Chocolate Almond Coffee Biscotti & Coffee Drinks Recipe #MyBaristaMoment #Cbias

I am a coffee lover! Regular coffee, hot coffee drinks, cold coffee drinks I enjoy them all. Making coffee drinks at home has been something I have enjoyed for many years. Being a Frugal Mom I try to find ways to have store quality items I can make in my own home. One of the treats I always enjoy with coffee is Biscotti. I love to dip it in warm coffee and eat along side a cold coffee drink, I do admit I dip it in cold coffee drinks too.

I have always wanted to make a home made biscotti but thought it was beyond my cooking skills. I found that it is not at all, it was fairly simple! I am so excited I now know how to make it and plan to make more varieties using different flavors of Ambiance coffee along with different mix ins. I like to buy Ambiance coffee from Smart & Final since it is reasonably priced and comparable to the other brands I have tried. The Ambiance House Blend is a great go to coffee for drinking, baking with and making coffee drinks. I found a few recipes for Biscotti and adapted it to what I like for flavors and made a few short cuts.


Chocolate Almond Coffee Biscotti

2 cups First Street all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon First Street baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup Ambiance House Blend strong coffee, cooled
1 First Street large egg
1 teaspoon First Street  vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup First Street Milk Chocolate chips
1/2 cup First Street slivered almonds

In a small bowl whisk together the coffee, milk, egg and vanilla extract. I pre-made the coffee and allowed it to cool before making the biscotti.

In a separate larger bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until combined. Slowly add the coffee egg mixture until a dough forms, add the slivered almonds and chocolate chips towards the end of mixing it into a dough. 

On a lightly floured surface shape the ball of dough into a long log shape. I like big biscotti but if you want smaller ones you can make the dough into two small logs. Bake for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees or until firm to the touch . Remove from oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes. You can place them on a wire rack or cool in the pan like I did.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees cut  the log crosswise on the diagonal into 3/4 inch slices. Arrange the slices on the baking sheet, and bake for 5 minutes on each side until lightly golden. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy with your Ambiance Coffee!

They are perfectly crunchy to be able to dip them in coffee and not fall apart.

To go with my delicious Biscotti I decided to make a Hot Coffee Drink using Hazelnut Ambiance Coffee. Hazelnut is my favorite of the Ambiance coffees at Smart & Final.

Hazelnut Chocolate Hot Coffee Drink

1 cup hot Hazelnut Ambiance coffee
1/4  cup First Street Milk Chocolate chips
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons of sugar (sweeten as desired)
1-2 drops of First Street Vanilla

Brew a cup of Hazelnut Ambiance coffee. Brew stronger than normal for a bold coffee taste in your drink. I use a coffee press when I make coffee drinks to make a stronger coffee flavor.

Roughly chop 1/4 cup of First Street Chocolate chips so they will melt easier. You can use Milk or Dark chips. I like the milk chocolate for the sweeter taste. Add 1/3 cup milk to a pan to warm the milk and melt the chocolate chips. (If you have a microwave and want to it can be done in there as well.) Add 1-2 drops of First Street Vanilla to the milk chocolate mixture.

Pour the warm milk and chocolate mixture into your cup of Hazelnut Ambiance coffee. Stir in sugar as desired. I used a coffee press so I had a stronger brew that required extra sweetening. Grate a few chocolate chips to add a dusting of chocolate to the top of your coffee drink.

This cup of Hazelnut Chocolate Coffee is perfect to dip your Chocolate Almond Coffee Biscotti into!

Since I love coffee drinks so much I had to make another coffee drink using my House Blend Ambiance Coffee! This time I wanted to make a cold drink. We have been oddly having spring like weather in California and a cold coffee house style drink is perfect.

Iced Caramel Coffee

1 cup Ambiance House Blend Coffee strongly brewed then cooled
1 cup Ambiance House Blend coffee cubes
1 tablespoon of Torani Classic Caramel syrup
1/3 cup milk
1 table spoon sugar (add more as needed for taste preference)
Caramel sauce for drizzle

Before making this drink brew a few cups of Ambiance House Blend Coffee and allow it to cool. Once cooled pour the coffee into ice cube trays to make coffee ice cubes. This will make your iced coffee drink have more of a coffee flavor and not a watered down one like I have found at some coffee houses.

After the Ambiance Coffee ice cubes are made its time to make your Iced Caramel Coffee drink. To make the ice cubes easier to blend I crush them in a baggie first. Next add your crushed cubes and 1 cup of  cooled coffee to a blended. Then add the milk, caramel syrup and sugar to the blender.

Blend the drink on high for 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and add Caramel sauce to the top if the drink.

My Iced Caramel Coffee Drink taste great for a low price! I love making home made coffee drinks and being my own  Barista! #MyBaristaMoment Smart & Final is a great place to find all the coffee and baking products I need in one place for my coffee supplies.

Right now from Smart & Final if you make the switch to Ambiance coffee from Smart & Final you can go to www.smartandfinal.com/
Ambiance2012 enter the code on the receipt from their purchase of Ambiance and be entered to win some of these amazing prizes: First Prize (one grand prize per week, 3 total over the campaign): DeLonghi BCO264B Cafe Nero Combo Coffee/Espresso Maker, a $200 value!, or one of six $50 SmartCash cards (Two winners per week, 6 winners total)
 
Plus when you visit  www.smartandfinal.com/
Ambiance2012 you will be able to vote for your favorite Ambiance Coffee recipe and everyone who votes will be entered for a chance to win $50 worth of Ambiance products! (6 winners - Two winners per week over the campaign)

Dont forget to vote for my recipe while your visiting the Ambiance site :)

You can see my shopping expericance at my local Smart & Final by reading my Google+ story 

*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.   
#collectivebias #CBias #MyBaristaMoment
All opinions expressed in this shop are my own and your experience may vary.

Random Blog Found

My blog is on blogger and at the top of the page there is a button that says "Next Blog". I have never really noticed this button until today. Out of curiosity I clicked on it. The first two blogs were plain and had not been updated in several months but on the third click I stumbled onto a super cute craft blog. To my amazement this woman has my exact same name! Crazy right!

She makes adorable felt and other crafts on her site. She is the crafty woman I wish I was. For some reason my crafts seem to turn out the same as when I was in elementary school lol. I am more of a DIY building stuff kinda woman. I love the delicacy of her creations. She has even written a book about her felt crafting. And did I mention she knits too, sheesh I need to get more crafty over here. Sam, Nana and Meg went through a knitting stage a few years back and we all have awesome scarfs from it. I would love to one day make a quilt.

Oh I should mention the name of her site, Bugs and Fishes 

iPlay Baby Green Sprouts Review and Giveaway

I would have never thought I would need so many sippy cups and bottles when I was pregnant. As a first time mom I did know that I needed to be aware of chemicals like BPA being in plastic cups and bottles. I made sure to read labels of items I purchased and received as gifts. Companies like Green Sprouts make shopping for baby safe items easier for busy Moms. iPlay is the company that made Green Sprouts, they are a line of natural products including feeding, toys, and baby care items.

I have been looking for new cups for my son. He is big enough now to have cups with a straw in it. He seems to love straws and a straw cup is a great way to get him to drink a fruit and veggie smoothie. He thinks its fun! I wanted to find a good straw cup that would close tightly. I have had another brand of straw sippy leak into my diaper bag before. Thankfully when we tried the Aqua Bottle the lid closes tightly. My son loved his new cup. I love it since it is BPA free, can hold 10oz and is interchangeable with other Aqua Cups. He is used to tilting up his cup to drink it so he did take a bit to get use to holding it downward to get the straw to work. One note for using it is to make sure the straw part on the inside is firmly in place before you tighten the lid on or it can leak a bit when tilted. There is a cute Elephant on the cup that my son likes. He just learned about the sounds Elephants make and he does his best Elephant trunk noise each time I hand him his cup, its so cute!

I must admit I still let my son drink his milk out of a bottle. I know some Moms dont after a certain age but he is 2 and its the one way I can get him to drink his milk. As a toddler myself I drank my bottle until well after 3 and I turned out fine lol. I was previously using a glass bottle for my son to avoid all contact with plastics when he drinks his milk since I warm it up before bed. Lately though he does not want warm milk but only cold milk so I have been looking for a plastic bottle, plus he has been in a "lets throw everything" mode and a glass bottle must not be thrown! I needed a bottle that is free of BPA and PVC and easy for my son to hold. We tried the Green Sprouts Feeding Bottle. The Feeding Bottle was everything I needed plus with a wide opening it was so much easier to clean than my glass bottle. My son did launch it across the room too and it was fine! He picked it back up and continued to drink out of it. I just tell myself he is a future athlete and that he is practicing.

For the month of January iPlay and Green Sprouts is having a sale. The promo code IPJA12 can be used for 20% off Green Sprouts Bottles and 20% off of  iPlay layette.

GIVEAWAY

Win one Green Sprouts Feeding Bottle and Aqua Bottle

 

To Enter This Giveaway: (mandatory entry before extra entries)

What is your favorite color for the Aqua Bottle?

*Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address if its not public in your Google account*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on.

-Like iPlay Inc. on Facebook +1
-Follow iPlay Inc. on Twitter +1

-Follow Frugal Family Tree on GFC ( right hand side) +1
-Like our new fan page on Facebook Frugal Family Tree +1
-Follow FrugalFamTree on Twitter +1
-Share this giveaway on Facebook ONLY, using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +1 for each share you do. (can be done once a day)

-Copy and Paste This Tweet on Twitter and leave me the link (to find the link click on the time stamp under your tweet. Can be done once a day for the duration of the giveaway)

#Win a Feeding Bottle and Aqua Bottle from @iplayinc at @FrugalFamTree #Giveaway ends 01/31 http://www.frugalfamilytree.com/2012/01/iplay-baby-green-sprouts-review-and.html


*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts January 16, 2012 and ends on January 31st , 2012 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize.