I love to go to a certain coffee shop and get a Christmas Blend coffee. I was looking forward to the Holiday Spice’s appearance.
A little background first, I was diagnosed with border line diabetes and told to lose weight in January of this year. There is a family history of diabetes, and I have been dreading the diagnosis my entire life. I was diagnosed with Hypogylcemia about 23 years ago, it came along with a warning that in 10 years it might turn to diabetes. I have been so grateful that it took so long, however, I was hoping that diagnosis would never come. The borderline diabetes came along with a ray of hope, well a couple of them. Lose weight and take the blood test again, this time without drinking coffee with creamer in it, have a true fasting blood sugar test. Of course my Doctor gave me that exasperatted look when I told him I had 2 cups of coffee with creamer before the blood test. I told him I drank the coffee for the safety of all, but he didn’t think it was funny. So I’m due for the next blood test, but honestly I’m scared. I remember going to the hospital and seeing my Great Grandmother in bed, after having her other leg removed due to diabetes. As I type this, I see I need to go get that test to avoid what happened to her! Writing really is therapeutic, but I digress. Let me get back on track.
Since January, I have been on a crusade to limit my intake of sugar to 26 grams a day. I bought some really great books on how to eat healthy, by eating foods to fuel our bodies without fueling our fat cells. I’ve gone down one size in clothes, so that’s good news. I managed to curve my, expensive, fancy latte addiction, by only purchasing a Coconut milk latte. I, mistakingly, thought this was reducing my sugar intake while still getting my latte. Wrong. That Latte is still 15 grams of sugar!! That’s over 1/2 of my sugar intake for an entire day!
I was excited for the Holiday Spice to come out. I thought it was just spices they add to the drink, meaning, no extra sugar! Wrong again. 28 grams of sugar. 28. That’s 2 over my daily allowance. The first ingredient in the spice mix is sugar. Un. Be. Liev. Able. After I pouted about that fact, complained to my sister and just mulled it over and over and over for a few days, I decided to make my own spice mix.
My first attempt was to use pre-mixed Pumpkin Pie spice. It was ok, but honestly, mine was old and didn’t taste that great. My next attempt, I mixed my own, freshly ground spices. I added monk fruit to sweeten it. Amazing. Here it is, the Holiday Spice-up-your-own Coffee:
Holiday Spice-up-your-own Coffee
3 Teaspoons organic ground cinnamon
1 Teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 Teaspoon Orange peel
4 allspice kernels
2/3 Teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 Teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon of pure Monk Fruit (this seems like a lot, but when it’s blended with all of the spices, it’s not that much. This measurement is for PURE, powdered monk fruit. No additives. The pure monk fruit is 300 times sweeter than sugar.)
I used my Mortar and Pestle to grind it all up, which in turn made sure there were no big chucks of spices, while thoroughly mixing everything together.
Feel free to tweak the ingredients as you like, and use whichever on-plan sweetener you choose.
I store my spice mix in a, leak proof, medicine container I bought online. I use about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon in my coffee, depends on how spicy I want my coffee to be. Christmas in a cup. That’s what it tastes like. Christmas in a delicious cup of delectable coffee.
