Homemade Kona Coffee Pocky

Yep, you read it right!  Over this past weekend, I ventured out of my tea-steeped comfort zone and created a Pocky recipe for all those die-hard, peppy coffee lovers out there.  Homemade Pocky always make an elegant cookie to have with a good cup of tea, and these Homemade Kona Coffee Pocky are no exception.

Just last year, I decided to completely nix coffee out of my daily regimen.  Tea gave me all the eye-opening effects that coffee did without the jitters, tummy discomfort, withdrawal headaches.  It’s a good thing I did quit too, because despite the fact that I love to cook, I am the seriously the worst coffee maker out there.  Not counting the K-cup brewer that my in-laws got me for Christmas last year, I can somehow manage to ruin every cup of coffee that I make. Sometimes the coffee I brew tastes like dirty dish water and other times it tastes like jet fuel. For some reason, I can never get it right.  That’s when I started using freeze-dried coffee.

As much as Hawaii is bountiful in its tea culture, it’s perhaps even more well-known for its coffee culture.  Much like they do for tea leaves, soil, climate, and altitude all work together to create complexities in coffee bean flavor.  A few years back when I was on the Big Island, I stopped by a coffee plantation high up in the hills of Kona.  Coffee plants thrive in humid, tropical conditions with a good amount of cloud cover.  Whether referring to tea, coffee, or even wine, term terrior is used to describe a plant’s sense of place, the collective effect of environmental factors like climate and geography on the taste of a product.

It was when I spotted some freeze-dried coffee in Hawaii that I began formulating this Homemade Coffee Pocky recipe.  Similar to the freeze-dried strawberries I used for my Homemade Strawberry Pocky, these crystals give us a punch of rich coffee flavor without moisture being an issue.  Where it seems like pouring some espresso or coffee extract into your melted dipping chocolate would instantly give you coffee flavored chocolate, I assure you that it won’t!  You’ll end up with a shaggy, clumpy mess, since both are water based.  The only way around this is to use freeze-dried coffee crystals.

The freeze-dried coffee crystals need to be ground into a fine powder before they can be added to the melted white chocolate.  If you add them directly, the crystals never dissolve and you end up with big, noticeable dots on your cookie stick coating.  The sticks would also be way too strong tasting, as each coffee crystal packs a punch of strong coffee flavor.  The solution is to use a mortar and pestle set to pulverize the crystals.  You could also place the crystals in a Ziploc bag, lay the bag on a flat work surface, and press down on the crystals using a large, heavy pan.

I was surprised that after mixing in my coffee powder to the white chocolate, the color of the dipping chocolate wasn’t as tan as I would have hoped.  Alas, I decided to not add any fake food colorings as I knew the taste of these Homemade Kona Coffee Pocky were already spot on.

Decorate these confections with some of the same freeze-dried coffee lightly crushed, for a sprinkly look.  Another pretty option is to sift leftover freeze-dried coffee powder over the top of the cookies while the chocolate it is setting up.  The warmth of the chocolate will help the coffee powder to bloom and darken in color.

My favorite variety of these Coffee Pocky are the ones drizzled with chocolate and then scattered with toasted macadamia nut bits.  The salt in the macadamia nuts balances out the sweet coffee chocolate base.  This combination is reminiscent of the chocolate covered macadamia nuts that visitors in Hawaii return from vacation with stacks of.

If I was going to violate my no coffee regimen I was glad to have done it with these Homemade Kona Coffee Pocky.  These cookie sticks pack a punch of rich, robust espresso-like flavor, so it’s nice to savor them nibble by nibble.

Back when I made Homemade Green Tea Pocky, I mentioned yuanyang, a popular Chinese drink where coffee is mixed with black tea.  The two flavors are very different, yet amazingly complementary.  Try these Homemade Kona Coffee Pocky with a cup of unflavored, unsweetened black tea, and the next time you’re asked “coffee or tea?” you just might end up asking for both!

Homemade Kona Coffee Pocky

Makes about 20 stick cookies.

Ingredients:

12 oz package of vanilla candy melts or 11 oz bag white chocolate chips

1 Tbsp freeze-dried Kona coffee crystals, ground into a fine powder with a mortar & pestle

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 package of grissini, cut into 5″ pieces with serrated knife to make 20 sticks

reserved coffee powder, for dusting

reserved coffee crystals, crushed, for sprinkling

chocolate candy melts

macadamia nuts, chopped finely and lightly toasted

Equipment:

mortar & pestle

serrated knife

double boiler

small bowl

rubber spatula

tea towel

small sifter

large baking sheet fitted with parchment paper

small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment paper

tall, narrow drinking glass, at least 6″ tall

piping bag fitted with #2 tip or fork

Directions:

Step-by-step photos of the dipping process are in my Homemade Chocolate Pocky post!

1.  Fill bottom of double boiler with water, making sure the water doesn’t make contact with the base of the top bowl of the double boiler.  Bring water to a gentle simmer (bring water to boil, then reduce to very low heat).  Place white chocolate or candy melts in top bowl of double boiler.  Using rubber spatula, gently melt the chocolate.  In a small bowl, mix coffee powder with 1 tsp of vegetable oil.  Add this coffee oil/paste to the melting white chocolate and mix in thoroughly.  If you are using white chocolate (not candy coating) you may need to mix in another 1-2 tsp of oil to get a nice dipping consistency.  Remove the bowl of chocolate from heat, and wipe steam off the outside of the bowl with a tea towel.

2.  Carefully pour the melted chocolate into the drinking glass to a height of 4″.

3.  Dip the cut grissini into the melted chocolate leaving the top 1″ undipped.  As you get further along in dipping, you may need to tilt the glass to distribute the chocolate upwards so that you are able to cover all 4″ of each grissini with the chocolate.  Gently shake off any excess chocolate, then place the dipped cookie on the small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment.  Let the Pocky stick sit here for about a minute to allow any excess chocolate to pool onto the parchment/paper plate.

4.  Transfer the stick to the large parchment lined baking sheet to fully dry.  Repeat the dipping process with the remaining grissini.  If you use white chocolate, the Pocky take about 1 hour to fully dry/harden.  If you use candy melts, they will take about 20 minutes to dry.  In a pinch, you can place the dipped cookies in the fridge to speed up the drying process.  Homemade Pocky are best eaten within a day or two, as the bread sticks tend to soften with time.

Variation:  Lightly scatter crushed, freeze-dried coffee bits on the dipped Pocky before transferring the cookie sticks to the large parchment lined baking sheet to dry.  Alternatively, you can sift a light dusting of leftover freeze dried coffee powder atop the drying cookies.  The residual heat of the chocolate will help the coffee to bloom and intensify in color.  For Chocolate Macadamia Nut Kona Coffee Pocky, drizzle the dried Coffee Pocky with chocolate candy melts.  Melt the chocolate in a microwave according to package directions. Pour the melted chocolate into a piping bag fitted with a #2 decorating tip and drizzle across the dipped cookie sticks back and forth crosswise.  You can also use a fork to do this.  Scatter finely chopped and toasted macadamia nuts on top of the drizzled chocolate and allow to fully dry before serving.

Homemade Chocolate Pocky

If you aren’t already familiar, Pocky are those easy-to-eat stick biscuit cookies from Japan that come in that catchy red box.  These handy and delicious biscuits are popular enough now that you can commonly find them in the Asian food aisle of your local market.  Having an almost cult-like following, Pocky are easily the most loved cookie in Asian American culture, like an Oreo cookie of the East!

Pocky are really such a perfect snack, you may wonder why anyone would ever bother making them at home.  My answer to this is that making Pocky at home is almost as delightfully fun as getting to eat them.  For me, the challenge is making them with as much precision as possible, the way I imagine they are made at the Pocky factory, wherever that may be.

I’m doing a Pocky Series this week, where I’ll be sharing 3 easy recipes for Homemade Pocky in some tasty variations to make your time worthwhile.  Today we’ll start with the classic: Chocolate Pocky, the most popular and recognizable of all Pocky varieties.

It all starts with toasted grissini, or thin Italian bread sticks.  I found mine in the bakery section of Safeway/Vons here in California.  I like to use the grissini that are most uniform in size and shape.  These thin bread sticks also come in more rustic style where each stick is more free form and not as straight, so it’s totally up to you which type you use, just make sure to grab the package that is plain in flavor…no garlic bread sticks here!  Since grissini are super long, you’ll use a serrated knife to cut them to a more Pocky-like height before dipping.

Use only the best quality chocolate can find here.  I like to mix a good semi-sweet chocolate with Swiss dark chocolate for a bit of bitterness and depth.  And since we aren’t going through all the effort of actually tempering, be careful not to over heat the chocolate during the melting process.  Just when it’s gently melted and beautifully glossy, it’s ready for dipping.

And as a riff on the original, I’m also making some decorated Pocky with crushed hazelnuts.  Some other yummy toppings might be salty roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, or even some macadamia nut bits for a Hawaiian twist!

I’m decorating another set of the cookies with some naturally dyed sprinkles I found at Homegoods the other day.  The just-off primary colored sprinkles make the Homemade Pocky look extra charming and party ready–a fun twist on Pocky that you can’t just grab off the grocery market shelf.  If you are interested in these all-natural sprinkles, I found some online, where they have several other colors to pick from.

Homemade Pocky make a festive confection for parties, yet they can also make the most elegant light dessert with a cup of after dinner tea.  I consider them like chocolate bark on a stick–super easy to make, even easier to eat, and always a crowd pleaser.

If you love Pocky treats, stay tuned!  I have a few more Pocky-licious creations that I’ll be posting about in the next few days!

Homemade Chocolate Pocky

Makes about 30 stick cookies.

Ingredients:

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate

6 oz dark chocolate

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 package of grissini, cut into 5″ pieces with serrated knife to make 30 sticks

1 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

sprinkles

Equipment:

serrated knife

double boiler

rubber spatula

tea towel

large baking sheet fitted with parchment paper

small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment paper

tall, narrow drinking glass, at least 6″ tall

Directions:

1.  Fill bottom of double boiler with water, making sure the water doesn’t make contact with the base of the top bowl of the double boiler.  Bring water to a gentle simmer (bring water to boil, then reduce to very low heat).  Place semi-sweet chocolate in top bowl of double boiler.  Using rubber spatula, gently melt the semi-sweet chocolate.  When the semi-sweet chocolate has almost all melted, add the dark chocolate and mix together.  When all the chocolate is just melted, mix in the vegetable oil, remove from heat, and wipe steam off the outside of the bowl with a tea towel.

2.  Carefully pour the melted chocolate into the drinking glass to a height of 4″.  Keep the remaining melted chocolate aside, preferably in a warm place.

3.  Dip the cut grissini into the melted chocolate leaving the top 1″ undipped.  Gently shake off any excess chocolate, then place the dipped cookie on the small baking sheet or plate fitted with parchment (I used a paper plate).  Let the Pocky stick sit here for about a minute to allow any excess chocolate to pool onto the parchment/paper plate.

4.  Transfer the stick to the large parchment lined baking sheet to fully dry.  Refill chocolate in glass to 4″ as needed.  Repeat the dipping process with the remaining grissini.  The Pocky take about 2 hours to fully dry/harden.  In a pinch, you can place them in the fridge to speed up the drying process.  Homemade Pocky are best eaten within a day or two, as the bread sticks tends to soften with time.  You can use leftover dipping chocolate for baking or fondue!

Variation:  Generously or lightly scatter finely chopped nuts or sprinkles on the dipped Pocky before transferring the cookie sticks onto the large parchment lined baking sheet.