Barista Banter: Christmas gifts/Party Favors for $0.87 each!

I love on a cold winter day snuggling up with some hot chocolate to watch the snow fall. Now NORMALLY this time of year we have plenty of snow up in North Idaho but this year...we've got nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. The weather reports Christmas day being in the 60's and although I LOVE me some warm weather this is just so....WEIRD!! Not a white Christmas this year?! Boo Hiss.

Any who back to the hot chocolate yummyness.

 Some of you might know this but my husband is the middle school youth pastor at our church- not to say we aren't blessed beyond our needs but it isn't really like we are "rolling in the dough" if you know what I mean. So when he asked me to come up with 60 party favors for less than $1 a person for the church Christmas party I was completely on board.

 In my head things like this are a game, a challenge, a quest to be conquered- you get the picture. I had seen some hot cocoa giveaway jars but my budget would be blown by the cost of mason jars and then there were some other ones made of condiment carriers but those looked too cheap (sorry if I just offended anyone....) Finally I came up with these goodies.

 The cost ended up being .87 per person and they were a big hit at the party-None left!

 Here is a step by step to get your neighbors or friends a little something without breaking the bank.

1. First you essentially make a huge assembly line.

I did the first twenty one by one and believe me it's MUCH faster going assembly line style.

 2. Take 3/4 cup of your hot cocoa mix, and start the first layer in a clear treat bag or cello bag.

 I didn't do anything fancy just Swiss Miss from Wal Mart at $5.46 a can

 and this made about 15 goodie bags.

3.Then layer a healthy handful or two of marshmallows.

There is no "set amount" to this- let the heart run wild (is that even how you  USE that phrase?!?).  

I stopped after two handfuls aka when there were equal parts of hot cocoa mix to mellows.

4. Then you simply tie the bags with curling ribbon.

Pull hard so the marshmallows don't dry out and get crunchy.

5. Curl the ribbon and tie a candy cane to spruce it up.

 I ran out of the clear bags so I had to improvise and use these cookie treat bags I had on-hand from last Christmas.

 Goes to show when I tell my husband I PROMISE I will use those someday- don't throw them out...I really will!

HA jokes on him! (Again...is that the right usage?! Stinkin idioms...get me every time)

Then take pictures of your hard work and show your hubby your craftiness and frugality without trying to gloat. Believe me...it's harder than it seems!

barista banter- the wonderful world of chai

As we looked at the spicy Pumpkin Spice Latte last month I wanted to keep with the theme and explore a non coffee option that is equally as synonymous with the holiday season and the spices all we love.

Yep- you guessed it: CHAI!

The best part about Chai is that, like espresso, it really does make a good base drink to platform dive into all sorts of yummy warm drinks!

My sister a couple years ago tried a Chai with Mocha which is delicious. A Caramel Soy Chai (made with the vanilla soy) has the perfect balance of sweet and spice. Now that holidays are in full swing, I have a lot of people ordering Chai Eggnog Lattes (I have to be completely honest here and say this one is not my favorite but only because I could never get past the thick texture of eggnog so all Nog drinks have been nixed for me!) But I know some people who wait all season for these treats! Combine the nutmeg of eggnog with the nutmeg of Chai and people go nuts..haha get it...NUTmeg..NUTS....oh never mind..

Back to Chai and it's versatility.

Today I will be showing you how to make a real homemade chai with all the spices that are in it. I remember a few years back, ok, really it's been about 6 years now, but our sister Jordan had come home from the middle east for the holiday season and with her she brought the recipe for true chai that some friends she had made in the beautiful country of Oman had shown her.

Now the real unfortunate part of this is, in true Keje fashion, I have lost the recipe and had to go on a search for a replacement :) Now the great part, and partly why I shared, is because going into my search I had already had a really good recipe so my bar was set really high! I knew what a good homemade chai could taste like and didn't want to settle for anything mediocre. SO without further ado- with much research and trial and error, here is the best recipe I found for Homemade Chai. This recipe is taken from Real Simple website.

EASY CHAI TEA RECIPE

Makes 4 cups| Hands-On Time: 05m | Total Time: 20m

Ingredients

• 8 cardamom seeds
• 8 cloves
• 4 black peppercorns
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 bags black tea (such as Darjeeling)
• 8 teaspoons sugar or more, to taste

Directions

1. Place the cardamom, cloves, and peppercorns in a resealable plastic bag and crush with a heavy skillet.
2. Place the crushed spices in a medium saucepan, along with the cinnamon sticks, ginger, milk, and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add the tea bags, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes.
3. Strain into cups. To each cup, add 2 teaspoons sugar or more, to taste.

One of the reasons I chose this recipe was because of the pure simplicity of it! I forgot to add my own step though. Step Four: Start a fire (preferably in a fireplace- I don't want the countries firemen upset with me), grab a good book, and ENJOY! 

*Your Barista in Residence (aka- Kedron)

barista banter- pumpkin spice lattes (to order and to make at home!)

*We've invited our favorite barista (our sister/sister-in-law, Kedron) to do a monthly column about all things COFFEE! This month she has the 411 on pumpkin spice lattes- yum! Without further ado, here's Kedron-

Fall to me is synonymous with things like the rollout of Caramel Apple Spice, Salted Caramel Mochas, and yes- Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Let's just have a moment of silence for the yummyness I just listed off................pausing...........reflecting.........mouth is starting to water........

 

image via lunacafe

Ok, now that I have that behind me I would love to share my own personalized favorite of the Pumpkin Spice world of drinks. This is my go-to fall order when I am in a Pumpkin Spice kind of mood.

Two disclaimers- I am not a HUGE latte person so most of my drinks I convert into americanos (meaning that instead of the drink being made with milk you just make the drink with hot water instead). And before I write out my drink, do know I  realize it makes me sound ridiculous and high maintenance,  but I blame that on working at Starbucks for six years- This is what it will do to a person :)

So without further ado- here is the best drink in town when it comes to Pumpkin Spice drinks (seriously, order it, you'll see):  
A Single Grande (or 16 oz.) 2 pump Pumpkin Spice 2 pump White Mocha with half and half, whipped cream, and pumpkin spice sprinkles Americano. 
*NOTE- I had to cut back on my coffee intake since becoming a mom but you can add shots here if you like more of a coffee taste. Same with the pumps- I don't have a real sweet tooth so these are half the amount of pumps in a grande but if you love sweet things this amount can easily be increased as well.

The glorious part of this drink is it can easily be made at home as well. I personally, being a Starbucks barista and all, love our instant coffee called Via. One packet will be enough for this drink.

DIRECTIONS for doing this at home instead of getting it at a coffee shop:

1. Boil 16 oz of hot water and combine 1 packet of Colombia Via in your 16 oz mug. *Make sure before you add anything else the coffee is fully dissolved. The easiest way to do this is add about 2 tbsp of the hot water then your packet and swirl in your coffee mug before adding the rest of the water. 

2.  In the world of syrups you can buy at stores I personally like the Monin brand of syrups because they last longer and have more a of a raw sugar taste versus an artificial sweetener taste. You can usually find these at most grocery stores- if yours doesn't have Monin, Torrani works too. I use the Monin Pumpkin Spice and Monin White Mocha when recreating my drink at home. 2 pumps equals about 2 oz ,which most shot glasses are measured out to, so I put 2 oz of each the white mocha and the pumpkin spice and stir my drink.

3. Add desired amount of half and half.

4. Although I prefer real whipped cream and would LOVE a whipped creme dispenser- (you know the ones I am talking about? They sell them at William Sonoma I think...well I do not own one of those...yet! [Christmas present?!?]). So I just use regular Reddi Whip and top the drink with Pumpkin spice seasoning- I found this at our local whole foods store! If you can't find any using a little nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon will suffice as well!

5. Now this is my favorite step- ENJOY!

See you next month for more Barista Banter!

*Kedron