Cold Brewed Coffee

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I’m sitting outside in a comfy lawn chair, watching my two kiddos play in the yard.

I love summer! I’ve got my handy dandy laptop, Kindle, and of course, my iced coffee by my side! It’s just gorgeous today. 75 degrees, sunny, just a few fluffy clouds in the sky.

I’m currently watching Emma attempt to baptize her doll in her water table (or is she trying to drown it?)

As promised, here’s a quick tutorial on how to cold brew coffee! I originally got the instructions from the Pioneer Woman.
In her original instructions, she says to use 16 oz. of coffee to make 2 gallons of coffee, but I don’t have anything large enough to hold that much coffee, so I usually cut it in half.
The ratio that she uses is 2 oz. of coffee for every quart of water.

Take your coffee grounds and place them in a large container. I used 8 oz of coffee here. (Store any leftover coffee grounds in a sealed container in your freezer.)
Add a gallon of water to the coffee grounds (16 cups).Give it a stir to make sure the coffee grounds are saturated.

Let it sit 8 or more hours at room temperature. I like to give it a couple stirs during this time, just for the heck of it.
The coffee grounds should settle at the bottom of your container (mine did, anyway).
Place a fine mesh sieve (or any ‘ol strainer you have sitting around) on top of a large bowl. Line it with a paper towel, cheese cloth, or coffee filter. Strain the coffee through the filters.
I replaced the paper towels and ran mine through again (into a clean canister) to make sure I had all the grounds filtered out.
Chill in the fridge in a sealed container, and store up to 3 weeks.
I like to keep a container of both caffeinated and decaf coffee in my fridge at all times. I love the convenience of the cold brewed coffee. It takes a little bit of time to make up a batch, and it can get a little messy, but it’s so convenient to have it on hand!

Now whenever I want iced coffee, I can just get it right from my fridge, instead of brewing, and waiting for it to chill. It also has a nicer taste than hot brewed coffee. Sometimes when you hot brew coffee, it can get a kind of burnt, bitter taste. That never happens with this method! I’m seriously addicted to iced coffee now. I’ve been going through so much of it! My favorite way to drink it is poured over ice, with a packet of zero calorie sweetener, and a shot of flavored creamer. If I’m really feeling adventurous, I’ll top it with whipped cream and a drizzle of either chocolate syrup or caramel. YUM!

This picture says a 1000 words. My favorite iced coffee cup, and my kiddos playing in the background. Describes my day perfectly.

Skinny Caramel Frappuccino

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If you’re someone who enjoys your frappuccino’s as much as I do, you’ll love this recipe! I found a way to make Starbuck’s Caramel Frappuccino with half the calories! And none of the richness is sacrificed. The secret to it’s richness? Using frozen milk cubes! Instead of using ice cubes (which are terrible to try to grind up in your blender!) I use frozen milk cubes. They break up so much easier, and make such a smooth and rich frappe (with no chunks of ice that get stuck in your straw). So next time you’re about to throw out milk that’s about to expire, pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it! I like to keep a ziplock of milk cubes in my freezer at all times, so I can have a rich, creamy frappuccino at any time!

Recipe:
6- 1 oz. fat free milk cubes (a standard ice cube tray will freeze 1 oz. cubes, but you may want to measure if you’re watching your waist line!)
4.5 oz. of cold brewed coffee (or chilled coffee or espresso)
1 ½ oz. (3 tbsp) Coffeemate Fat Free Vanilla Caramel Creamer

Freeze fat free milk into 1 oz. cubes the night before.
Brew your coffee or espresso, and chill in the fridge.
Add your coffee, 6 milk cubes, and creamer to the blender and pulse until smooth.
Pour into a glass, and enjoy!

Calorie Count:
67.5 calories from the fat free milk
75 calories from the creamer
0 calories from the coffee

Compare:
Starbucks 12 oz.Caramel Frappuccino: 290 calories
My 12 oz. Skinny Caramel Frappuccino: 142.5 calories

Low Calorie Frozen Caramel Espresso Shots

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My Frozen Caramel Espresso Shots seemed to be a big hit! I realize though, that they’re full of sugar (and delicious caramely goodness), and some of us would like a healthier alternative. I revised my original recipe to be much lower in calories, about 10 calories per shot! Now they can be enjoyed as often as you want; guilt free.

Recipe:
4 oz. of espresso (or strong coffee)
1 ½ oz. (3 tbsp) Coffee Mate fat free vanilla caramel creamer.

Brew your espresso.
Mix in the creamer.
Pour into ice cube trays (or a silicone mold, must be flexible).
Put your filled molds into the freezer, checking on them after about an hour – hour and a half. Once the espresso shots are completely iced over, stick tooth picks in them.
Wait until they’re frozen through, at least 5 hours, preferably over night.
To unmold, gently twist your ice cube tray, and they should pop right out.
Store in an airtight bag in your freezer.
Makes 8-10 shots.

August is Coffee Month!

Alright, there’s no way of getting around it. I love coffee! I was majorly restricting myself from coffee during pregnancy and breastfeeding, but lately I’ve gone a little coffee crazy. I made myself a large batch of cold brewed coffee, and I am ADDICTED. I’m experimenting with all the fun icy coffee treats I can make. So here at Never Trust a Skinny Baker, I’m going to be doing a LOT of posts about coffee. Next on my list of posts: a modified (and more healthy version) of my Frozen Caramel Espresso Shots, how to cold brew coffee, a “skinny” version of Starbuck’s Caramel Frappuccino (less than 150 calories and only THREE ingredients!), and a Java Chip ice cream. So if you love iced coffee (and other icy coffee treats!) then stay tuned because there’s more to come!

Frozen Caramel Espresso Shots

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I saw the concept of making frozen espresso shots on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago. If you followed my other blog, you might remember that I was on a dairy-free diet because I was nursing my son, and he had a dairy allergy. I was so sad that I couldn’t have dairy when I saw this, it looked amazing!. I was thinking it would be months before I could put it back into my diet. But a couple weeks ago, I tested it with Charlie, and he’s been tolerating it! So I’ve been going a little coffee-crazy in the past week. It’s been about 4 months since I’ve had coffee. At first I tried it with soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk. But it was no good. It always had a funky taste, and it just wasn’t right. Now coming back to it, it tastes better than I ever remember! These frozen espresso shots are the best of all that is coffee. They’re rich, creamy, and packed with flavor. I may give up all other coffee drinks, and just have a handful of these every morning!

I wasn’t a huge fan of the original recipe I saw posted, so I made up my own. Here ya go!

Recipe:
4 oz. espresso (or very strong coffee)
1 oz. Caramel flavored creamer (I used International Delight Caramel Macchiato creamer)
1-2 tbsp caramel (I used ice cream topping)

Brew your espresso.
Mix in your caramel, and stir until dissolved.
Add in the creamer.
Pour into ice cube trays (or a silicone mold, it needs to be somewhat flexible).
Put your filled molds into the freezer, checking on them after about an hour – hour and a half. Once the espresso shots are completely iced over, stick tooth picks in them. Another way to get the tooth picks to stay in: Cover your ice cube tray with saran wrap and pull it tight. Making sure it’s snuggly in place, stick the tooth picks through the saran wrap and into the espresso shots. The saran wrap will hold them in place while they freeze.
Wait until they’re frozen through, at least 5 hours, preferably over night.

Note: Before inserting my toothpicks, I drizzled caramel over the espresso shots, with hopes of swirling it through. Instead, it sunk to the bottom (because they weren’t nearly as frozen as I thought). It ended up creating a nice gooey caramel coating on the bottom of each espresso shot. A much better outcome than I expected! If you want to do this, just squirt a drop of caramel into each mold before pouring in the espresso.

Makes 8-10 espresso shots (depending on size of the mold).
To unmold, gently twist your ice cube tray, and they should pop right out.
Store in an airtight bag in your freezer, or consume them before freezer burn can affect them. In my case, they’ll all be gone before they can get freezer burn!