Budget-Happy Iced Coffee Recipe

I found this recipe in Food and Wine magazine, but I did some tweaking to drop the calorie content. This morning I tried F&W's newer, healthier cousin and the results were fantastic. The drink was rich, creamy and decadent without the guilt. And by the by, what I paid for all of the ingredients is just a few pennies difference as the cost of two medium-sized coffee drinks found in typical coffee houses.

24-HOUR RECIPE

Light Iced Coffee (July 11, 2010)

Part 1

4 ½c Cold water
½ lb Ground Dark-Roasted Coffee (I used Starbuck’s Espresso)

Part 2

2 oz Fat-free sweetened condensed milk
4 oz 2% milk
Ice

Stir water and coffee into bowl and cover with lid. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Strain mixture with fine mesh sieve. You can also just take the sieve of your coffee maker, float it in the opening of your coffee pot and let the coffee concentrate drip in this manner. Coffee concentrate can be kept in refrigerator for a week.

Pour 2 oz sweetened condensed milk in a glass. Add 6 oz of the coffee concentrate and 4 oz of 2% milk. Stir well and add ice. 1 serving

Variations:

Vanilla Iced Coffee: pour 4 oz of the fat-free sweetened condensed milk in a container. Place a vanilla bean into the milk and let it sit for an hour. Or you can add ¼ T of vanilla flavoring to condensed milk as a time saver. Follow the directions for making iced coffee.

Mocha Iced Coffee: use 2% chocolate milk instead of regular milk in iced coffee recipe.

Happy Hour Iced Coffee: Stir an ounce (or whatever amount makes you happy) of Kahlua or Bailey's Irish Cream into condensed milk. Use creamy liqueurs to keep the consistency of the iced coffee drink similar to the original recipe.

Enjoy!