Just when thoughts of pumpkin pie and candy canes begin to increasingly dance in our heads, coffee creamer manufacturers take the opportunity to woo consumers with delicious reminders of the upcoming holidays. Available in powder and liquid versions, flavored coffee creamers from International Delight and Nestle Coffee-Mate not only add spice and pizzazz to our java and hot chocolate, but also make interesting ingredients for desserts and tasty toppings for ice cream.

Nestle Coffee-Mate

Introduced in 1961, Nestle Coffee-Mate holds the honor of being the first powdered non-dairy creamer on the market in the United States. Currently, the company offers more than 20 liquid and powdered flavors, including 12 reduced-fat and sugar-free selections. Coffee-Mate also provides seasonal creamers, like the powdered and liquid version of Pumpkin Spice. The following selections are available between late October and January:

• Peppermint Mocha (Powder and Liquid) – The chocolate/mocha flavor of this popular seasonal treat takes a backseat to the presence of refreshingly sharp peppermint.
• Gingerbread (Powder and Liquid) – Imagine dropping a piece of gingerbread in your cup of coffee and slowly drinking the aftermath – a successful blend of spices and the taste of an all-too-familiar holiday indulgence.
• Eggnog – Just like the spirited holiday beverage, Nestle captures the creaminess and richness of eggnog without delivering a punishing blow to your waistline.
• Caramel Apple – New this season, this creamer hopes to impress consumers with the sweetness and kick found in a real caramel apple.

International Delight

Hitting the scene in the 1980s, International Delight successfully produced the first flavored, liquid, non-dairy creamer. In the past, consumers could only choose between three flavors, which were served in individual portion control sizes. With the addition of fat-free and reduced-sugar versions, the creamers now come in pints and quarts – representing around nine core flavors and a host of CoffeeHouse Inspirations, limited edition, and seasonal treats, such as:

• Pumpkin Pie Spice (Limited Edition) – With the dreamy scent of nutmeg and cinnamon hitting your nostrils, prepare yourself for a truly tasty experience. Adding just the right amount of spice, International Delight successfully captures the enchantment of the ultimate iconic Thanksgiving dessert. Available Fall and Winter 2009.
• Chocolate Mint Truffle (Seasonal Celebrations) – Embrace the seductive combination of milk chocolate and mint in your coffee or cocoa, which easily lifts the spirits and warms the soul. Available Winter 2009.
• Vanilla Spiced Rum (Seasonal Celebrations) – Hints of vanilla and cinnamon join traces of smooth rum to create a spiced blend perfect for warming the bones after coming in from the cold. Available Winter 2009.

Thank you Mexico for producing Kahlua, the sweetly thick, coffee-flavored liqueur comprised of Arabica coffee beans, imported rums, and vanilla. Known for vodka and cream creations, many people choose to drink a shot of Kahlua or sip with cream over rocks, but what’s the fun in that? Below you will find an assortment of ideas for using the coffee-flavored liqueur to enhance your everyday desserts:

1)  Coffee and Hot Chocolate

Kahlua is responsible for producing a variety of smooth and creamy alcoholic drinks, including Black and White Russians, B-52s, and the Mud Slide. The flavored liqueur also elevates the appeal of coffee and hot chocolate beverages, such as Caramel Kahlua Coffee, which combines one jigger Kahlua, espresso (single or double shot), caramel ice cream topping, and lightly sweetened whipped cream.

2) Tiramisu

A traditional recipe for tiramisu usually includes mascarpone cheese, homemade sponge cake, and espresso. Locating the ingredients or making from scratch can turn into a time-consuming and costly adventure. However, you can create an easy Kahlua Tiramisu by using cream cheese, whipping cream, and store-bought ladyfingers dipped in an instant coffee/Kahlua mixture.

3) Cheesecake

The world of cheesecakes includes exotic fruit selections and mesmerizing chocolate combinations – some including the use of liqueur. Kahlua makes decadent toppings and fillings for desserts, as seen in a slice of White Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake, which blends the cream cheese filling with the liqueur and finely chopped, imported white chocolate (such as Lindt).

4) Brownies

In some recipes, instant espresso powder enhances the taste of chocolate in brownies. Use the infamous liqueur to produce moist, chewy brownies offering both a hint of coffee and Kahlua. If Black Russians are your favorite alcoholic beverage, combine the elements of a chocolate brownie with the popular drink by using vodka, Kahlua, and in some cases, black pepper. For an extra kick, frost your brownies using a buttercream base mixed with Kahlua.

5) Chocolate Mousse

With airy appeal, chocolate mousse blends rich flavor with melt-in-your-mouth chocolate sensations. Best of all – making this dessert is pretty easy, including 4-minute recipes that use a microwave. Typical ingredients include high-quality dark chocolate (like Ghiradelli), heavy whipping cream, extra-fine granulated sugar (like caster sugar), egg white, and chocolate shavings for a garnish. Adding two tablespoons of Kahlua to your recipe will enhance the outcome. Add piecrust to the mix and prepare a Kahlua Chocolate Mousse Pie for the holidays.

6) Flavored Whipped Cream

Increasing the appeal of hot and cold desserts, whipped cream often serves as a welcomed feature for coffee drinks. Flavored whipped cream makes an even more impressive addition to after-dinner treats and tantalizing coffee beverages. Beat together 1 cup whipping cream, ½ cup icing sugar, and 3 tablespoons of Kahlua to create a distinct topping. Do not overwork the cream or you’ll end up with butter.

7) Chocolate Sauces

Typically consisting of whipping cream, granulated sugar, semisweet chocolate, butter, salt, and Kahlua, chocolate sauces featuring the liqueur greatly complement a bowl of ice cream, tortes, chocolate cake, cheesecake, and cream puffs.

8 ) Frosting

Perfect for office parties and decorating the holiday dessert table, Kahlua frosting comes in handy when you’re looking for a way to spruce up cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. With an electric mixer, combine six tablespoons of creamed butter with a 1-pound box of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa. Beat continually while adding in 3 tablespoons of Kahlua, followed by 2 to 3 tablespoons of hot coffee until you’ve reached a thick and smooth consistency.

While wildly popular on the market, Kahlua is not the end-all, be-all of coffee liqueurs. Don’t be afraid to try Tia Maria, Kamora, or Kona Gold to find a selection that best suits your taste buds and dessert recipes. To achieve specific flavors in dessert recipes, Kahlua also offers French Vanilla, Hazelnut, and Mocha selections.

We featured Kookie Stationery in our Halloween Cookie Guide.

Today they are kindly sponsoring a giveaway! Check this out: inspired by the season of giving, Kookie Stationery is offering 3 lucky 100CafeStreet.com readers a special holiday “Turkey” cookie. Equipped with an edible-ink pen and a built-in easel for display, this gobble-ilcious cookie card is a creative way of showing thanks through a tasty treat.

photo courtesy of Kookiestationery.com

Kookie Stationery was born in 2008 as the result of a serious sweet tooth, and a deep love for the beauty of creating wholesome and fun products. Since its inception, the company has mastered the art of producing edible platforms to share thoughts, love, well wishes, and much more and offers over 40 cookies for various occasions ranging from seasonal treats to everyday messages. For more information please visit, www.kookiestationery.com .

The Giveaway

This giveaway is open to US residents only. Tell your friends and family!

Prizes: 3 winners will each receive one Kookie Stationery’s Turkey cookie.

How to enter (required): Visit http://www.kookiestationery.com/ and then come back and leave a comment telling us the name of your favorite product!

For additional entries (leave a new comment for each additional entry):
- one additional entry if you become our fan on FACEBOOK;
- one additional entry if you grab our button from the sidebar and post it on your blog, please post the link;
- one additional entry if you follow us on Twitter;
- one additional entry if you send a tweet about this giveaway (once a day only); make sure to include @1happyblogger. You may use the following to tweet: @1happyblogger For a chance to win a Turkey cookie, go to http://www.100cafestreet.com/kookie-stationery-giveaway
- one additional entry if you fave us in Technorati;
- one additional entry if you blog about this Giveaway with a link back to 100CafeStreet.com and www.kookiestationery.com
- one additional entry if you follow 100CafeStreet.com via email.

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The giveaway ends on Nov. 11, 2009 at the end of day, Pacific Standard Time. Kookie Stationery will ship the prizes.

*Please make sure you leave a comment for each additional entry so you get credited.
*Also, please make sure you typed in the correct email address.
*For our Facebook fans: please leave your comment on our blog, not on Facebook.
*The winners will be announced via e-mail and have 2 days to get back to us or other names will be chosen.
*Incomplete entries will be disqualified & deleted.

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UPDATE: Are you one of the winners? Check out the results!

Halloween is getting closer! It’s Saturday, October 31! Not too much time left! Are you ready? This picture is courtesy of polka-dot zebra.

We know many of you work two jobs and don’t have time to make any Halloween cookies or sweets… that’s why we did some research to find out where to buy them online.

We have to confess, we haven’t had the chance to try any of them (although we wish we would have). Many of the suggestions came from our readers.

Here are some online stores, in random order. Remember to always read their Terms of Service before purchasing and use your judgement.

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 KookieStationery.com: combines “fun and functionality” by creating brightly-decorated edible notes, cards and gift tags. Complete with an edible ink pen and a built-in easel for easy display, this novel combination of cookie and card has redefined the favorite American pastime of stationery. And just in time for Halloween, “ghoulishly” themed cookies, like a Trick or Treat Pumpkin and the Halloween gift tags, make for extra scary and fun activities. These thoughtful and unique cookies retail through the company’s website for just under $10.

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Park19cookies.com – One of the most interesting cookies from Park 19 Cookies is a delicious spicy pumpkin cookie. They add rich chocolate chunks to make this a cookie a unique Halloween treat. Great for the fall since it’s orange and black. The cookies are made from scratch in their own bakery in New York. Park 19 Cookies has been featured on the Rachel Ray Show as Snack of the Day.

$8.99 (half dozen)

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Cookies by Shar: Reputed for her intricate and lavishly decorated creations topped with royal icing, owner Sharmila (Shar) Melwani was not only tapped to create a special cookie line sold at all Florida Whole Foods Market stores, but her custom-made delicacies have been requested for prestigious companies such as Ferragamo, BMW and Neiman Marcus for special events.

Individual cookies start at $3.25.

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Edible Gifts Plus: Halloween Character Cookies-Oreos & Nutter Butters $1.99 each (minimum order:12)
These  character cookies are a fun way to celebrate this spooky holiday!   Their assortment includes Oreo® Jack ‘o’ Lanterns, Frankensteins and Spiders – PLUS Nutter Butter® Skulls.  Each yummy Oreo® or Nutter Butter® is enrobed in dark chocolate or confections and hand decorated to look like your favorite halloween character!  The cookies are individually wrapped in clear cello bags and heat sealed at both ends for freshness and quality.  Add a festive Black or Orange Satin Bow to make these treats even more special!

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Beautiful Sweets: their specialty is in the creation of colorful and creative sugar cookies; each one is individually baked and exquisitely hand decorated. In addition to being organic, their cookies are nut-free and baked in a nut-free facility. The cookies come in two sizes: a standard 2-3 inch size cookie that typically comes packaged in a ribbon-tied cellophane wrapper as a 4-pack and a larger size (5-6 inch) individually wrapped – “party favor” cookies. The cookies are available in either vanilla or chocolate flavors.

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S’more Smoochies: Handmade to order, scrumptiously delicious Halloween S’more Smoochies are a unique spin on classic treat! Double dipped in velvety rich chocolate and embellished with edible decorations, they are individually wrapped and can be purchased in gift sets or by the dozen.

Created with peanut butter, they are also available without.

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The Flour Pot Cookies make decorative and logo cookies. They have an awesome Halloween cookie collection that includes wicked hat favors, creepy creatures, monster mash, spooky eyes, ghosts, black cats, spiders and other cookies. The Flour Pot Cookies is a company run by a mother and daughter; they have been featured in countless magazines and on the Food Network. Prices vary.

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cccGifts.com: their cookies will be a “great Halloween Party favor” or “GIFT FOR YOUR FAVORITE LITTLE GHOST OR WITCH”! They measure 3″ in size. Hand Cut and Decorated. Made from their loved “Signature Shortbread” dough. These are sure to start a party in your tummy!

Priced for 1 dz. (4 of each cookie shown). Each cookie is individually packaged, tied with matching ribbon, and nestled into a nice box tied with a bow! Free gift card if needed.

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Other resources we love:

• Corso’s Cookies
• Cheryl & Co
• David’s Cookies
  

Photo used with permission from DHD Multimedia Gallery

With the cold weather quickly coming upon us, especially here in Upstate NY, we love to find great ways of warming ourselves up after dinner and before bed. Though ice creams and cakes are always a welcome dessert, in the chillier times, it’s the hot cocoas and warm pies that are a perfect fit.

The thing is, that though cocoas are warm and smooth, creamy and downright delicious, the cocoa itself has awesome health benefits! The flavinoids that are found in cocoa have great antioxidant qualities and act as a “cellular band-aid” for the body! Cocoa has even been proven to lower blood pressure and improve the flow of blood!

Of course, with all things as delicious as chocolate and cocoa, there are the pluses and minuses and must be consumed in moderation. But no worries, no need to get stuck in a bland cocoa rut…

There are so many ways that you can spice up your cocoa, get your antioxidants and warm yourself up on these chilly nights. Why not try adding a splash of Chambord to your cocoa? An easy addition that I picked up while bartending that makes hot cocoa taste just like one of those sinful Godiva real raspberry filled chocolate bars. There are endless non-alcoholic options as well, like an awesome orange hot cocoa that is so simple to make and droolworthy, at the same time.

Orange Hot Cocoa
4.5 cups milk
Zest from 4 oranges
8 oz. chocolate chips, or chopped milk or semisweet chocolate
Combine milk and orange zest in a saucepan until milk is hot, remove from heat and allow to sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Strain the milk to remove the orange zest. Place milk back over medium heat and whisk in the chocolate until it is deliciously creamy.

Gnosis Chocolate is handcrafted Chocolate using the finest 100% Organic raw ingredients.  Each bar is dairy, soy, refined sugar, cholesterol and gluten free. Created by a certified holistic health counselor, Gnosis Chocolate was created keeping the health, nutrition, and amazing qualities of chocolate as a nutrient-dense super-food maintained. High quality raw cacao beans are combined with various nuts, fruits, and medicinal herbs to create the various flavors offer.  Gnosis Chocolate is based in Astoria, NY were every bar is mixed, poured, and wrapped by hand. Gnosis Chocolate can also create create custom and private labels to personalized and have your chocolate  wrapped for any occasion: business, special day, or a much deserved gift to yourself!

Not only is Gnosis Chocolate conscious about its chocolate, its also dedicated to improving the plant as well. All Gnosis Chocolate products are made by hand, no machines, and all the ingredients are sourced sustainably.  The packing on the bars are 100% recycled and FSC certified, plus the labels are made from corn!  10% of the profits from Gnosis Chocolate are donated to The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.

All bars are 2 oz. A few of the flavors offered:

Simplicity

Ingredients:Cacao Beans, Cacao Butter, Agave Nectar, Vanilla Bean, Crystal Manna blue-green algae.

The essential chocolate bar.  Raw, organic cacao combined with Crystal Manna for mood and concentration enhancement. Vanilla beans are blend in Vanilla Bean for immune support. Making this bar  Simply Gnosis.

Cashew Goji Berry

Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Cacao Butter, Cashews, Goji Berries, Black Currants, Agave Nectar, Vanilla Bean, Crystal Manna blue-green algae.

A fusion of East and West whose taste and texture you’ll not forget. Soft-sweet goji berries gift their antioxidants, protein, and vitamins B6 and beta carotene for your beauty, and blood health. Rich in both protein and heart-healthy oleic acid, nuggets of raw, crunchy cashews nestled happily in-between.

Cool Peppermint

The Cool Peppermint gives you  fresh and clean in a bar. Containing chlorophyll,  a powerful anti-oxidant and tissue repairer, and peppermint, often called “the world’s oldest medicine”, which calms the stomach, and stimulates the body and mind.

Lemon Berry Rose

Ingredients:Cacao Beans, Cacao Butter, Dried Strawberries, Goji Berries, Black Currants, Cherries, Almonds, Cashews, Agave Nectar, Freeze-Dried Strawberries, Rose Hips, Rose Petals, Camu Camu Berry, Passion Flower, Lemon Zest, Vanilla Bean, Crystal Manna, Lemon Essential Oil, Rose Essential Oil.

Lemon Berry Rose’s ingredients support the immunity power of Vitamin C. Strawberries, goji berries, and cherries supply iron and a host of other benefits, while the Roses just make this a romantic and fragrant bar.

Pomegranate Acai

Ingredients:Cacao Beans, Cacao Butter, Brazil Nuts, Black Currants, Agave Nectar, Barberries, Pomegranate Powder, Acai Powder, Crystal Manna, Vanilla Bean.

The Pomegranate Acai Bar combines the antioxidant protection of acai and pomegranate with the raw, organic cacao.

SuperChoc

Check out Chocolate.com for more information on Gnosis Chocolate.