Mason Jar Lattes: Cardamom Vanilla

Happy July, friends! Dana here. I'm not gonna talk about how friggin' hot it is because we're probably all painfully aware, and that's all I'm seeing online of late. I feel, y'all *sweats profusely*. Let's try and bring ourselves some relief, shall we?

I used this recipe as a guide, with (as usual) some changes. Specifically, no rosewater. I like rosewater, but 1) I have no idea where to find it 2) I already had all the other ingredients in my house, and why am I gonna change out of my jammies if I don't have to? The original recipe tells you how to make a cold version, whereas mine is hot, though you could easily make this version cold too (see recipe below).

Ingredients
30 whole green cardamom pods
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Combine cardamom pods, sugar, and water in a small saucepan. Turn burner to medium-high and bring to a light boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture is bubbling, turn off the burner and let the mixture sit for at least fifteen minutes. This will give the pods more time to steep and infuse the syrup with their flavor. Add vanilla and stir again. Then strain (if desired) into a jar. I personally like leaving the pods in because I think it looks kind of fun and reminds me of what's in the jar. They're big enough to not really cause an issue too. When I make syrups with any kind of bitsy flavorants, though, like zest, I'll filter. It's up to you. Then just flavor your coffee as desired. I personally don't like my coffee too sweet, so I use two tablespoons in a standard coffee cup.

For a hot latte, use Heather's Mason Jar Latte recipe here, sans the sugar. Or you can be lazy like me and just combine coffee and milk and zap in the microwave to heat it up.

For an iced latte, I recommend using my aforementioned lazy method, but add some ice cubes instead of zapping it in the microwave. Easy peasy!

Here you can see my ingredient layout. Anyone else listen to audiobooks while they cook? I use a great app called Librivox. It has loads of classic literature. Currently listening to the leviathan that is Moby Dick. There's a geeky reference in there. 😉 If you've read other guest posts from me, you may notice I make pretty easy recipes. Yeah, because I don't like to have to work too hard for my food! Especially first thing in the morning when I'm stumbling around like a zombie.

I think I did a load of dishes while this baby was doing its thing. It really doesn't get much easier. And you can see what I mean about seeing what's in the jar. I use raw sugar, so my syrups always resemble maple syrup, meat juice, broth, etc., and I am not looking to mix any of those into my coffee. Well, the maple syrup is actually really nice in coffee, but you get my drift.

Once your coffee is ready, it's time to settle in with another book. Yes, more books! I always have at least three going at a time: an audiobook, one on my Kindle, and a physical one. The resulting concoction has a warm, spicy flavor. It's almost got a whisper of something that reminds me of mint and cumin, but it's not at all minty or cumin-y, if that makes any sense. Anyway, it's absolutely delicious. Give it a try and let us know what you thought in the comments below 👇.

I finished reading the book pictured above, Chasing Shadows by KN Salustro, before writing this post, so feel free to have a look at my spoiler-free review over on my blog.

Thanks for reading!