I remember the day I had my first Starbucks Frappuccino. It was 1997. I was on a platonic coffee date with a man on whom I had an unrequited crush. He bought me a Mocha Frappuccino and it was love at first sip: frothy, sweet, and delicious. I stayed up late that night not only because of the evening caffeine consumption, but also because of the memory of that man's green eyes and square jaw.
Wouldn't you know it, one coffee date led to another, and here we are, seventeen years later, with a house and a dog and two kids. We don't go on coffee dates too often any more; life is pretty busy, and I certainly can't drink coffee past 11 am without serious sleep repercussions. No one wants a sleep deprived Nicole, least of all the aforementioned husband, kids, and dog. I also don't love paying $5 for a drink, regardless of how frothy, sweet, and delicious it is — therefore, for a summertime treat I wanted to recreate the Frappuccino, in a low-cost, low-calorie way.
The other day I made up a batch of these frozen blended coffee drinks and gave one to my husband to try. He proclaimed it to be "better than Starbucks" and when I told him how low in cost and calories it is, I think he fell in love with me all over again. Call it the magic of the mocha!
Ingredients
Brew very strong coffee; allow to cool and then freeze in ice cube trays.
Using a blender, whirl together 5-6 large (1 inch by 2 inches) coffee ice cubes and 1 cup vanilla almond or soy milk. Blend on high until frosty and creamy. For a classic coffee-flavoured drink - stop right there.
For a mocha drink, blend in 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder; for a caramel drink, blend in 1-2 tablespoons caramel sauce.
If desired, top with coconut whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate or caramel syrup.
For a nut-and-soy-free version, use 1 cup of skim dairy milk with 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract in lieu of the vanilla almond or vanilla soy milk.
Make this for the love of your life, and watch them fall in love with you all over again!
Yield: 1-16 ounce beverage
Nutritional Information (coffee flavour only, using Almond Breeze Vanilla non-dairy beverage): Calories 90, Fat 2.5 grams, Total Carbohydrates 16 grams, Fibre 1 gram, Protein 1 gram.
Thirsty for more? Try my 3 Best Juice Recipes or my Green Goddess Juice Recipe. Looking for a little more romance? Try these aphrodisiac Gluten Free Chocolate Almond Butter Blondies.
It's so easy to fall in love, and it's so easy to make these Frozen Blended Coffee Drinks. Watch me do it in under three minutes!
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