Coffee

You can substitute another coffee-flavored liqueur for the Kahlúa and, of course, increase or decrease the amount of liqueur, depending upon your taste.

A delicious way to end the meal, especially in cold weather, this drink is better than dessert. Feel free to multiply the recipe for a large group.

Remember that great Irish coffee starts with excellent brewed coffee.

The gentle heat supplied by the slow cooker is an effortless way to temper chocolate without having to use a double boiler, standing over the pot to keep careful watch. With the small amount of chocolate required, the recipe works better in a 3-quart slow cooker rather than a 5-quart, for better control over the melting process. The recipe can also be doubled for double the chocolate indulgence.

Ham with redeye gravy is a southern classic. A cuppa coffee is used to deglaze the pan, and the resulting slurry is poured over the ham slices. I’d bet my buttons that somebody has thrown coffee into the stew for added flavor!

The coffee craze shows no sign of slowing down. And fueled by all that caffeine, it probably never will. This sauce combines coffee and chocolate into mocha, named after an Arabian port famous for its coffee. Somewhere along the line, chocolate got added, and “mocha” nowadays means coffee fortified with a good dose of chocolate.

This granita is a favorite in Italy, where they top it with what seems like an unspeakable amount of whipped cream, which I see many Americans scraping off just after they walk out the door—to the shock of passing Italians. You don’t need to heap it on quite as high, but a dollop of Whipped Cream (page 170) is always a welcome, and sometimes necessary, counterpoint to the strong coffee.

This frozen delight is perfect in the summer when you need a brisk perk-me-up. It combines two of my favorite flavors, coffee and chocolate, in one scoop.

When my father was in the army, he and his bunkmates would eagerly anticipate the care packages that would arrive from home, filled with cookies and cakes. But in lieu of homemade goodies, their Brazilian bunkmate would get sacks of aromatic coffee beans. He’d carefully prepare single, tiny cups of coffee by crushing a few of the highly prized beans between two metal spoons and then drizzling boiling water over them, creating perhaps the most labor-intensive cup of coffee ever. But I’m sure the effort was well worth it. Make sure the espresso you use for this recipe is excellent; your effort will be appreciated as well.

Vietnamese food is perhaps my favorite of all the cuisines in the world, and I would eat it every single night if I could. At the start of every Vietnamese meal, I order a Vietnamese coffee. A glass with a sweet dose of condensed milk is brought to the table with a well-worn stainless-steel filter balanced on top, dripping steaming hot coffee into the thick, sweet milk. Once brewed, it all gets stirred up and ice is added. I thought the flavors would make an excellent ice cream, and I was right.

When I was a kid growing up in puritanical New England, dessert was a seldom-seen treat. When temptation raised its devilish head, a few scoops of unadulterated ice cream were allowed and served forth without much fanfare. Our reward was often coffee ice cream, curiously one of the few “adult” flavors that kids seem to like as much as grown-ups. And in case you’re feeling sorry for my dessert-deprived childhood, not to worry; I’m definitely making up for lost time nowadays.

It seems during the last decade or so, America has gone completely crazy for coffee drinks. All sorts of overpriced caffeinated concoctions are foisted on the public under the guise of coffee. But there’s nothing you can buy that can beat this simple coffee dessert. Blanco y negro is the Spanish variation of affogato, an Italian creation consisting of an innocent bowl of ice cream drowned in hot espresso; affogato comes from the Italian verb affogare, meaning “to drown.” I’m not fond of dessert names that reference morbid things like drowning and death (as in “death by chocolate”), so I opt for the kinder, gentler Spanish interpretation that refers to snowy, white (blanco) sherbet mingling agreeably with the black (negro) espresso that’s poured over the top. They come together in an unexpected, but very winning, way.

Even before the recent coffee-caramel craze, I was proudly baking up these custards because they bring together two of my favourite flavors. Although I’d love to take responsibility for starting the trend, the only thing I can say with certainty is that I’m unabashedly crazy for the combination. For best results, use very strong espresso because you want to make sure that the coffee flavor is bold enough to stand up to the deep, dark caramel. I think the custards are best served chilled, like some of those barista drinks.

This is the French classic that everyone knows and loves. I’ve resisted doing anything to change it, except be more generous with the chocolate than the pastry chef in the average Parisian bistro. Excusez-moi, but I like chocolate so much that I just couldn’t help myself. This recipe is a good place to use top-notch chocolate, French or otherwise. You won’t regret it when your spoon cuts through the glossy surface and dives into the smooth custard below. For best results, use a high-percentage dark chocolate, one that’s 60 to 70 percent cacao.

This is one big, tall, scrumptious dessert: layers of moist banana cake topped with a mocha ganachelike frosting, and crowned with handfuls of salted candied peanuts. Speaking of tall and scrumptious, I made this cake for a friend who’s a showgirl at the Lido in Paris as a thank you for allowing me a behind-the-scenes visit. She shared it with her colleagues between high kicks on stage and she assured me that even though those women are leggy and lean, their cake-eating capacity knew no limits. The next morning, I read an email, sent at 3 A.M., undoubtedly just after the last curtain call, giving the cake quite a few thumbs up. Or, should I say, a few legs up?

One of the pitfalls of having a blog is that you leave yourself open to all sorts of questions. The most common are from folks who want to substitute ingredients. I always want to reach through my computer screen, grab hold of their shoulders, and say, “But I worked so hard to develop this recipe. Please make it just as it is!” When I was working on these cupcakes, I began with the simple idea of individually filled chocolate cakes, similar to the kind I had as a kid, but with an adult sensibility. So I added a pour of Irish cream liqueur to the filling and spiked the ganache icing with a tipple of whiskey, which effectively wiped out the possibility of making these kid-friendly. So please don’t ask if you can make them without either, because the bad news is that you can’t. But the good news is that you can have them all for yourself and you don’t have to share them with the kids.

The small amount of coffee substitute used will enhance the intensity of the chocolate but will not impart a mocha flavor. This is a creamy, decadent chocolate treat.

A most flavorful flourless cake that’s airy light in texture but rich and intense in taste.

Chicory flowers are Aequinotales, meaning the flowers open and close at the same time just like clockwork. Here, that is from around six in the morning until the sun is high at noon. About the same time these blossoms are awakening, chicory roots blended with coffee are percolating across Louisiana. They make a fine combination. This dressing has the faintest sweetness of Louisiana molasses that works with the coffee to balance the bitter bite of the salad greens.

This decadent milk chocolate cremoso—a silky puddinglike dessert—is drizzled with olive oil for an unexpected pop of flavor. Some people are like, whoa . . . olive oil and chocolate? But the combo really works. The hazelnuts and chocolate bring forward a Nutella-like flavor, and the salt cuts the sweetness. The slight sourness of crisp sourdough bread and smoky flavor of espresso deepen the complexity of the dish. A recipe is only as good as its ingredients, and this is no exception. Use the best-quality chocolate—it makes all the difference between a waxy, vaguely chocolaty flavor and intense chocolatiness. Valrhona, Lindt, and Scharffen Berger are premium chocolates I like. Most of this dessert can be made ahead, so it’s perfect to serve for a dinner party.