A classic date idea on Valentine's Day is to plan a coffee date but why be mainstream in the remaining days of the Valentine's Week i.e. Hug Day and Kiss Day, when you can add a dash of effort and a whole lot of thought to make your partner feel special in a friendly, comfortable ambience? February 14 is just around the corner and no matter what Valentine's Day activities you have planned, there's always room for dessert.
To honour the day devoted to those we love most in the world, check out this list of 5 delectable coffee based recipes that you must try for your Valentine this year.
1. Coffee Tartlet
Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:
300 g flour type 00
100 g sugar
100 g olive oil
1 egg
40 g egg yolks
6 g yeast
Vanilla extract
Salt
Zest from half a lemon
Ingredients for the cream:
200 ml water
300 ml extracted coffee
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
50 g sugar
40 g cornflour
75 g chocolate
Ingredients for the meringue:
60 g egg whites
120 g sugar
Method for the shortcrust pastry:
Put the eggs and the egg yolks in a tall, narrow bowl, drizzle in the oil and mix everything with a hand blender. Place the mixture in a food mixer and add the flour and sugar first, then the lemon zest and vanilla extract. Knead the ingredients until you obtain a smooth pastry and let the dough rest in the fridge for about an hour.
Butter the moulds and spread the pastry, using about 30/50 g of dough per serving. Put in a conventional oven at 180°C for 10/12 minutes and once the tartlets are baked, let them cool.
Method for the cream:
Prepare the coffee and break up the chocolate. Then take a bowl and whisk the eggs, the egg yolks and the sugar, then add the cornflour. In a large saucepan, put the water on the hob and bring to a boil, then pour the mixture of the eggs into the water and cook for about 2 minutes in order to obtain a dense dough.
Add the previously prepared coffee, turn off the hob and add the broken chocolate. Mix with a whisk or a hand blender until the chocolate melts completely and at that point, let it cool.
Method for the meringue:
Put 60 g of egg whites and 120 g of sugar in a bowl and whisk until the mixture becomes dense and fluffy. You'll know it is ready when the mixture stays well attached to the bottom of the bowl when you turn it upside down.
Method for the filling:
Once the cream has cooled, add about 50 g of meringue to every 150 g of cream and stir until you get a homogeneous mixture.
Presentation:
Sprinkle the pastry with icing sugar, fill it with the cream and decorate with the berries.
2. Lemon and coffee cake
Ingredients for the dough:
250 g sieved flour
125 g softened butter
1 litre water
Ingredients for the custard:
50 g of Qualità Oro coffee beans
8 egg yolks
100 g sugar
50 g cornflour
1 litre of milk
Ingredients for the lemon topping:
4 fresh yellow lemons
150 g sugar
4 egg yolks
50 g butter
1 vanilla pod
Ingredients for presentation:
1 green-leaved lemon verbena
Method for the dough:
Start by mixing the flour and the softened butter by hand. Add the water a little at a time until you obtain a smooth mixture. Create a ball with the dough and then lay it on the worktop. Transfer it into a round mould of about 30 cm in diameter or in tartlet moulds. Cook at 180°C for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown.
Method for the custard:
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl for 4 minutes until pale. Add the cornflour. Place the Qualità Oro coffee beans in a colander, submerge in a pan with milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the beans, pour the hot milk on the mixture and stir. Boil the whole mixture again for 3-4 minutes, stirring and paying attention that the liquid does not spill over.
Method for the lemon topping:
Blend the lemons, cut into pieces (including the rind and the juice), with the sugar, butter, the egg yolks and the vanilla pod until it reaches a smooth consistency. Cook the mixture in a pan for 10 minutes to remove the bitter taste. After cooking, filter the custard with a Chinois. Add the butter to sweeten it all. Cool and leave to rest in the refrigerator.
Presentation:
Evenly stuff the base of the cake with the coffee custard and finish with the lemon topping. Garnish with lime zest and add some verbena leaves.
3. Coffee Cheesecake with Honey Jelly
Ingredients:
100 ml coffee
250 g mascarpone
250 g cream cheese
100 g icing sugar
15 g gelatine
250 g dry biscuits
40 g sugar
150 g butter
5 g coffee powder
200 g Acacia honey
100 ml water
Method for the cake bottom:
Crumble the biscuits into a bowl and combine the sugar and coffee powder with the biscuits. Melt the butter completely. Pour the melted butter over the mixture and mix until a uniform mixture is obtained.
Method for the cream:
In a bowl, mix the mascarpone, the cream cheese and the icing sugar. Soften the gelatin sheets in cold water and melt the gelatine in the hot coffee. Add the coffee to the cream and mix until a smooth and uniform mixture is obtained.
Presentation:
Place a layer of biscuit dough about half a centimetre thick on the bottom of a single-portion mould and let it cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. Pour the coffee cream on the biscuit base, up to about a centimetre from the edge.
Let it cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. Pour a layer of gelatine half a centimetre thick over the cake and leave it in the fridge for 6 hours. Assemble it in the serving dish and decorate with blended honey jelly and coffee powder.
4. Bavarian coffee cake
Ingredients:
100 g espresso coffee
4 egg yolks
150 g whole milk
175 g sugar
300 g cream
25 ml borghetti coffee liqueur
5 g gelatine
Method:
Put the gelatine in cold water to soak. Mix the sugar with the egg yolks. Bring the milk to the boil. Pour the mixture into the milk, stir continuously with a whisk and cook until it reaches a velvety, creamy density. Do not boil. Squeeze out the gelatine and add to the hot mixture, stir.
Add the coffee and liqueur at this point. Let the mixture cool down, but don’t allow it to solidify. Whip the cream and add it to the cold mixture, folding it in from the bottom up. Fill 6 one-portion moulds or a large mould and place in the fridge for 6 hours.
Presentation:
Dip the base of the mould into boiling water then turn the Bavarian cake out of the mould, onto a plate. Decorate with cream, chopped dried fruit, etc. We recommend using espresso coffee for this recipe.
5. Dessert glass with chocolate mousse
Ingredients:
4 Selezioni Espresso Divino espressos
1 Selezioni Espresso Divino capsule
250 g 70% cocoa dark chocolate
10 cl whipping cream
2 pears
200 g mascarpone
4 large eggs
50 g sugar
Leaves from seasonal herbs
Salt
Method for the chocolate mousse:
Melt the chocolate in a large bowl in a bain-marie with boiling water. Once dissolved, add the whipping cream and stir. Break the eggs and separate the egg whites from the yolks. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Pour the egg yolks into the chocolate, keeping the mixture fluffy and smooth, without lumps.
Start by gently folding in 1/3 of the stiff egg whites, followed by the remaining 2/3. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag (if you do not have one, use a freezer bag) and then fill the glasses with the mousse (about 2/3 of the glass). Place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 1/2 hours.
Method for the coffee cream:
Take a mixing bowl and stir the sugar into the mascarpone. Add 2 previously cooled espressos and mix. Sprinkle with a few pinches of ground coffee from the Espresso Divino Selection.
Transfer the mixture into a piping bag and squeeze it into the cups to a depth of about 1 cm above the chocolate mousse. Leave in the refrigerator.
Peel the pears and cut them into 8 slices. Pour the remaining 2 espressos into a hot pan and cook with the pears for about 3 minutes per side. Sprinkle with a little sugar and a pinch of salt and then allow them to cool. Depending on the season, replace the pears with citrus or red fruits.
Presentation:
Remove the dessert glasses from the refrigerator and add the pears. To add extra flavour to the chocolate and coffee mousse, decorate with some seasonal herb leaves.
(Recipes: Abdul Sahid Khan, Head Trainer)
Benefits:
From lowering the risk of developing depression to dramatically reducing suicide risk, coffee got it all sorted. Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of both liver and colorectal cancer as a few studies showed that those who drank 4–5 cups of coffee per day had a 15% lower risk of colorectal cancer and a 40% lower risk of liver cancer.
Drinking coffee before sleeping for a short period of time affects adenosine, a chemical that promotes sleep and increases brain’s capacity to receive caffeine. Before taking a 15–20 minutes nap, not before bed though, experts propose consuming caffeine right before falling asleep.
An 18 studies review on 457,922 people revealed that each daily cup of coffee was associated with a 7% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Coffee drinkers enjoy even a lower risk of premature death, as per a 20-year study which revealed that individuals with type 2 diabetes, who drank coffee, had a 30% lower risk of death and a few other studies found that consuming the beverage was linked with a 26% decreased risk of death in women and a 20% reduced risk of death in men, over 18–24 years.
