Espresso Chocolate Torte (And Other Ways To Use Coffee This Holiday Season)

*This is a collaborative post

Coffee is the world’s favorite drink (after water). People in the United States alone get through more than 450 million cups of the stuff – that’s more than one cup of coffee per person, per day. No wonder you can’t walk more than a few feet down the street before bumping into a Starbucks!

But it turns out that coffee is good for making more than espressos, lattes, and mochas: it’s also a fabulous food ingredient in its own right.

Think about it: no spice on the planet comes close to the warm, soothing taste of coffee. It’s got it all: the acidity, the smoothness, and a smell that’s to die for – it should be an ingredient in everything!

One of the best ways to use coffee is in a chocolate torte – the perfect treat for the holiday season. Read on to learn more. 

Espresso Chocolate Torte

While an espresso chocolate torte might not sound like the healthiest of recipes on the planet, the one that we are going to discuss here is surprisingly good for you. While it contains a bit of dark chocolate, it also uses nuts, oats, and cocoa, all of which are relatively friendly to your waistline. What’s more, the whole thing is vegan, so you don’t have to worry about dietary restrictions. 

First, collect your ingredients for the base: 

• 1 cup rolled oats (gluten-free if you’re coeliac)
• ½ cup oat flour (you can make this yourself from rolled oats in a blender if you can’t find it in-store)
• ¼ tsp fine-grain sea salt
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ¾ raw hazelnuts

Next, grab the pantry items you need for the filling: 

• ½ tsp espresso powder
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• ½ coconut oil
• ⅔ cup agave syrup
• 1 ½ cups cashew nuts (soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes)

Method

While there are quite a few ingredients, the method is relatively straightforward (and the final product is divine). 

Step 1. Make the hazelnut crust. 

Start by preheating your oven to 350 F and then lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish with coconut oil.

Step 2 – Process The Base

Next, put the raw hazelnuts into a food processor and add the salt, oat flour, maple syrup, and coconut oil. You should notice that as the processor blade spins, it creates a kind of mushy dough. After you’ve achieved a lumpy consistency, add the remaining rolled outs and pulse until you get a thick, sticky mess. You want the mixture to be chopped but still have some texture. The “dough” shouldn’t be super-sticky, but neither should it crumble or feel dry. If you think it is too try, add a tablespoon of water and keep pulsing. 

Step 3 – Press The Hazelnut Crumble Mixture Into The Pie Pan

Take the crumble mix and place it into the greased pie dish. Spread it around as you would with regular pie pastry, ensuring that you press it into the corners. The more you push it into the bowl, the better it will hold its shape.

Once you’ve got a base that looks presentable, make a couple of small holes in it to allow the steam to escape. 

Step 4 – Bake The Crust

By now, your oven should be hot. Put the pie dish and crust in the oven and bake for between 10 and 13 minutes, being careful not to burn it. 

After, remove the crust from the oven and place it on a rack. 

Step 5 – Create The Filling

The filling is what this recipe is all about. 

First, you’ll need to melt the chocolate by gently steaming it over a pan. 

Then, grab your high-speed blender and add the soaked cashews, melted chocolate, agave syrup, espresso powder, vanilla, salt, and cocoa. You might find that the mixture struggles to turn into a thick liquid. If so, then add a small amount of almond milk to the mix to help it along. 

Step 6- Pour The Filling On The Crust

Next, grab the blender and pour the mixture out over the prepared crust using a spoon, making sure you spread it out evenly. 

Once you’re happy with the result, you can garnish it with smoke flaked chocolate or anything else suitable in your pantry.

Step 7 – Place In The Freezer For A Couple Of Hours

The topping will start with a relatively liquid consistency. To make it firm up, you need to put it in the freezer overnight – or for between four and six hours. 

Remove it from the freezer ten minutes before eating. 

Of course, there are loads of other holiday-themed coffee-containing treats you can prepare over the break. Take a look at some of these ideas:

Chocolate-Espresso-Glazed Donuts

If you love a donut and a cup of coffee in the morning, why not combine the two into a single recipe?

A chocolate-espresso-glazed donut is precisely what it sounds like: a donut covered in a delicious glaze. 

To make it properly at home, you’ll need a decent coffee maker. Consumerjar lists several coffee makers with thermal carafes that are suitable for this purpose. First, make your espresso shot. Then add it to standard donut batter. Bake in the usual way and then add a chocolate topping. If the topping is too runny, put the donut in the refrigerator to help it firm up. 

Coffee-Rubbed Steak

If you’ve never had coffee and steak together, it’s something you need to try. Coffee makes for an excellent rub because of its oil content and ability to hold moisture in the steak while it cooks. The result is a juicy, flavorful experience that makes for an exciting dinner topic at parties. 

Mocha Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are famous all over the world, thanks to their delectable flavor (and high chocolate content). Turning them into mocha cookies using your favorite coffee grounds is surprisingly easy. Mocha cookies with a savory twist can help elevate your holiday season.

Espresso Brownie Recipe

For chocolate lovers, nothing can beat the humble brownie. It’s a sticky, gooey indulgence, perfect for the holiday season.

If you’re planning on making a brownie this Christmas but want to give it a little extra kick, try adding some coffee grounds to your batter. The coffee grounds will add a rich coffee flavor and a caffeine kick, helping to keep you buzzing throughout the day, whatever you have planned. 

Coffee and chocolate are a match made in heaven, so it stands to reason that coffee chocolate brownies would be absolutely delicious. And they are! The rich flavour of coffee enhances the chocolate perfectly, and the two work together to create a brownie that is truly indulgent. By using your favourite coffee blends, you can add even more of your most enjoyed flavours to your chocolate brownies, making them even more special.

Make Coffee-Crusted Pork

You’ve heard of a salt crust, but have you ever considered a coffee crust?

The idea of a coffee crust is not only to help keep moisture inside a joint of pork but also to impart a flavor all of its own.

While turkey is probably the most popular meat over the holiday season, pork isn’t far down the list of family favorites and often makes an appearance on Boxing day. 

Coffee-crusted pork has a slightly crunchy texture on the outside. Just remember to cook the pork slowly on low heat if you use the coffee-crusted method. 

Make A Coffee-Based Granola

Making regular granola is easier than you might think. All you need is some nuts and oats, syrup, and coconut oil to bind them together. Adding coffee grounds to the recipe is so easy, it’s a wonder nobody had thought of it before.

When you add milk to coffee-based granola, you get a refreshing latte and a granola mix all in one dish. 

Coffee Ice Cream

While you can buy coffee-flavored ice creams from the store, there’s nothing like doing it yourself. While commercial brands use cheap coffee that has been sitting in a plastic tub for weeks, you’re free to use your favorite blend. 

Remember, you don’t need an expensive ice cream maker to make coffee ice cream. There are plenty of “no churn” recipes out there that make the ice cream-making process surprisingly simple

Your biggest task is preventing small ice crystals from forming in the ice cream. If you freeze it too quickly, your ice cream won’t feel as smooth as the commercial varieties. 

Coffee Scones With Bacon And Dates

If you’re looking for something genuinely decadent over the holiday season, then coffee scones with bacon and dates could be just the treat you’ve been waiting for.

Coffee scones with dates are crumbly, chewy, rich, and filling. While they are slightly sweet, they’re actually a lot more versatile than you might imagine, making them the perfect accompaniment to ice cream or cheese and biscuits.

You can enjoy these scones at any time of the day too, either at breakfast with a big knob of butter or in the evening with jelly and clotted cream (like the Brits).

Are you planning on going bonkers in the kitchen this holiday season? If so, then these crazy coffee recipes should help. Coffee is a delicious ingredient, but its role in food tends to get overlooked. With these ideas, you can use it much more often and get your coffee fix in ways that you couldn’t previously imagine. Don’t let this fab bean go to waste.