Add a Coffee Twist to Thanksgiving.

Adding a coffee twist to thanksgiving isn't just about pumpkin spice lattes, here are a couple other ideas to add a coffee twist to your turkey day festivities.

Roast Turkey with Coffee Rub

Ingredients:

• 12-lb turkey, giblets removed, rinsed well (inside and out) and patted dry with paper towels
• 2-oz Homemade coffee rub*
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil

* 2 tbsp ground fair trade coffee, 2 tbsp ground white pepper, 1 tbsp ground Tellicherry black pepper, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1 tbsp sea salt or kosher. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix coffee rub with garlic and oil and coat entire turkey. Truss bird and place it breast side up in a shallow roasting pan with a snug fit. Place turkey in oven. Rotate pan twice (every 60 minutes) to ensure even browning. During the second rotation, tip turkey forward to release cooking juices, then baste frequently, about every 10 minutes. Begin checking after 2 1/2 hours, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 170 to 175 degrees. Transfer to carving board and cover loosely with foil. Don't carve until ready to serve. (Turkey will stay warm for at least an hour.) Reserve pan drippings for gravy. Serves 8


Coffee Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unseasoned canned pumpkin, drained well
• 1/3 cup BuyWell Fair Trade Coffee, brewed strong
• 1/2 teaspoon EACH: salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup BuyWell Fair Trade Coffee, brewed strong , chilled
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 9-inch ready-made baked pie crust or graham cracker style

Directions:
Brew 4 cups of coffee; chill 1/4 cup, reserve 1/3 cup and keep room temperature, drink the rest while you make the pie! Heat water in the bottom of a double boiler to hot, not boiling; simmer until ready to use.

In a medium-size bowl, beat the egg yolks then add 1/3 cup of the sugar plus the pumpkin, and the 1/3 cup of brewed coffee. Add the salt and all the spices, stir, and then transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler. Stir it constantly, until the pie filling is hot.

In a small bowl, pour in the 1/4 cup chilled coffee and sprinkle in the gelatin. Mix until dissolved then add to the hot pumpkin mixture and stir thoroughly. Pour it all out into a large bowl, cover, and chill for about 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. When the pumpkin mixture is thickened, remove from the refrigerator and begin the rest of the steps.

In a very clean, very dry medium bowl (glass or copper works best) beat the egg whites until stiff then add the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar, all the while beating to keep the whites stiff. Gently fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture.

Beat the cream until peaks form then gently fold them in until fully incorporated. Pour the mixture into a ready-made pie crust, smooth over evenly, then cover and chill for two hours.

To serve, brew up some more BuyWell Fair Trade Coffee, whip the remaining 1/2 cup of the cream, and garnish the pie with it.

YIELD: 8 generous servings

We hope this inspires you to try something new with coffee. Its not just for drinking and can add a kick to a traditional dish that might become a new family favorite!

Now in Whole Foods!

The day before Thanksgiving is the single busiest day of the year for grocery stores.

Today was a big day for us, too! I went with Becca to stock our coffee at the Pikes Peak Whole Foods store on Academy. This was a risky move, not because of the immense traffic in the aisles or the barrage of questions from natural foods enthusiasts, but because Becca is the clumsiest person I know.

The store was abuzz with holiday shoppers looking for things like Gluten Free dinner rolls, turbinado sugar, and non-hydrogenated cool-whipesque products.

I was not much help in directing shopper traffic. I'm just a monkey. I told them where to find the Fair Trade bananas.

Mostly, I was amazed at how many people stopped me to ask where the coffee grinder is. All I could do was smile and offer apologies for my grinder ignorance. I really thought that people either bought whole bean coffees to grind at home or pre-ground coffees to save them the trouble.

So here's the news, buried at the bottom of the blog: Yours Truly now sits on shelves in Whole Foods. Come see me soon!

--scReaMing mOnkEy