Choffy Recipes: Desserts, Drinks and Savory Dishes
Choffy Recipes: Desserts, Drinks and Savory Dishes
Choffy is roasted cacao, ground and brewed like coffee. Anywhere a recipe calls for brewed coffee, espresso, or cocoa depth, it will take Choffy instead. Below are twenty-one recipes published on this site, from a bacon-wrapped filet to a chia pudding, plus the ratios you need to brew the Choffy they call for.
Roughly half use Choffy as a brewed liquid; the rest use the dry grounds straight out of the bag. One of them uses the grounds you already brewed with this morning.
Start Here
Choffy Tiramisu
The most popular recipe on this site, and the one that explains the rest of them. Ladyfingers soak in brewed Choffy instead of espresso, a straight one-for-one swap with no technique to learn.
Read the recipe →
Two Ways Choffy Goes Into a Recipe
Before you pick a recipe, it helps to know which of the two it is. They buy you different things, and one of them needs no brewing equipment at all.
As a brewed liquid. You brew a pot the way you normally would, then use the liquid where a recipe wants coffee or water. This is how the tiramisu works, with ladyfingers soaked in brewed Choffy rather than espresso, and how the hot chocolate and the pumpkin spice latte get their body. Recipes written this way usually ask for it strong: the latte calls for ten to twelve ounces of really strong brewed Choffy, not an ordinary cup.
As dry grounds. You measure the grounds straight from the bag, by the tablespoon, and they go into the batter, the cream, or the rub. The crème brûlée steeps three and a half tablespoons of grounds into hot cream. The filet mignon uses them dry, as a rub, with nothing more than salt and pepper. Nothing gets brewed and nothing gets strained. If you don't own a press, start here.
And a third. The Chocolicious smoothie calls for half a cup of used Choffy grounds, the ones sitting in the bottom of the press after you've had your morning cup. It's the only recipe here that costs you nothing.
How Much Choffy a Recipe Needs
Every recipe below that asks for brewed Choffy assumes you already know the base ratio. It is the same one used for drinking it, and it does not change between brewing methods:
2 tablespoons of Choffy per 6 ounces of water.
That is the published ratio for both the French press and the drip machine. When a recipe asks for “really strong” Choffy, add grounds. Don't reduce the water, or you'll come up short on volume.
Recipes that call for a plain tablespoon measure, “4 Tbsp Choffy” in the steak marinade or “4 tbs Choffy” in the chia pudding, mean the dry grounds. Full step-by-step instructions for each method are on the How to Brew page.
Ten Recipes
Desserts
The largest group, and the most forgiving place to start. Chocolate desserts are already built to carry a bitter, roasted note, which is what Choffy brings.
Decadent Hot Chocolate ChoffyFour cups of brewed Choffy and a can of sweetened condensed milk. The simplest recipe here, and the one to make for people who have never tried it.
Choffy Crème BrûléeThree and a half tablespoons of grounds steeped into heavy cream with cinnamon and vanilla. No brewing required.
Choffy TiramisuLadyfingers soaked in brewed Choffy instead of espresso, layered with mascarpone. The clearest example of a straight coffee swap.
Choffy Chocolate MousseCooking with Ruthie's lightened version, with the flavor kept and the calories cut back. Good for a dinner party you didn't plan far ahead for.
Choffy Chocolate BiscottiCocoa powder and Choffy together in the dough. Keeps for days, and it goes with a mug of the stuff it's made from.
Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese FrostingNeufchâtel and sour cream in the batter for a denser crumb. The birthday-cake option.
Chocolate Choffy Petite Bundt CakesIndividual bundts from the same batter family as the cupcakes. Portioned, so nobody has to cut anything.
Candied Choffy Caramel ApplesA caramel apple with a Choffy layer over the caramel. The autumn recipe, and the one that photographs best.
Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Choffy SyrupThe syrup is where the Choffy goes. A breakfast recipe filed under desserts.
Pumpkin Spice Choffy LatteTen to twelve ounces of really strong brewed Choffy, plus a spice mix you make yourself from cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
Nine Recipes
Snacks, Smoothies and Cold Drinks
Smaller, faster, and mostly no-bake. Several of these were built around Choffy's antioxidant content rather than its flavor, so they turn up with chia seeds and dates in them.
Superfood Choffy Peanut Butter CupsUnder five ingredients: dark chocolate, Choffy grounds, peanut butter, honey, chia. They live in the fridge.
Almond Choffy Power BitesRolled, chilled, and aimed squarely at the mid-afternoon dip. No oven involved.
No-Bake Seed and Nut BarsA date-and-nut base under a chocolate Choffy top layer. The biggest batch on this page, and the one most likely to disappear first.
Winter Citrus Chocolate Chia PuddingFour tablespoons of grounds into almond milk and chia, set overnight, layered with orange and grapefruit.
Chocolicious Choffy SmoothieBanana, dates, and half a cup of used Choffy grounds from this morning's press. Post-workout, and free.
Peanut Butter Banana Choffy SmoothieChocolate and peanut butter, blended. Cooking with Ruthie's, and about as fast as a recipe gets.
Hazelnut Iced ChoffyBrewed hot, poured over ice, hazelnut creamer stirred through. The recipe notes cinnamon and coconut creamers work just as well.
Salted Caramel Iced ChoffyEight ounces of chilled Choffy over ice, caramel syrup, a splash of creamer, and a small pinch of kosher salt. Adjust the sweetness in the glass.
Salted Caramel Choffy FreezeThe blender version of the iced one. Chilled Choffy, a cup of ice, half-and-half, caramel sauce and syrup, run until frosty.
Two Recipes
Savory
The least obvious use, and the one to try if you've only ever had Choffy sweet. Roasted cacao behaves in a rub the way a dark spice does: bitter, earthy, and good against fat.
Bacon Wrapped Choffy Crusted Filet MignonChoffy grounds, salt and pepper rubbed straight onto the steak, wrapped in bacon and grilled. Four ingredients.
Choffy Steak MarinadeEight ounces of hot water and four tablespoons of Choffy, cooked under the broiler for something close to a grill flavor.
There is also an earlier Top 5 Brewed Cacao Recipes roundup, which summarizes five of the recipes above in short form if you want them on one screen.
Brewing the Choffy Your Recipe Calls For
Three methods are published for Choffy, and all three use the same 2 tablespoons per 6 ounces. Pour-over cones, percolators and overnight cold steeping are common ways to brew coffee, but Choffy publishes no grind or ratio guidance for any of them, so they aren't covered here.
| Method | What It's Best For | The One Thing to Get Right |
|---|---|---|
| French press | The strongest brew, and the one to use when a recipe says “really strong.” | Stir, steep three minutes, then repeat once or twice depending on strength. It is the longest of the three methods. |
| Drip machine | Brewing enough for a recipe and a pot to drink alongside it. | Use a permanent gold or nylon mesh filter. Do not use a paper filter; it clogs with Choffy grounds. Fill the reservoir with cool or lukewarm water and select the hottest, boldest setting. |
| Single cup | One serving, or a recipe that only needs a few ounces. | Choffy single serve cups work in any Keurig. A tea infuser also works: boiling water, four to six minutes. An Aeropress works too. |
Whichever you use, the grounds you press out at the end are the ones the Chocolicious smoothie wants. Don't throw them away if you're making it the same day.
Make It Your Own
Choffy takes additions the way good coffee does. Cinnamon, nutmeg or cardamom go into the grounds before brewing. A square of dark chocolate melts into a hot mug. Steamed oat or whole milk gives you a creamier pour. Sweeteners behave differently here than they do in coffee, and it's the thing regular drinkers experiment with most:
★★★★★
“The dark roast is great if you enjoy the dark, almost burned flavor. The flavor is rich and full and it is very easy to modify the taste with creamers and sweeteners. Try brown or raw sugar. Awesome flavor.”
— Mark Morris, verified buyer, on Ivory Coast Dark Roast
If a recipe comes out flatter than you wanted, the fix is almost always more grounds rather than less water. Choffy is mellower than coffee, so it does not fight the dairy or the sugar around it.
Questions About Cooking With Choffy
Can you bake with Choffy?
Yes. Ten of the twenty-one recipes on this page are baked or chilled desserts: cupcakes, bundt cakes, biscotti, crème brûlée, mousse. Choffy goes in either as a brewed liquid replacing the coffee or water in the recipe, or as dry grounds measured by the tablespoon straight into the batter or the cream.
Do I use Choffy grounds or brewed Choffy in a recipe?
Read the ingredient line. If it gives a volume in ounces or cups (“4 cups brewed Choffy”) it wants the liquid. If it gives a tablespoon measure (“3 1/2 Tbsp Choffy grounds”) it wants the dry grounds out of the bag. Recipes that use the grounds dry need no brewing equipment at all.
How much Choffy do I use per cup?
2 tablespoons of Choffy per 6 ounces of water. That is the published ratio for both the French press and the drip machine, and it does not change between them. When a recipe asks for really strong Choffy, add grounds rather than reducing the water.
Can I substitute Choffy for coffee in a recipe?
In the recipes here, that is exactly what happens. The tiramisu soaks its ladyfingers in brewed Choffy where the traditional version uses espresso, and the pumpkin spice latte is built the same way a coffee latte would be. Choffy brews darker and less sharp than coffee, so expect a rounder chocolate note where the coffee bitterness used to be.
Can I reuse Choffy grounds?
For one recipe on this page, yes. The Chocolicious Choffy Smoothie calls for half a cup of used Choffy grounds, the ones left in the press after brewing. Use them the same day. For anything baked or steeped, start with fresh grounds, since the used ones have already given up most of their flavor to the cup.
Do I need a special filter to brew Choffy?
In a drip machine, yes. Use a permanent gold or nylon mesh filter. A paper filter will clog with Choffy grounds, because they are ground cacao rather than coffee and they behave differently in the basket. A French press needs nothing extra; its own mesh screen is the filter.
Which roast should I cook with?
For baking and for savory rubs, a dark roast gives you the most flavor to work with, since it has the deepest, most roasted character to carry through butter and sugar. For smoothies and cold drinks, where nothing is cooking the flavor down, a medium roast keeps things lighter. If you are not sure yet, a sampler lets you taste the range before you commit a whole bag to a cake.
Everything Here Starts With a Bag of Grounds
Cooking with Choffy runs through the bagged product. It's what you measure by the tablespoon and what you brew for the recipes that need it. If you don't own a press yet, the 32 oz French press is the one these recipes are written around.
Shop Bagged Choffy 32 oz French Press