coffee – The Witty Child

It’s one of those terribly “basic” things to admit, but my heart beats a little faster when pumpkin spice latte season rolls around (it must be all that extra caffeine). In my defense, my infatuation is strictly with the latte, and not the hundreds of other pumpkin spice-inspired items available. I’ve carefully researched the coffee options, so you don’t have to. From worst to best:

4. McDonald’s Caramel Pumpkin Spice Latte. Their pumpkin spice latte used to be good, but the current iteration is far too sweet. Add to that the general chaos and lousy service, and this is a hard pass.

3. Starbucks. I think this might have been the original one, but it’s also really sweet and something else – I almost want to use the word “sludgy”, which is something your coffee should never, ever be.

2. Tim Horton’s. This is saying something. I’m not a fan of Tim’s overall, but their allegedly handcrafted latte is not wretched. It doesn’t have a terribly strong pumpkin or spicy flavour, but it’s not gag-inducingly sweet, either. If you want something warm, creamy, and soothing, this will take the chill off. (Bonus: The Pumpkin Spice Iced Capp is surprisingly decent, if you can get past the idea of a cold pumpkin drink. Just stay away from the whipped topping; that stuff could probably survive a nuclear bomb.)

1. Second Cup. The ne plus ultra of pumpkin spice lattes. I only wish there were more locations so that I didn’t have to brave the mall every time I want a fix. These are flavourful and not too sweet, and if you haven’t tried one, you must. You’ll never drink Starbucks again.

Ahem. Given that kind of attention to these drinks, it’s probably not surprising that the recipe for Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes from the Brown Eyed Baker called to me. I cheated just a little bit and used my pumpkin cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World as the base, only with the coffee and spices recommended by the BEB.

I used instant coffee instead of instant espresso powder because that’s what I had on hand. I also used a bit more than the 4 1/2 teaspoons called for, because it’s not as strong as the espresso. And although you certainly can dissolve 7 or so teaspoons of instant coffee in 1/4 cup of milk, you certainly should not taste it unless you want to never touch coffee again. Bleh. Luckily, by the time it’s mixed in with all the other ingredients, it just lends a nice coffee-ish flavour to the cupcakes without overpowering them.

PSC1

I topped them with the cream cheese whipped cream as suggested in the recipe, and oh: you can’t go wrong with that stuff. It’s light and fluffy, but doesn’t deflate if it’s out of the fridge for longer than a few minutes. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but if you have leftover whipped cream, it’s also excellent on toast or gingerbread, or eaten straight out of the container with a spoon. I don’t judge. Some caramel sauce and Saigon cinnamon sprinkled on top sealed the deal.

PSC2

They also release really nicely from their liners and stay moist. Dry cupcakes are the worst!

PSC3

I made these over Thanksgiving weekend, and although I associate with a band of cookie fans, I have never seen a batch of cupcakes disappear so quickly. This is one recipe that stays in the roster for next year – or, you know, next weekend. 🙂

Thanks for looking! 🙂

…my true love gave to me a chalkboard ode to coffee!

I finished this at around 2:00 PM on Christmas Eve, but between washing it, framing it, and wrapping the collection of gifts that sat there mocking me, there was no way this was getting posted.

Back in the summer, I was wandering through Michaels with a friend – I can’t remember what he was looking for – when I darted down the needlework aisle to see if they had anything interesting. Oh, and Michaels? Your needlework “aisle” is a joke.

Due to the craptacular nature of their selection, I really didn’t find much of note, but he zeroed in on a clearance kit. “Ooh! If I buy this, will you stitch it for me?” Gaah. I hate that question, but like him enough to shrug my shoulders and nod. It wasn’t a terribly sophisticated or complicated design, and although it was on black aida, I figured I could handle it, and then somewhere along the line decided it would make an excellent Christmas present for him despite the fact that I had four other pieces to finish.

Coffee 1

I just realized that because of the angle at which the picture was taken, you can’t see the solid white border along the right side, but it’s there.

Now, while I discovered when I stitched this that black aida isn’t as terrible as I remembered, it’s quite something else when the cheap kit gives you a piece of fabric with barely 2″ of clearance around the edges of the pattern, making it difficult if not impossible to grip the fabric with your Q-Snap when you get to the outside edges. Had this been a generous cut with better Q-Snap tension, I suspect it would have been finished ages ago. Also, the white floss ran completely out well before I was anywhere near finished – and I had triple-checked the instructions so I know that even the backstitch was to be done in two strands and not one. Luckily, I had some white floss left over from a different kit which filled the need nicely. Had it not been December 21-ish when I ran out, the company would have been getting a nasty letter from me.

Now that it’s done, and I can breathe again, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. He was thrilled when he opened it yesterday, so mission accomplished.

I hope Santa was good to everybody. Thanks for another great year! 🙂

Tag: coffee

For when your blood type is pretty much “pumpkin spice”…

On the third day of Craftmas…