Cafe Redux

We've all been there. At the end of a long day, you arrive home to the sight of leftover coffee in the coffeepot and wonder what to do with it.

Toss it, save it or use it?

Pouring it down the drain pains me but we can have only so many affogatos. Iced coffee is another tasty and welcome alternative, especially during the summer months, and the preferred way my grandmother used her leftover morning java. But when trying to limit dairy consumption, iced coffee with half and half or cream is no longer an option and iced black coffee is not my idea of fun.

Leave it to my latest obsession, The First Mess cookbook, to come up with a plant-based recipe that remodels leftover coffee into something sensational.

It's not often I find so many amazingly creative and simple recipes in one cookbook, but this one is startlingly filled with winning recipe after winning recipe. If you need proof, this is the third recipe I have shared with you, so call me smitten with Laura Wright and her delightfully delicious culinary conceptions.

This mash up of iced coffee with chocolate milk will sway any dairy-loving person into believing that nut and seed milks are exceptional alternatives. Hemp seeds gives the beverage the right amount of heft and nutty flavor while the cocoa adds depth. A touch of maple syrup offers a slight hint of sweetness for optimal balance in this beverage that can be gulped at breakfast, as a snack, dessert, an evening treat or anytime of the day.

The next time your morning coffee is staining the coffee pot after sitting there all day, give the coffee new life and blend up a batch of mocha hemp milk. You'll feel righteous for not having poured the leftover coffee down the drain and you'll get a boost of omega 3 and 6, all 10 essential amino acids, 4 grams of protein and almost half of the daily required calcium.

For the enlightened, you will now view leftover coffee from a different perspective as it has renewed purpose, power and delivers in a meaningful way. Knowing there are no coincidences, perhaps this is a life lesson from which we can all learn something.

Buen provecho!

Mocha Hemp Milk
The Cowgirl Gourmet adapted this recipe from The First Mess cookbook

Print recipe

Imagine blending chocolate milk with iced coffee. This is what you'd get. Creamy and filled with flavor, this dairy-free dose of nutritious hemp milk combined with leftover coffee, cocoa (or cacao powder), a touch of maple syrup and vanilla makes this an utterly irresistible and totally good for you way to repurpose the morning's leftover coffee (and that would make my grandmother very, very proud). This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled, depending on how much leftover coffee you need to repurpose.

Makes 3 cups

1 cup leftover coffee
2 cups filtered water
1/2 cup hemp hearts/seeds
2 tablespoons cocoa or cacao powder
2 tablespoons maple syrup (for vegans), honey and/OR vanilla Stevia sweetener, to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of sea salt
Optional add-ins: 1 teaspoon maca powder or a few scoops collagen peptides

Place all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender, such as Vitamix, and blend until creamy and frothy, about one minute.

Pour into glass jars and refrigerate. When thoroughly chilled, taste for sweetness. I tend to add a few drops of vanilla stevia to enhance the sweetness a bit.

To serve, pour over ice or drink straight from the jar. Sip frequently and share with people you love. Store in the refrigerator and drink within 5 days.

For an evening or after dinner adult beverage, add a jigger of vodka, rum, tequila, kahlua, Bailey's, Frangelico, amaretto or other favorite booze.