Frozen Frappucino

Sometimes when I am out shopping I like to treat myself to an ice coffee or frozen frappucino.  I say "treat" because I don't do this often and secondly I think they're over-priced for coffee & ice.

I'm home today preparing a peanut butter cup cheesecake for Easter, cleaning the house, doing laundry, watching my daughter and exercising.  It was time for a little break and I started thinking about "treating" myself to a frozen frappucino but I didn't feel like driving anywhere and I remembered I haven't blogged anything this week. Ugh, its too late now to blog an Easter recipe!

I start by looking up recipes for frozen frappucinos on Google (there's a ton).  Most of these recipes begin with brewing double strength coffee...well, there's two problems with this 1) I have a Keurig coffee maker and if double strength K-cups even exist I don't have any on hand and 2) I want this frozen drink NOW vs brewing a cup of coffee and waiting for it to chill.  So I find a recipe that uses instant coffee which I just so happen to have in my pantry leftover from a cappuccino brownie recipe (lucky me).

I read the recipe and I'm thinking to myself this might be a possible disaster because it calls for powdered creamer which I'm thinking might not dissolve completely in a cold beverage but its worth a try.  Concerns like this is where I rely on recipe reviews but the reviews of this particular recipe were filled with a bunch of weirdos arguing over the use of splenda...seriously??? If someone wants to use a sugar substitute so be it, they don't need to be harassed by health freaks and ruin the review section for people like me who actually want to know if the recipe turns out good or not.

Moving on, I dig out my smoothie pro which hasn't seen the light of day in years.  My husband and I use to make frozen mango & rum smoothies in the summer when we were dating and calorie consumption was of no concern, lol. If you don't have a smoothie machine you could use a blender.  I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  It tasted pretty darn close to Starbucks so give it a try!  And if you really want to treat yourself try topping it off with some whipped cream and caramel or chocolate syrup.  Enjoy!!!!

INGREDIENTS: 

This makes one frozen frappucino...

2 tablespoons instant coffee (regular or decaf)

2 tablespoons vanilla flavored powdered creamer (I used vanilla caramel flavor)

1/2 cup milk 

8-10 ice cubes 

1-2 teaspoons of your preferred* sweetener (optional)  I used 2 packets of Stevia.  

DIRECTIONS:

Blend the first three ingredients until smooth.  Add ice and blend until smooth.  Stir in sweetener (optional).  Takes about 2 minutes total to make.  

*I'm saying "preferred"so I don't end up with any of those crazy reviews.  

SOURCE:  DIY Light Frappucino