Iced Coffee 2.0

If you read yesterday's post on Instant-Gratification Iced Coffee, here is your follow-up!

If you followed the recipe, you should have approximately three trays of gorgeous little coffee ice cubes:

1. Pour 1/4 cup+ of milk or cream into 2 mason jars
2. Fill mason jars to the rim with coffee ice cubes (you'll use up about 1 tray of ice cubes)
3. Pour hot brewed coffee over top
4. For an extra treat, stir in agave syrup or chocolate syrup (I chose Hershey's Chocolate Syrup). Stir well, otherwise you'll find all the chocolate at the bottom - unless you like that kind of thing!

Enjoy on this lazy Sunday!

-Stephanie 

Instant-Gratification Hazelnut Iced Coffee

I did something very rare today - I skipped my morning coffee altogether to get to an early appointment. By 12:30, I was craving a little caffeine, so another rare occurrence... I went through a Tim Horton's drive-thru and picked up lunch for hubby and I. Two jalapeno-cream-cheese bagels and two large iced capps (with milk) later, I was still longing for a real coffee... but the weather was just too warm for a hot brew. So I jumped on Pinterest in search of some iced coffees... and most involved coffee ice cubes. Since I wanted the coffee now (and not tomorrow) I got to work on my own "quick and dirty" iced coffee recipe.

Side note: I began drinking coffee during a high school trip to Europe when I was sixteen. When I returned home and requested a coffee, my mom had not issue with it, but when I reached for the sugar, I got the look.

"If you're going to drink coffee in this house, you learn to drink it without sugar, or not at all."

Tough? Yes - my mom had a reputation. She was also in the fitness industry, so it was her business to be healthy and in shape, so ours was a "healthy eating" household. In hindsight, I'm glad that she nipped sugar drink dependency in the bud, because I've not craved them since. Don't get me wrong - I supremely enjoy a Mocha Frapp from the biggest coffee house around - but I enjoy them as a "dessert-like" treat, not an everyday routine.

On to the coffee!

Instant-Gratification Hazelnut Iced Coffee (without Instant coffee)... 

1. Brew 12 cups of strong coffee (I used 14 heaping scoops of grinds, plus 1 tsp cinnamon on top of the grinds for flavor) or 4 cups if you don't want leftovers (see step #7)
2. In 2 mason jars, pour approx. 1/4 cup milk (I used 3% which I had leftover from a dessert recipe) 
3. While coffee is brewing, heat the milk in the mason jar (I microwaved on HI for 30 seconds). It may seem counter-intuitive to heat the milk for iced coffee, but without the heat, the milk won't froth well.
4. Once heated, froth the milk for 30 seconds.  

   

   Milk on the right has been warmed and frothed - it's worth the extra two steps!
   

   
   

5. Once milk is frothy and coffee is brewed, add one shot of hazelnut liqueur (I used Frangelico, something like Bailey's would also work well) 

   

   Frothy milk, a touch of liqueur, this coffee is going places!
   

   
   

6. Add as much ice as you'd like (I filled half the jar) and slowly pour the hot coffee over top. Add a straw and enjoy!!
7. With the leftover coffee, make those coffee ice cubes for next time!

The final product: hazelnut iced coffee perfect for a hot summer's day
(without busting the calorie bank!)

The result is a coffee that's cool, not-too-sweet and not-too-creamy or heavy for a hot afternoon.

Cheers!

-Stephanie 

P.S. A good friend of mine road-tested several milk frothers before settling on one, and I bought it for myself with her recommendation (she's an Italian who is pretty serious about her coffee...) I find it quicker to use than the whisk-type. It's called a Smart Cafe, and my Canadian friends - I bought it at Linen Chest (of all places...) 

One: Choose Fear

One Saturday, as I sat with a good friend (the Social Media Fairy Godmother) she said two words that really stuck with me: choose fear.

We were sitting at my kitchen table, eating what I consider to be the best Italian pastries in Montreal, and we had just been talking about the direction we were each taking in life. She stopped me and asked why I wasn't jumping into a new challenge, and when she heard my weak reply, she simply said "choose fear."

She then went on to show me a great Ted Talk by Chris Cummins (side note - I really, really love Ted
Talks...) and the message really spoke to me. As the
title suggests, it's about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone - because this is the place where you learn. This is something that I've always believed in, but I really needed a reminder (or a gentle kick in the butt...)
I have a wonderful job, but I am ready for a new challenge, be it a new project, a lateral move, or even a step up - but I had grown frustrated by what I perceived as a lack of opportunity. I love to cook, bake, knit, and be creative, and I had promised myself that I'd start a blog this year - but I hadn't "made the time." So here was my "godmother" friend, telling me to shake my butt. To look around, and to see the opportunities where I could grow.

So here I am - I started off staring at a blank screen, anxious at how I might fill it. Now, there are a few words, and a snippet of who I am. I'm still nervous by the "newness" of it all, but I am happy - the hardest part of any new challenge is to begin, and so I have!

Before I go, I'll tell you a little bit about myself and the blog that I envision.

• I am a true Type-A personality. I make lists,  I color-code and I love having "a place for everything, and everything in it's place" (however, I recognize that having perfect order and control is not always reality). I research things before I do them (How to write a blog... How to write a first blog post... you get the idea). 
• I always thought of myself as scientific vs. creative. I have a bachelor's in Animal Biology and a master's in Biotechnology (they were fun, difficult, and intriguing programs, and I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to pursue them) but about 3 years ago, a mentor came up to me at work and described me as creative. I was shocked, as I was in a regulatory position at the time, which I consider to be one of the least creative jobs out there... but he saw something in me that I hadn't really been attune to. It turns out that you can be both creative and scientific, without cheating one or the other! 
• I enjoy being happy, sharing positive things, and being optimistic. I think that happiness breeds happiness, and likewise, negativity breeds a "doom and gloom" attitude. As such, I promise to keep this a mainly happy space - if I don't, you can call me on it!
• I've had a love of baking since I was a young teenager. I asked for only cooking tools for my sixteenth birthday (and received beautiful mixing bowls, measuring cups and tools from my grandmother...) I created themed birthday cakes every year for my two younger brothers on their birthdays. Once I was in university, I learned to knit, and fell in love with that too. When we prepared for our wedding, I also loved paper-crafting and DIYing. 

As the title hints, this blog will focus mainly on cooking, baking, and crafting - things I love to do during my down time. The "witchcraft" play on words pays homage to my great-grandmother, who was apparently so accurate when reading tarot cards, that she predicted many family events (like the fact that my aunt would meet and marry a "tall, dark and handsome" man). I think that the women in our family have a little bit of her premonition in each of us. 

I hope that if you've made it this far, you'll enjoy the posts as much as I love writing them (no matter how much I fear it at first). 

Keep in touch or leave a words of encouragement in the comments - and thanks for reading!

-Stephanie at WhiskCraft