I am working on a new cookie recipe. It's a Toasted Almond Shortbread cookie. It's based upon a recipe I used to make with my mom. The dough is made from flour, shortening, salt, egg, powdered sugar, almond extract, vanilla, and chopped toasted almonds. I made the dough last night and it was a bit dry and crumbly. Plus the last few times I've made versions of this recipe, I found the cookies tasted a bit too salty (and not very sweet). I think I'll tweak the recipe a bit more before I post about it, but in the mean time, I am enjoying these not-very-sweet, kind-of-salty cookies with hot coffee that I am making in my NEW Keurig coffee brewer.
I've wanted a Keurig brewer for the longest time but it seemed like an unnecessary splurge since we already have a perfectly good coffee maker. But my husband suggested I should get one and he did NOT have to twist my arm. First we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We found machines ranging from $99.00 to $179.00. I really wanted a red machine but I thought their red plastic machine looked kind of cheap. Since we were heading to Sam's Club and because I knew I did NOT want to buy the red machine available at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, we went to Sam's Club to see what they had.
I found this very fancy Keurig Hot (K425S Plus Series) machine at Sam's Club for $99.00 (marked down from $119.00). I looked on line after I got home and found the same machine at Target for $149.00, so it appears I got a very good deal. Of course, it's easy to spend the difference buying up K-Cups to use in your machine. The machine I got did come with a nice assortment of K-Cups to try out in my machine. This machine is fancier than the very basic Keurig machines because it has a large 70 ounce reservoir of water (so you don't have to add water each time you make a cup of coffee). This machine also has a digital screen and you can select some options when brewing coffee. For example, I can choose to brew a cup of coffee with 4, 8, 10, or 12 ounces of water and I can also opt to brew the coffee "strong" or "regular". There is a setting that is used for hot cocoa and I learned you also use this setting for chai tea. The confusion I had when I got my machine was what kind of pods or cups I can use in this machine. Some of the samples I got were called "K-Cups" and others were called Pods and Packs. I ended up calling Keurig and asking. I was told I can use K-Cups (which are good for up to 10 or 12 ounces of water), or K-Mugs (which are for brewing coffee in even larger travel mugs), K-Vue, or K-Carafe Cups (but I would have to purchase a special Keurig Carafe if I wanted to use the K-Carafes pods). I was told that the only K-Cups that will NOT work in my machine are something called Revo. I also learned that cups or pods that I can purchase at the store which are NOT Keurig brand, will NOT work in my machine. I also got a little re-usable, fillable cup that I can add my own coffee grounds to if I want to make coffee with coffee grounds I already have.
I am getting the impression that there is a camera or digital eye in the coffee maker that is reading the lid of the K-Cups, and somehow the machine KNOWS what kind cup I've inserted in the machine. Whatever the case may be, it's pretty amazing technology for $99.00. And the coffee goes really good with my cookies.
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