To be honest, the best part of waking up has never been instant coffee in our cups. But that doesn't mean that espresso powder (or another type of instant coffee, your choice) couldn't make other foods as exciting as adding pepper flakes to pizza for the first time. In fact, senior food editor Rick Martinez swears by Medaglia d'Oro espresso powder to add coffee flavor to sauces, marinades, and ice cream in a pinch. Here are some of our favorite ways to doctor up our favorite foods with espresso powder or instant coffee.
Brew instant coffee and marinate your steak in it. Boom.
Next time you're blending a power breakfast your fitness buddies would be proud of, lace it with a sprinkle of espresso powder for coffee flavor and a boost.
Add a tablespoon of espresso powder to your usual bowl of oatmeal or cereal with milk and appreciate the magic of combining your breakfast and your morning coffee.
If you're already making a crumble for the top of a baked good or to sprinkle on top of ice cream, add espresso powder to the mixture to work in coffee flavors.
Martinez says it's fair game to sub the same volume of brewed coffee (using about 1 teaspoon espresso powder for one cup of coffee) for water in a baked good. Or, just add espresso powder to the batter (for a quart of batter, try as much as two to three tablespoons) like the chocolate-coffee brownies recipe above.
For every quart of ice cream base, incorporate as much as three tablespoons of espresso powder for that tastes-like-an-ice-cream-shop quality you aspire to.
Somehow, adding espresso powder to a salad dressing makes the whole eating your vegetables thing seem a lot more enjoyable.
While Martinez doesn't generally advocate for coffee sauces, he agrees that adding espresso powder to a sauce like the recipe above lends a smoky, nutty note to an otherwise sweet preparation.
Grown-ups need PB&J too, and nothing prevents your kid from scarfing down your sandwich than the slightly bitter flavor of espresso powder in your sandwich. It's a win-win.
Wild card suggestion: add a dash or two of espresso powder to honey and mix to combine. Serve alongside blue cheese and crackers for an unexpected take on the classic hors d'oeuvre.