cozy cafe #3 (a recap) 🍂

another day, another cozy cafe hosted in our apartment

On a chilly, rainy Sunday morning in mid-September, we opened our doors once again to our friends to rest, relax, and enjoy some delicious breakfast foods in our home. This has been our third cozy cafe event we’ve hosted in our home studio and I think we’re starting to get into a groove. Prep starts about 48 hours prior where we head to the grocery stores to pick up ingredients before I (Nate) dive into baking prep. It’s a hectic and busy 48 hours, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a fulfilling one that ends with a sea of empty plates and many full bellies. What sounds better than that??

on the menu

Per usual, Justen spearheaded all the savory items while I took on the baked goods.

Savory

• Breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches

  • Housemade sausage or bacon, egg, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, buttermilk-fenugreek biscuit

• Breakfast Gnocchi "(“Morning Joy”)

  • Housemade gnocchi, sausage-mushroom gravy, pesto, fried egg

• Breakfast Potatoes

Sweet

• Momma Crawford’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, espresso powder

• Morning Cinnamon Rolls

  • Chinese five spice, whipped butter

• Grandma Crawford’s Butternut Coffee Cake

  • Vanilla, almond, espresso powder

putting a cup of coffee on

For our beverages, we served several homemade offerings, including:

• Arnold Palmer

  • Roasted strawberry lemonade, lychee black tea

• Housemade Horchata

• Latte Bar

  • Colectivo Toro blend - this may be our favorite coffee blend ever. It’s rich and flavorful but subtle and easy to enjoy. It works really well in lattes and over affogatos.

  • Medium; cherry, syrupy, graham cracker

  • Blend sourced from Brazil, Sumatra, Costa Rica and Guatemala

secret menu item

For this cozy cafe, our ‘secret’ menu item was this pumpkin pie spiced latte. I have this theory as to why people hate on pumpkin spice lattes. I believe it’s because they’ve only ever had bad ones.

I’m a slut for autumn, and I’ll say it, I love pumpkin spice lattes! Not the ones made with mass produced syrups and literally only taste like sweetness, but the good ones. One with real pumpkin flavor. And this one is the one. Last year, Justen and I went to @goebberts_ for a day of apple picking and saw that @opendoorcoffeegenoa had an apple butter latte on the menu. They poured the shot of espresso over the apple butter to warm it up before adding it into the drink. I was immediately hooked.

This recipe is a combination of homemade pumpkin butter and a pumpkin spiced syrup recipe from @softpourn. You get a latte that tastes like a pumpkin pie!

Click HERE for the full recipe!

stamp of approval

For every cozy cafe we do, we try and incorporate a different, unique element to the event to make it just a wee bit more special. For this cafe, we wanted to get a custom ink stamp to brand table tent signs and take-home boxes. We worked with Sarah of Modern Maker Stamps on crafting us the perfect handmade stamp!

records we’re spinning

for any good home cafe, music and vibes are everything. We’ve been added songs daily to our spotify playlist. Some new additions to the playlist include:

• ‘The Great Pumpkin Waltz’ - Vince Guaraldi

• ‘Autumn in New York’ - Chet Baker

• ‘Moondance’ - Van Morrison

• ‘Tis Autumn’ - Nat King Cole

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other deets

• Flours - Janie Mill’s

• Spices - The Spice House

Until next time,

Nate & Justen