Creme brulee is very much a special occasion dessert. It’s pretty to look at, otherworldly to eat, and it’s really not all that difficult to make. If you’re intimidated by the kitchen torch thing, just buy one because they’re a lot of fun, and then read this great post on how to caramelize sugar responsibly. Homemade custard impresses the heck out of people and so do fire skills.

Sweet, vanilla-y and slightly smoky, our Creme Brulee has long been one of our most popular coffee flavors, and the dessert itself pairs well with coffee. Our shipping manager Lori recently whipped up a batch so good, we had to share her recipe:

Ingredients (for about six ramekins, 7 to 8 ounces each)

1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, scraped (substitute 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)
3/4 cups sugar
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
6 extra large egg yolks
2 quarts hot water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the heavy cream, vanilla (the bean and the pulp or the extract if using) into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.

Whisk together the sugar and the egg yolks until well blended. Add the cream to the mixture slowly, stirring continually. Pour into ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is just set, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Refrigerate the ramekins after cooling for at least 2 hours (and up to 3 days).

Before serving, allow the creme brulee to sit unrefrigerated for at least 30 minutes prior to browning. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of superfine sugar evenly on each ramekin. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a hard, caramelized top. Feel free to burn it a little if you like that, but work quickly to avoid overheating the custard. Let sit 5 minutes, then crack it and enjoy!

The season of gift giving and holiday parties has almost begun. This recipe is for you industrious DIYers and agoraphobics getting a jump start on gift-making in within the comforting confines of your home. Coffee liqueur is very easy to make and so worth the effort, you may never bother with the store bought stuff again. Make it with your favorite fresh roasted coffee (we like it with a mellow dark roast), and experiment with vodka or flavored vodka if rum is not your thing. We recommend making extra for yourself while you’re at it.

Ingredients

4 cups light rum

1 cup freshly ground dark roasted coffee (we used a standard autodrip grind)

2 whole vanilla beans

2 cups water

2 cups brown sugar

Directions

Bring the water and brown sugar to a boil and simmer, stirring, for three minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour into an air tight container like a large mason jar and add the remaining ingredients. Store, sealed, in a cool dark place for 4 weeks, shaking every few days. If you like the flavor at that point, strain it, or let it mellow for another week or two. We used a coffee filter inside a mesh strainer to remove the grounds. The finished product will keep for much longer than it will take you to drink it.

Tea parties a are a little creepy, don’t you think? Halloween is a great occasion to host one, Mad Hatter style. Even without the tea party, this is the perfect cocktail to creep your guests out in a big way. We started with the basic recipe for a hibiscus tea cocktail called The Procession and upped the goulish factor a little with some hibiscus syrup and dry ice.

Ingredients (for the drink)
½ oz silver tequila
¾ oz crème de cacao (white)
½ oz ruby port
¾ oz hibiscus tea, chilled (make 1 cup more for the syrup, if using, below)
2 dashes of orange bitters

For the hibiscus syrup:
Bring 1 cup of brewed and strained hibiscus tea to a boil (2 teaspoons brewed for 5 minutes made a nice strong cup). While the tea is boiling, add a cup of sugar and stir constantly for about two minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Shake the cocktail ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add a small chunk of dry ice (check out these instructions on handling dry ice) to the glass, and drizzle a little hibiscus “blood” along the rim. Serve immediately. The bubbling lasts for about five minutes.

Created by Daniel Hyatt, The Alembic, San Francisco. Original recipe here.

Holiday season is almost upon us, which means cookies in the break room again. Shortbread is a favorite because you can make many variations with one big batch of dough. If you have a tried-and-true shortbread dough you love, you can easily adapt it by mixing ground coffee into the dough and glazing the cookies with coffee icing (recipe below).

We followed this recipe, for the shortbread dough, with a couple of changes: we used our 0 Dark 30 blend coffee, ground for a standard autodrip machine, and two kinds of icing to mix things up a little.

Ingredients (yield: about two dozen cookies)

For the dough
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon ground 0 Dark 30 (or any dark roast coffee you like)
½ vanilla bean, split and scraped for seeds
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 cup flour, sifted

For the icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons half and half (or strong brewed coffee, cooled)

You can find the full directions for the dough here. Mix the icing ingredients together until smooth and glaze the cookies once they have cooled completely. Then bring them to work so you don’t eat them all by yourself.

This recipe is the best thing to happen to apple cider in a long time. Yes, it’s great with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, with or without whipped cream. But it’s also so, so good with our Lemon Ginger Green Tea (shot of bourbon optional). The tartness of the lemon balances the sweetness of the cider and the ginger adds just the right amount of heat.

Ingredients per serving

1 cup apple cider (we used the unspiced kind)

1 teaspoon Lemon Ginger Green Tea

1 1/2 ounces bourbon or whiskey

Directions

Heat the cider on the stove in a small pan until simmering. Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon or whiskey. Pour the mixture into a mug and steep the tea using an infuser or T-sac pouch for about a minute and a half. Strain and serve.

Variation

If straight cider is a little too sweet for you, a more traditional hot toddy might be more your thing. Steep the tea in a cup of hot water instead of cider, leaving a little room at the top of your mug. Once the tea is steeped, add the bourbon or whiskey, a shot of cider, and a tablespoon of honey (or sweeten to taste).