Homemade Iced Cafe Mocha

Outside of tea (green, white and black) I don't consume much caffeine. And I really don't like coffee. However, I DO like coffee infused drinks and desserts (have you had one of my Tiramisu Whoopie Pies?!). And on occasion I love a good iced cafe mocha. In the small town I live in we have two Starbucks and one fabulous local establishment called The Red Lark. (Which by the way for locals The Red Lark is our favorite spot for lunch. As you can see in the photo below their $4.50 lunch plate is my daughter's favorite: hard boiled egg, fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, or in her case Sun Chips. Excellent, friendly service, fresh food and local. Can't beat that in my book!).

Anyhow, I'm a pretty big fan of Ree Drummond. I've followed the pioneer woman for years, I think it's been six years now? Something like that. A long time. Way before the cookbooks and Food Network show. The other day she posted a recipe that she found here and I modified it a bit. Most people do not have the large containers called for in her recipe and even if you hit Sam's Club or The Container Store to pick some up chances are your refrigerator doesn't have room to store it. So I made a smaller version and thought I'd post my results here. I absolutely love it!!! Here is the clincher...as with anything worth eating please use the best quality ingredients you can afford. It truly makes a difference.

Cast of characters:

Fresh ground organic coffee

8 cups Spring Water

9 cup glass (or plastic) Container with lid

mesh strainer and cheese cloth

chocolate syrup (this organic version from Trader Joe's does not have HFCS)

whole milk or half and half (I've tried it with both)

spoon (this straw spoon is from Crate and Barrel, very cool and reusable)

I put 8 cups of water into a large glass Pampered Chef batter bowl. Added 1/4 of the bag of ground coffee. Mixed it up, covered with the lid and let it sit on the counter at room temp about 24 hours. Original recipe says 8 hours but I was busy and left it that long. After that time I put a wire mesh strainer over a large bowl, lined it with cheese cloth (folded over a few times. I first tried coffee filters...did not work. Use the cheese cloth). I rinsed out the original glass bowl, added the strained coffee into it, covered with the lid and put into the icebox to chill overnight.

The next morning I put about 1/2 cup of half and half into a glass. Added chocolate syrup, stirred well then added ice. Topped that with about a 1/2 cup of the coffee. (Measurements are approximate here, if you want more coffee add it, if not don't : ). This was divine! I had to have one the following day. But was out of the half and half. So I used whole milk, which you see in this photo. I had no intentions of blogging this until afterwards and only took these few photos. Here is the link to Ree's blog post so you can see her version and amazing photography! As much as I love Starbucks and The Red Lark this turned out just as good, and a lot cheaper. But I will still patronize my favorite coffee shops...on occasion.  Enjoy!