COFFEE FOR YOUR SWEET TOOTH

Got a great Coffee Caramel recipe from the Internet on about.com.  These Coffee Caramels have a smooth, smoky coffee taste and a rich, chewy, buttery texture. The recipe as written produces a caramel with a noticeable but not overwhelming coffee taste--you can adjust the amount of instant coffee to suit your personal preferences, using anywhere from 1-3 tbsp instant coffee.  Your best bet in freeze-dried Kona coffee…which I can get you.  Just ask.

This recipe yields about 4 dozen small caramels.

Ingredients:

·         1 cup granulated sugar

·         1/2 cup dark brown sugar

·         1/4 cup light corn syrup

·         1/4 cup honey

·         1.5 cups half and half (not fat-free)

·         2 tbsp instant coffee (Kona is the best)

·         1/4 cup (2 oz) butter (not margarine), cut into 4 pieces

·         1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Prepare an 8x8 pan by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil heavily with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place the sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, half and half, instant coffee, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until the butter is melted and the sugars dissolve. Insert a candy thermometer.

3. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the thermometer reaches 250.

4. Once at 250, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the caramel into the prepared pan. Allow it to set at room temperature for 3 hours, or until cool and firm.

5. Remove the caramel from the pan by using the foil as handles. Flip it upside down and peel the foil off the back. Spray a large sharp knife with nonstick spray, and cut the caramel into small squares or bars.

6. Wrap the caramels in squares of waxed paper to prevent them from sticking together. (Alternately, they can be dipped in chocolate.) Store wrapped Coffee Caramels in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company can satisfy your coffee cravings with our four brands of gourmet coffees.  You’ll get a real start on having a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity.  CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee happiness during the day.  And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that will make you positively positive!  We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society! 

The purpose of this blog is to unite Kona coffee lovers and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the same time.  Join up, become a member, comment and have fun!  You can find the Kona Coffee Fiends group on Facebook and we’d appreciate it if Facebook users would “LIKE” the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Cowboy-Coffee-Company/222070817858553.  Just copy and paste to your browser.  You can also find us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster.  And on the web at www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com to order your gourmet coffee and coffee products.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you speak perfect Arabic without ever taking a lesson!  So enjoy your coffee, make it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian cowboy…and we had cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!