A root beer float is one of my favorite summertime treats. The combination of cold and sweet ice cream with fizzy, spicy root beer is a winner every time. Coffee drinks usually take on a blended form in the summer, but the “float” concept works extremely well with coffee and is right up there with the root beer version for me.

This drink starts with two scoops of good quality vanilla ice cream in a nice, big glass. The better your ice cream, the better your drink is going to be (in other words, save the lower fat stuff for another time). Fill the glass about halfway up with cold milk, then fill it up to the top with chilled black, coffee. Give everything a little stir with a straw and then enjoy. The ice cream adds all the sweetness that your coffee will need and will still keep the drink very refreshing. You don’t need to add any milk and could use all coffee if you really wanted to, but adding that milk highlights the creaminess of the ice cream wonderfully.

This could be a dessert drink, but it is something that I usually prefer to enjoy on a lazy weekend afternoon when I’m sitting outside enjoying the summer weather. I always prefer to use vanilla ice cream (it’s a classic for a float!), but chocolate actually works just as well in this type of drink.

With the changeover to the new pastries at Starbucks, there are a few favorites that you’re not going to be able to find anymore – at least, not at Starbucks. These missing pastries will vary regionally, according to the suppliers that Starbucks used to use. In my area (LA/Southern California), one that has disappeared is that is the Low Fat Apricot Blueberry Muffin. I tended to favor coffee cake over the muffins most of the time, but this muffin had a great combination of fruit and was generally moist and tasty, especially for a lower fat muffin!

At Baking Bites, I posted a recipe that is very similar, perhaps even a little better, than the original. They’re moist and packed with fruit. The Starbucks muffins I remembered had slices of apricot on top, and I used the same idea here so that it’s easy to identify the components of the muffin. These keep well, but since they’re very fresh, they’re just a little lighter and fluffier than the originals that inspired them.

Just-Like-Starbucks’ Low Fat Apricot Blueberry Muffin
(originally posted at Baking Bites
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup fresh apricots, thinly sliced (about 4 medium)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until mixture is almost fully combined, then add in the blueberries and apricots – reserving 12 small, thin slices of apricot – and give the batter a few more stirs, just until no streaks of flour remain visible.
Divide batter evenly into muffin cups (cups will be very full) and garnish each one with one of the small reserved slices of apricot.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean.
Turn muffins out of the pan onto wire rack to cool.
Store leftovers in an airtight container when muffins have cooled completely.

Makes 12

Adding coffee or espresso to a recipe can infuse some coffee flavor, but it tends to be on the mild side unless the recipe can accommodate a lot of it, as Mocha Pudding Cake can. I find that it’s often better to use coffee extract, instant coffee or other coffee-flavored things, like Cappuccino chips. The chips are made by Guittard and have a distinctly milky coffee taste to them. They’re not too sweet, even though they’re made of white chocolate, and add a nice extra boost of flavor to a recipe.

These chocolate chip cookies have real coffee in the dough, as well as cappuccino chips, chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. They’re delicious when they’re still warm, served with milk or coffee, and have a nice chewiness to them even after they’ve cooled. Espresso can be substituted for the coffee, as well.

Chocolate Cappuccino Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cups brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup strong coffee, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup cappuccino chips (coffee-flavored)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the coffee, egg and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, or working by hand, blend in the flour mixture. Stir in the various chocolate chips and walnuts at the end.
Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls (approx 1-inch balls) onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes, until cookies are lightly browned at the edges.
Cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Chocolate pudding cakes are the quick-fix way to make a molten chocolate cake. They’re cakes that bake into two layers in the oven all on their own – a light cake and a rich chocolate sauce.  Coffee is a great way to boost the flavor of chocolate and make it seem more intense, so it’s usually a great addition to a chocolate dessert. In the case of this cake, there is so much coffee that the whole dessert takes on a mocha flavor.

The pudding is smooth and chocolaty, with a consistency somewhere between warm pudding and chocolate sauce. It adds a lot of moisture to the chocolate cake layer, which is fairly thin, but provides the perfect amount of cake to go with the sauce. The dessert is easy to make and is a great way to use up the coffee still in the pot after you’ve already had a cup or two.

If you don’t want so much mocha, you can always opt for a regular chocolate pudding cake, instead.

Mocha Pudding Cake
(adapted from Baking Bites)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, divided
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine flour, sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in an 8 inch square baking pan and stir with a fork to combine. Add in milk and oil, and stir with the fork until batter is uniform and no patches of dry ingredients remain.
Sprinkle brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa powder evenly over batter. Add vanilla to the hot coffee and pour over everything. Do not mix.
Place pan in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until surface of the cake looks dry. The pudding will be bubbling around the edges. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, as desired.
Leftovers, if you have them, can be stored in the fridge. Reheat before serving.

Serves 6