What to Eat Wednesday - Mason Jar Latte

If you know me, or follow Sew Half Crazy on Facebook or Instagram then you know I have a love affair with coffee. It's not just a drink, it's more of a comforting ritual. Kind of like slipping into your favorite sweats and kicking back with your favorite book or movie. It's calming, which I know is weird, because caffeine and what not, but caffeine doesn't make me antsy the way it does some people. I could fall asleep just as easily with a cup of coffee at 9 pm as I do without. Like I said, coffee is my version of comfy sweats. Not that I'm giving up my comfy sweats. Those yoga pants are the very best thing to lounge in after a tough day. I digress.

So back to my coffee affair. I love coffee, but I get bored with the same old, same old. Upping my visits to starbucks or other local coffee shop is expensive though, and I am not made of money. So what's a chick to do? DIY it! Just like I do most everything else that I don't want to pay retail for.

Now there are a plethora of sites and recipes and how-to's on the web, and this is just what I do. I talked to a lot of friends, and did a lot searches on the best way to accomplish the milk steaming part of the latte process, and I'm going to share what works for me. Dana and I will also be bringing you tried and tested recipes using the basic latte recipe.

Dana is a font of information when it comes to latte recipes, but she's lazy. I told her, I'd be divulging the truth of her laziness. I asked her for her honey almond latte recipe, and she sent me a link to an old blog post on our old blog. No words accompanied it, just the link. She then bragged about her laziness. It was an amazing conversation about her brazen laziness. I've gotten off track again.

So back to my basic latte - I'm a cream and sugar type of coffee drinker. I take it the way my father takes his coffee. Although, I do usually take less sugar than he does, but I'm not going to turn down a coffee with one extra sugar. My lattes are the same way, 1 heaping spoonful of sugar, with a double shot of espresso and 1 cup of steamed milk, but how to steam the milk at home without a fancy schmancy machine? This is where the mason jar comes in.

My friend actually gave me this idea, because it's what her husband does. It works like a charm. So here's the recipe for my basic double shot mason jar latte.

Ingredients

• 8 oz of espresso (you can use less, but why would you want to?)
• 1 heaping spoonful of sugar
• 1 cup of milk (I use 1%)

Directions

The plastic cap strikes!

Shaken, not stirred milk

1. Brew your espresso as you would normally. Make sure to use a big enough mug, I happen to have several latte mugs, so I just use those. I put my espresso into my keurig, using the reusable cup, and it works just fine. 
2. While the espresso is doing it's thing, combine the sugar and milk into your mason jar. I use the pint sized mason jars, and just use the measuring marks on the side of the mason jar for my milk. I don't even bother to stir the sugar and milk together. They'll all get mixed up in the end. 
3. Pop the mason jar with milk and sugar into the microwave. Now here's where you're going to have to experiment with your microwave, because they're not all created equal. I only need to heat my milk up for 2 minutes in my mason jar on high. It gets bubbly, but doesn't boil over. The first couple of times you make your mason jar latte, watch the milk! You don't want it to boil over. Pull the mason jar out of the microwave when the milk is bubbling, but not overflowing. You will need a hot pot holder, because the glass will be hot! 
4. After you pull the heated milk from the mason jar, screw the metal top onto it. Don't use the plastic freezer top, they won't seal and you will end up with a mess. Take it from my experience. Don't use the plastic tops.  The metal tops are much better for this, because you can crank those suckers down and your steaming hot milk won't spew from the top when you shake it. Make sure the top is fully tightened. 
5. Using a hot pot holder, shake your mason jar a couple of times. You don't need to go crazy here, but a few good shakes is all it's going to take to get a lovely froth on your milk. 
6. Unscrew the top from the mason jar using your hot pot holder, and gently pour your milk over your espresso, and finish off with the foam. You don't need any fancy maneuvers, gadgets or spoons to top your latte with the foam. The natural shape of the mason jar does the work for you. 

Voila! A perfectly delectable, homemade latte for a fraction of the price, and there's very little clean-up.


I usually top my latte with sprinkle or four of cinnamon sugar, and then find a quiet spot to enjoy it. It's so dang good, that you're going to be whipping these up all the time. Of course, you can also experiment with different variations on it, but Dana and I will back with some of our own recipes next week. We just need to agree who's going to write it up first.

Sisters are the best, aren't they?

I hope you guys enjoy and try making your own mason jar lattes. See you guys later!