I have an addiction. An addiction to a Venti-Decaf-Nonfat-Caramel Macchiato. When I need to reward myself after a great workout or just a trip to the gyno, I take my happy self into the drive thru at Starbucks. You can smell the coffee as the sliding doors open while they take $6 from your hand. Yikes! That's a quarter of a box of diapers. That's two gallons of milk! These are the things that are going through my head (after I'm finished with my delicious drink, of course).
A couple of years ago I had given my mom a Mr. Coffe Cafe Frappe machine. It basically brews the coffee and then blends the drink of your choice. I began to look at the recipes and tried a few. SO GOOD. They even have alcohol-coffee drinks. I wrote down some recipes and tried it at home with a small blender my husband had (ironically) just given to me. Here's the three I've tried so far:
For all recipes, brew 1/2 cup of dark roast coffee or espresso. (3 tablespoons ground coffee).
Classic Mocha
Place all ingredients in blender in this order:
2 cups ice (14-17 cubes)
2 Tbsp sugar
3Tbsp chocolate syrup
1/4 whole milk or other milk
1/2 brewed coffee (cool to room temp if possible)
Vanilla Cappuccino
Place all ingredients in blender in this order:
2 cups ice cubes (14-17 cubes)
3 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole or other milk
1/2 cup coffee (cooled to room temp if possible)
Chocolate Caramel Swirl
Place all ingredients in blender in this order:
2 cups ice cubes (14-17 cubes)
1/3 cup butterscotch-caramel syrup
3 Tbsp chocolate syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole or other milk
1/2 cup coffee (cooled to room temp if possible)
Blend all until smooth or however you want it, of course. Please use REAL chocolate syrup. The kind that is in the easy squeeze container is actually watered down for 'squeezability'. I'll add some more recipes as I try them out. I can't tell you how much money this has saved us in just 2 weeks of making these! My husband likes to have a drink every morning during his commute so just that right there saves a few dollars a day! PLEASE TRY THIS! I just brew a full carafe of coffee and then stick it in the fridge so I always have some on hand to make a quick drink in the morning. It literally takes 2 minutes. That's probably faster than Starbuck's considering the lines!
Recipes from the Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe book - minor changes made by me.
