More Coffee, Please

Another entry in “Why Coffee is Awesome”:

“Coffee and caffeine have been inexorably intertwined in our thinking, but truth is coffee contains a whole lot of other stuff with biological benefits,” said Martin. And most concerns about caffeine’s negative effects on the heart have been dispelled. In June, a meta-analysis of ten years of research went so far as to find an inverse association between habitual, moderate consumption and risk of heart failure. The association peaked at four cups per day, and coffee didn’t stop being beneficial until subjects had increased their daily consumption to beyond ten cups.

Caffeine might also function as a pain reliever. A study from September suggested as much when its authors stumbled across caffeinated coffee as a possible confounding variable in its study of the back, neck, and shoulder pains plaguing office drones: Those who reported drinking coffee before the experiment experienced less intense pain.

The Case for Drinking as Much Coffee as You Like, The Atlantic

Almond Biscotti

Almond Biscotti
Almond Biscotti - perfect with a cup of coffee

These are so good and a cinch to make. I took this recipe from the web and made some changes, as well as some divisions so as to get servings for two.

  • 2 and 1/3 tablespoons butter
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg and vanilla and mix well.

  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • Dash salt

Mix these dry ingredients together separately, then combine well with the wet mixture and you have your dough.

Add in a bunch of chopped almonds – start with 2 tablespoons but add to your taste.

Grease a sheet of tinfoil and lay it on a baking sheet. Place the dough in a patty-cake on the sheet. If you wanna get fancy here you can brush the cake with milk and sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar across the top.

Bake at 375° F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven, reduce heat to 300° F. Let the cake cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then put it on a cutting board and slice into inch-thick pieces.

Put these pieces back on the baking sheet (no tinfoil this time, and no grease) and bake again for 10 minutes, flip them over and bake 10 minutes more. Let cool before you begin dunking in coffee. If there are any left (doubtful) – store them airtight.