cookies. The only way to describe them is to say they taste like Christmas would taste if it had a flavor. The citrus of the orange reminds me of the fruit baskets that are always around the house during the Holidays and the mint makes me think of candy canes.

So, there you have it. They taste like Christmas.

The Goji Cherry Cacao and Goji Chocolate Chip cookies love to be dunked in milk. They’re super with Rice Milk (a personal favorite).

The Goji Ginger Walnut cookies may come in last in my list but don’t think they aren’t special – ginger just isn’t one of my favorite flavors for some reason. I LOVE the smell of ginger, but the flavor always leaves me scratching my head. My daughters FLIPPED for this variety though.

Just as well, it frees me up to concentrate on the rest of the gang. And by concentrate I mean gobble. If you (like me) have healthier eating in mind for 2011, but have no intention of compromising on flavor and food enjoyment, these are cookies you’ll want to try. They’re wholesome, delicious, nutritious, and perfect for kids of all ages.

They’re ideal to pop into lunch boxes too.

Toddy Cold Brewing System: Coffee That’ll Make You Swoon

Toddy Coffee is Special Coffee

by Joi

“(The Toddy) is the ultimate coffee maker.” -The Washington Post

If you’ve never used the Toddy T2N Cold Brew System for coffee, you have no idea what you’re missing. I’m not sure why this system makes incredible, outrageously flavorful coffee (I guess we’d need Alton Brown to explain it to us) but it does.

Truth be told, I don’t guess I care WHY Toddy’s so outstanding as much as I care how soon I can have my next cup. Then the next, then the next, then the next…

I insist on trying out every coffee bean and every coffee-brewing system that comes down the pike before I recommend them on Get Cooking – so I force myself to consume untold amounts of coffee, but that’s okay, really, I don’t mind. As in AT ALL.

It’s how I roll, I call it my caffeine roll.

After I took a few drinks of my first cup of brewed “Toddy” coffee, all I could think was, “This is a perfect cup of coffee.” And I’ve thought the same thing with each subsequent cup. Perfect, with a coffee house boldness – yet smooth as a baby’s….well, you know.

From the website:

As important as those fresh roasted beans are to your cup of coffee, it’s what you do with them that counts the most.

In 1964, as a chemical engineering graduate of Cornell, Todd Simpson developed and patented a cold brew system that, using regular coffee beans, creates a superior-tasting cup of steaming HOT coffee. And, with 67% LESS ACID than coffee made by conventional hot brew methods, it’s easier on sensitive stomachs.

The Toddy coffee maker extracts the coffee bean’s true delicious flavor and eliminates much of the acidity, producing a bold, super-smooth coffee that can be served one cup at a time.

Toddy Cold Brewing System Features:

Designed to brew coffee with 67-percent less acid than coffee made with hot brew methods
Patented cold brew system uses regular coffee beans to create super smooth hot coffee, but with no electricity required
The Toddy Cold Brew System also makes tea, served hot or cold
Set includes brewing container with handle, glass decanter with lid, 2 reusable filters, 1 rubber stopper, set of instructions, and recipe guide
Get more out of your coffee beans, since the coffee concentrate stays fresh for up to 3 weeks

You can use your favorite coffee beans with the Toddy System and, as you just read… it makes fantastic tea as well.

You’ll want to slide on over to Amazon and order your very own Toddy T2N Cold Brew System right away. While you’re at it, you might want to grab one for the biggest coffee fiend on your Christmas list.

Starbucks Frappuccino Drinks: Deliciousness Divine!

by Joi

You know what a Starbucks fanatic I am. I expect, any day now, that one of my local Starbucks will provide me with my own parking space.

Of course, I can’t always get to one of my Starbucks. Sometimes they have to come to me. (I just thought of something, how outrageously wonderful would it be if Starbucks delivered?! Just as well, I’d keep the driver so busy he or she would soon come to despise me and my caffeine addiction).

I’m hooked on the delicious little bottles of Starbucks Frappuccinos. I don’t go to the store without buying a little case of them – Heaven forbid I ever run out, things would get ugly fast.

I recently had the chance to try the “Light” varieties and I was completely impressed. They are as delicious as the others, they simply have fewer calories. Get this: Each bottle of the Light Fraps have only 100 calories – a perfect number for a snack.

I strongly recommend these smooth, refreshing, and delicious drinks. If you’ve never tried them, head off to the store immediately and grab a case. Most stores also have beverage coolers near the checkout area and many of these have individual bottles of Starbucks Fraps, so you can try a few different varieties. You’ll absolutely love each one, I guarantee it.

My daughters love to grab bottles as they head out the door for school or work. The caffeine and the sheer experience, alone, help them ease into the day.

I’ll be honest, I love them at any time of the day or night. When I’m sitting, working at my computer, I love to have one nearby. My favorite is the Mocha because as an addict of coffee AND chocolate, this allows me to feed two addictions with one spoon. Or bottle, as it were.

However, I also love the other flavors, Vanilla and Coffee. They’re all exceptional, fun, and delicious beyond reason.

For more information, and a fun experience, visit Starbucks Frappucino.com

Make Starbucks Drinks at Home

by Joi

I’m a Starbucks fanatic and a green tea addict – so it’s only logical that I’d be a Starbucks Green Tea Frappuccino fanaddict. When the weather’s cold, I almost always go with Chai Tea Lattes, Skinny Caramel or Mocha Lattes, or hot tea – but when the weather begins to warm up, they know what I’m there for.

My youngest daughter, Stephany, and I are completely hooked on the Green Tea Frappuccinos made with whipped topping on top and drizzled with raspberry syrup. Some people like the syrup mixed in with the green tea, itself – but it’s much prettier and much tastier if they just drizzle some on top. We both threw ourselves into one yesterday while out enjoying every single digit of the 49 degrees. That may not sound too warm, but it is when your weather’s been in the 20′s longer than my aunt was. She outsmarts the rest of us. She spends about 20 years in each decade.

While driving along slurpping, ooohing, and ahhhing, I thought how outstanding Starbucks Raspberry Syrup would be on smoothies, ice cream, pound cake, white cake with white icing, cool whip covering strawberries or hot green tea, my hand… This stuff is that good.

I jumped online and found that you can order some of your very own. In fact, you can order any of their remarkable syrups and get all kinds of remarkable in your kitchen. Think about the possibilities with each of these:

Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Syrup

Starbucks Caramel Syrup

Starbucks Hazelnut Syrup

Starbucks Vanilla Syrup

Click through any of the flavors listed for more information – there are also Sugar Free versions available. My mind just doesn’t spend much time with the words sugar free. Sometimes when I’m huffing and puffing on the treadmill I wish it did. But, there you have it.

I’d recommend each one of these perfect syrups for flavoring coffee and/or using in the seductive manners I described. Whatever you do, you MUST grab a bottle of the Starbucks Raspberry Syrup and a bottle of the Starbucks Caramel Syrup.

You can have a lot of success making Starbucks-like drinks at home, but having great coffee, great tea bags, and these flavored syrups are essential. And delicious!

North Star Fine Coffees: Taste the Commitment

by Joi

Coffee is life. Okay, so maybe that’s a really broad, really ambitious statement – so sue me. Just don’t take my coffee from me.

Some of you tease me (good naturedly, of course) about my unwavering stance on not cutting corners when it comes to baking. I’ve said it a gazillion times, more times than not, you get what you pay for. When it comes to ingredients, your food will taste better if you take the quality of each ingredient into account. If you’re making a German Chocolate Cake, for example, and you want it to taste first rate, you’d better have first rate ingredients – otherwise, you’ll have to settle for the outcome, just as you settle for the ingredients.

Granted, I will look for bargains and if something’s on special, I load up. I want to get what I pay for because I have a strong distaste for wasting money or being foolish with it.

However, experience has taught me that some things are simply worth the extra price. Vanilla extract, cocoa, chocolate bars, and coffee each are at the top of this list.

Premium Coffee: Why It’s Worth the Price

Some people question buying premium coffee. I can almost hear them asking now, “Why buy premium coffee beans when I can buy ground coffee at the store for next to nothing.” That’s akin to asking, “Why buy a Cadillac when I can buy a clunker?”

Premium coffee simply tastes better and leads to a much more enjoyable, satisfying, and lovely coffee-drinking experience. Why do you think coffee house coffee is so extraordinary? They take what they do seriously. They don’t buy clunkers.

Neither do I.

What’s Special About North Star Fine Coffees?

What distinguishes North Star Fine Coffees from other coffees, even other premium coffees? I can think of a few words:

Commitment
Pride

Here’s where rubber meets the road – or rather where the bean meets the grinder: There are twenty-eight grades of coffee. Most people drink, on average, a grade 15 – 28. Even drinkers of ‘specialty’ or ‘Gourmet’ coffees aren’t enjoying coffees any better than a grade 5, which qualifies at the minimum level for a specialty coffee. North Star Fine Coffees only offers premium grade 1 — the absolute finest available in the world.

This commitment to standing apart from the rest shows. You can taste it in every sip. You can smell it when you grind the beans! No lie, this may be something that only coffee drinker extraordinaires like myself, my husband, and our oldest daughter would recognize, but when we grind North Star Fine Coffee beans, you can smell the goodness throughout the kitchen and the dining room. I love to put on an evening pot and I always grind the beans right before Emily gets home from work. This way, she’s hit with the Heavenly aroma the minute she walks in the house.

Needless to say, it’s something we all enjoy each morning as well.

I’ve spoken through e-mail and social media to the President of North Star Fine Coffees and he’s as friendly and likable a person as you’d ever hope to meet. How could he not be? Coffee people are the coolest people in the world! Something always stands out to me: He’s very warm, sincere, friendly, and positive – some of my favorite traits! But there’s something else. He takes a great deal of pride in his coffee and in his company. You can tell it isn’t a job for him or just a way to make money. He’s passionate about his coffees and he’s passionate about North Star Fine Coffees reputation.

My household is so overjoyed that he is!

***This fact is supported by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

{ Literally pauses to take a sip of North Star’s Seattle Reign Blend! }

Where to Buy North Star Fine Coffees

I’d love for you to try North Star Fine Coffees for yourself. I want you to taste just how special this coffee is and I want you to see, first nose, what I’m talking about with the aroma. It’ll have you floating through the air!

Click any of the links in this post (or any of the images as well) to learn more about North Star Fine Coffees and to place your order. I have tried and thoroughly enjoyed the following blends: Black Label and Seattle Reign.

Seattle Reign: A decadent medium bodied coffee with soft earthy undertones, slightly sweet nutty flavor and a luxuriously smooth chocolaty finish. (Yes, chocolaty! – a delicious subtle flavor of chocolaty Heaven.)

Black Label: Luxuriously smooth, seductive aroma, rich full body, with smokey overtones, and a semi-sweet finish.

I honestly can’t say which is my favorite – I love them both equally. I guess this calls for more testing, right?!

{ Heads off for more testing… I love my life.}

Doi Chaang Coffee

by Joi

I was recently sent 3 bags of Doi Chaang Coffee and it has been my supreme pleasure to test each one. I’ve tried the following beautiful, aromatic, and delicious varieties: Single Estate: Signature, Single Estate: Medium, and Single Estate: Piko’s Peaberry.

My favorite? Whichever one happens to be in the pot at the time! Seriously, each is outstanding and I don’t think it’d be possible to go wrong with anything with the name Doi Chaang on the front.

About Doi Chaang Coffee:

From Doi Chaang’s Website: Doi Chaang Coffee is a single-origin, premium Arabica. It is certified organic, forest canopy grown, hand picked, fresh water processed, sun dried, hand sorted and freshly roasted to ensure the highest possible quality for each cup of Doi Chaang Coffee. Naturally low in caffeine, it has a complex and flavourful profile which is enhanced and released through detailed cultivating, processing and roasting methods. Read more….

Click the following link to shop online for this wonderful premium coffee. It’s more than just a cup of coffee, it’s an experience: Buy Doi Chaang Online.

Burger King to Serve Seattle’s Best Brand Coffee Starting This Summer

by Joi

Wow, I didn’t see this one coming. As you know, I am the epitome of a coffee expert. My husband and our oldest daughter (Emily) are the same way. What can I say, we know our java. We always have a fresh pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen and we certainly know the spots around town with the best coffee when we need a quick fix away from home.

Emily and I are completely wild about Burger King’s coffee. For some reason, it is just always tastes outstanding. Apparently it’s about to get even more outstanding, if that’s possible. Starting this summer, new coffee will be served at Burger King’s nationwide.

Burger King will roll-out Starbucks Corp.’s Seattle’s Best Coffee to more than 7,000 of its restaurants in the United States. Burger King’s brand, BK Joe will be forced into retirement. Emily and I will miss it something fierce.

John Schaufelberger, senior vice president of Burger King’s global product marketing and innovation, told The Associated Press that coffee switcheroo is part of a continued effort to improve its breakfast business. He called Burger King’s morning menu one of their “top strategic priorities.”

Seattle Best Brand, which I love by the way, is one of coffee giants Starbuck’s babies. Starbuck’s acquired the Seattle’s Best brand in 2003. Seattle’s Best Brand is already served at 9,000 Subway franchises.

Fidalgo Bay Coffee – You Can Taste the Class

by Joi

Fidalgo Bay Coffee

There are certain things in this world that I consider myself to be an expert on: Raising daughters, cooking, Dean Koontz books, herbs, chocolate, polar bears, and coffee. Definitely coffee. The girl knows her coffee.

Whenever my husband (Michael) is near Murray, Kentucky, he stops for a cup of coffee at the Fidalgo Bay Coffee Shop. One morning, however, the cup proved too flimsy for the lid (or his “golf grip hand” was too strong) and coffee went all over him and his ipod. Not a completely happpy ending.

He mentioned it on his business blog. I believe it was more of a “Watch out for this type of thing before it happens to you” type of thing than a gripe fest.

Months later, he had actually forgotten about it. We had been back to the coffee shop quite a few times and always enjoyed their delicious coffee and friendly baristas.

A few weeks ago, however, Michael got an e-mail from someone with Fidalgo Bay. She told him that they had seen his post, were very sorry, and would like to send him something to make amends. She asked for his address, but he was thinking that everything was cool and that she didn’t need to send anything. THEN, the man that I love so dearly realized that she would probably be sending coffee and he coughed up our address.

I didn’t even have to hit him on the back.

I’m here to tell you that when Fidalgo Bay makes amends, they make amends. In addition to two gorgeous travel mugs featuring their beautiful logo, they sent:

12 oz. bag of Organic French Roast Whole Beans
12 oz. bag of Daybreak Blend Whole Beans (What I’m drinking at the moment!)
12 oz. bag of Organic Cafe’ Selvanica Whole Beans
12 oz. bag of Sunset French Whole Beans
Box of Numi Breakfast Blend Organic Full Leaf Tea Bags
Box of Numi Gunpowder Green Organic Green Tea Bags

It was Christmas in January!

My oldest daughter and I are huge fans of the Fidalgo Bay Breakfast Blend tea (a black tea with a personality so strong he can substitute for a cup of coffee at a moment’s notice). The caffeine is higher in this tea, so when we do grab a cup of Breakfast Blend instead of coffee, our body doesn’t seem to realize the switch. It’s brilliantly convenient when we simply don’t want to make a whole pot of coffee.

I’m equally thrilled with the Numi Gunpowder Green Tea. I’m already a huge fan of green tea, but I’ve had trouble getting my husband to drink it. Whenever I offer some to him, he just crinkles his nose and makes a face like I just offered him pickled squid. But get this: He tried the Gunpowder Green tea and now even requests a cup of this green tea! It does have a extra special taste and can win anyone over to team Green.

Speaking of green, I LOVE that these teas, as well as many of Fidalgo Bay’s coffees are organic. Just what does that mean, you may ask? I’ll let the words on the bag of Organic French Roast explain:

Beans are allowed to ripen slowly under a canopy of shade trees, which provide a natural habitat for animals and migratory birds. No chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used. Each harvest is hand-picked and sundried in the open air to preserve the natural character and earthy flavors of these special coffees. Even the pulp residue reproduced during the drying and milling process is composted and recycled into organic fertilizer for future plantings.

This is a costly process. That’s why we pay a premium to farmers who are dedicated to preserving these high quality, socially responsible farming traditions. It’s a commitment you’ll savor with every cup of our Nature’s Crest organic coffees.

Fidalgo Bay Daybreak Blend Coffee Everyone’s a winner – the farmer’s, the farmer’s families, the coffee drinkers, and Fidalgo Bay, of course, who secures some AMAZING coffee and a stellar reputation.

Fidalgo Bay coffees are very, very special. They have a spirited personality, an intoxicating aroma, and a remarkably delicious flavor. I just ground the last of the Daybreak Blend this morning. Fidalgo Bay Daybreak Blend has a fresh, rich, nutty flavor. It’s easily one of my favorite coffees I’ve ever enjoyed.

I also love the Fidalgo bay Sunset French Coffee. It’s a bold, rich, coffee with a strong sense of itself. Before I brewed a pot of this beautiful coffee, I read on the bag that it had a “Smokey Finish.” A million question marks marched around my head – A smokey finish..what??? After I tasted my first sip, though, the question marks turned into exclamation marks and they stopped marching and started dancing. There is a delightfully delicious smokey finish and it’s one you and your own dancing exclamation marks would have to experience for yourself.

Actually, you’ll want to experience all of Fidalgo Bay’s coffees because, I can honestly tell you they don’t seem capable of making a disappointing or even average coffee. I only wish they were available in grocery stores! However, they do have a website, which means you can buy online – and we all know how easy that is.

Visit Fidalgo Bay Coffee today and order a couple of bags of their rich, delicious coffee. Then watch for your delivery and prepare to be blown away. You don’t drink Fidalgo Bay Coffee, you experience it.

Coffee Beans

Gorgeous Starbucks Global Mugs Would Make a Great Collection

by Joi

Nobody loves Starbucks like I love Starbucks – I’m totally comfortable with that claim. Not only do I frequent each of the three Starbucks in Owensboro (I like to spread the love), my kitchen echoes my sentiments. You can always find several bags of Starbucks coffee beans on the counter, Starbucks mugs in the cabinets, tumblers, and (of course) the full or half full coffee, tea, or latte that I’ve recently snagged.

I just found these gorgeous mugs online, at the Starbucks website – yes, I even stalk them online. It occurs to me that they’d make a great collection, so.. um, yeah… I’m going with that idea. Click through to see the rest of the gorgeous mugs they have. Starbucks is the reason, you know, that drinking coffee is so vogue, classy, and even sexy.