Getting Jittery About the Coming Coffee Shortage

I am as freaked out as everyone else in this town that Java Nation has lost its lease and will be vacating its current space in the Shopping Cove at the end of the month. When I moved to Sag Harbor 16 years ago, just after the Bedinis opened for business, it was a beacon and a sign of good things to come. Before there was Cavaniola's, before the farmer's market, before Tim's Prime Meats and the Sag Harbor Baking Company and Joe and Liza's Ice Cream, before there was any kind of artisanal, organic, and/or local food product for sale in town, there was best-quality locally roasted coffee.

Every day that I wake up in Sag Harbor I brew coffee with Java Nation beans. I'm confident that they'll find another space, but can I survive if there is a gap of days or weeks between the closing of one shop and the opening of another? That would be difficult. Usually I wait until I'm out to run to Java Nation for a fresh bag, but in the last week or two I've been buying coffee to stockpile in the freezer.

A while ago, I started seeing recipes for cookies incorporating coffee grounds, and today I thought I might try that with my Java Nation grounds. But when I ground the beans and they smelled so great, I decided to use freshly ground coffee in my chocolate chip cookies instead. If you have coffee to spare, here is the recipe:

Java Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 36 cookies

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons freshly ground coffee
2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup whole almonds, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and mix until a dough forms. Add the ground coffee and mix for 30 seconds. Add the chocolate chips and almonds if using and mix to combine.
3. Let dough stand 10 minutes to firm up, and then drop it by tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookies. Bake until golden around the edges but still soft on top, 9 to 10 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then remove with a metal spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.