It’s hard to justify a trip to the coffee shop in cold weather just to grab fancy-pants java or snacks. Take some time in your kitchen, though, and the bounty of your favorite caffeine dispensary can be had at home for cheap.
Consider this a shorter, winter-oriented cousin to our Lifehacker Cookbook, which was written in warmer times (at least for one editor in the northeast). As with that entry, the links here are curated from previous posts and trusted sources. But this selection is geared toward the type of stuff you’d find in the warmly-lit confines of a coffee-shop food counter.
No two tastes are the same, of course, and we’re sure some of you have treats from your own shops well worth trying. Got a recipe like that to share? Throw it to us in the comments, and we’ll add the best to the post. We would’ve gone for sandwiches, paninis, and wraps, for example, but that seemed like too vast a field to try cherry-picking.
Espresso drinks
- DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte [Kitchn/Apartment Therapy]
- Starbucks-style coffee drinks [CoffeeFair]
- Roll your own Frappuccinos [The Kurths]
Cakes and breads
- Sunday morning apple coffee cake [Food52 Editor's Pick]
- Cinnamon roll coffee cake [Cuisine at Home via Porter House]
- Traditional cinnamon coffee cake [America's Test Kitchen/Cooks']
- Better than Starbucks’ lemon pound cake [Dozen Flours]
- Banana Walnut Bread [(Direct PDF link) via Starbucks.com]
Cookies, scones, and muffins
- Truly great scones (traditional) [Chubby Hubby]
- Outrageous Oatmeal Cookie [(Direct PDF link) via Starbucks.com]
- Sneakerdoodles (snickerdoodles) [Instructables]
- Pumpkin cream cheese muffins (like Starbucks) [RecipeZaar]
- Jalapeno cheddar scones [Smitten Kitchen]
- Maple Syrup Scones (organic/healthy) [101 Cookbooks]
Breakfast fare
- Easy homemade granola [Amateur Gourmet]
- Alton Brown’s granola recipe [Food Network]
- Overnight steel-cut oatmeal [The Bitten Word]
- Breakfast burrito ideas
- Simple croissants [Croissants for Breakfast]
- Karen Bonarth and Roger Gural’s croissants (extensive, but authentic) [Serious Eats]
Top photo by avlxyz; lemon pound cake by Dozen Flours; scones by Chubby Hubby; granola by Amateur Gourmet.
