19/12/2025
Practicing a fancy coffee drink for myself for Christmas! Recipe below with ALL my thoughts about every part of it. If you’ve ever talked to me in person, and told me a story, and happened to say that you’ll “make a long story short”, you have undoubtedly heard me reply, “Never! Please always tell me the long story!” I love to hear the long story! And of course, I like to TELL the long version, too. Partly because I truly love to connect with the people, and partly, here, because my hyper-vigilance wants to make sure that you have success with the recipe.
Iced Tahini Maple Fancy Coffee
Makes fancy coffees for two people or one person if you are me
For the coffee:
1 cup hot to warm coffee - I make the morning’s pot, drink a hot cup unsweetened, and set this cup aside to cool a bit for mid-morning snackyness.
3/4 cup whole milk (I just don’t like low-fat or non-fat milk - and I JUST read about a study saying that consuming whole dairy milk - and maybe it said cheese too? - correlates with a lower risk of dementia, so I’m excited to have my preference affirmed. Study funded by the Whole Milk Council of America? Could be, but I’m not investigating. Also! Sub any non-dairy milk that you like! I find that Oatly oatmilk froths gorgeously, if you have a wee battery-powered frother and would like a frothy top to this.)
(1 scoop collagen powder - feel free to leave this out if you want to - it’s my daily practice to have a scoop in my coffee, for some added protein and for my achy joints)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon (specifically Ceylon is the type for helping with blood sugar control - also for deliciousness in this recipe. I order Red Ape brand cinnamon by the pound bag, because they test for heavy metal content, which is a thing to be aware of in cinnamon, apparently. If daily cinnamon-for-blood-sugar-control is not your thing, you might try cardamom here instead. Or in addition. If you’re local, we can go halvesies on the next bag I order! Because it’s a lot of cinnamon.)
1 to 2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 one-finger-and-thumb pinch of smoked salt
Of course, the tahini, maple and salt should be adjusted to your taste. These amounts create a not super-sweet, nutty, slightly smoky, creamy flavor for me. YMMV.
Mix these things, and heat gently just to ensure that eveything dissolves OR leave it all cold and froth with a hand-held milk frother.
Chill.
For the glass:
A few tablespoons of chocolate chips or chopped: milk, semisweet or dark chocolate - I like semisweet for this, but do what you like.
OR you can use homemade or purchased hot fudge sauce. Don’t use purchased chocolate syrup, as it doesn’t have enough structure to hold the pistachios.
A few tablespoons chopped salted pistachios
Some ice cubes
Have your chopped pistachios ready in a shallow bowl or on a plate.
Melt the chocolate gently and slowly - it will seize up and scorch in the microwave OR on the stovetop if you apply too much heat too fast, and there’s no saving it once that happens. I sometimes arrange the chocolate bits in a circle on a small plate and microwave in 10 second bursts. (The chocolate will often be completely melted in 30 seconds, but will hold its shape, so don’t go by looks - touch it very tentatively to see if it’s melted.) Or do it on the stovetop in a small saucepan, over low heat, stirring til melty.
Dip and swirl the rim of your 16 ounce glass or two 8-10 ounce glasses in the chocolate, then into the chopped pistachios.
Trying not to knock any pistachios off the rims or smear any not quite firm chocolate, gently add ice cubes. Give the coffee mixture another shake or froth or stir, and divide between the glasses.
Gorgeous, delicious, and, with the green, feels very mid-winter celebration-ish to me!
