Weekend cooking - coffee desserts

Let me count the ways I love coffee - no, wait - it's pointless. I am a coffee-holic. I love to smell, taste, cook with coffee - and that goes for all types of coffee! In desserts, I like using coffee because it cuts the sweetness and provides for new ideas and flavours. Here are my two favourite recipes involving coffee:

Coffee and walnut muffins

A very old staple in my recipe book, these muffins are just too easy not to make them every week (and they taste double so good!):

- 1 and 3/4 cups flour (I use instant, no need to sift)

- 1/2 cup each of butter in cubes / chopped walnuts

- 3/4 cups milk

- 1 egg

- 1/3 cup light brown sugar

- 2 tbsp instant coffee powder

- 1 tbsp baking powder

- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)

- 1/4 tsp salt

Mix everything - pour in oil-sprayed muffin tray, or in paper cups. Bake for about 30 minutes at 190oC. Leave to cool and enjoy!

Coffee mousse (recipe from the Dagelijkse kost cooking show)

A new recipe which is bound to become a favourite in no time: although I had to use all my mixing bowls, it took practically no time to prepare and the only thing that remained was to wait for the mousse to thicken: 

For the mousse:

- 3 eggs, separated

- 90gr sugar

- 150ml espresso coffee

- 150ml whipped cream

- 2 leaves gelatin (I used powder gelatin, about 7gr) 

For the whipped cream:

- 300ml whipped cream

- 60gr sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)

Now, the difficult part:

If you're using gelatin leaves, soak in water before mixing with coffee - with the powder, you can mix immediately - in both cases, leave coffee to cool. Then comes the whisking: in order to use my hand mixer once, I mix in the following order: first the egg whites, until I have a nice meringue (one mixing bowl). Next comes the whipped cream, which should not be super-whipped (the recipe calls for a "yogurt" consistency) (second bowl). Lastly, the egg yolks with the sugar, which need a couple of minutes of whisking, just to combine the two (third and last mixing bowl). This bowl should actually be the larger one, because everything else will get in there: again, in order: coffee, whipped cream and egg whites (you know how to integrate the egg whites? first a small part to beat relentlessly into the mixture, and then the rest, "folding" it? don't worry - any way this is managed, it always tastes good in the end). Pour in glasses and leave in refrigerator for about 1-2 hours.

For the whipped cream: whisk everything, pour on top of mousse:  You now have a Latte Macchiato dessert!

This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.