Save calories AND money! Enjoy a delicious pumpkin spice frappuccino at home without the huge price tag and without all the calories, fat, and refined sugar.
How many pumpkin recipes can I make in the month of August? I don’t care what time of the year it is – I enjoy pumpkin all year long!
I have been anxiously waiting for my favorite coffee shops to bring back all of their delicious pumpkin coffee treats for months. I keep asking the man at Dunkin Donuts when pumpkin coffee will return and he may think I’m crazy. That being said, I took it upon myself to make my own pumpkin coffee treat. Icy, frozen coffee with pumpkin, cinnamon, spice, and everything nice. It’s thick, creamy, cool, and exactly what I’ve been yearning for the past 8 months.
Plus, my version (as written) isn’t an astronomical price, nor is it overloaded with refined sugars, fat, and calories. A small pumpkin spice frappe from Starbucks has 300 calories, 11 grams fat, 48 grams carbs and 47 grams sugar! A medium has 460 calories and a large has 630 calories. Whoa.
You bet your bottom dollar I’ll be sippin’ this lightened-up treat 12 months of the year. My skinny jeans will be thankful.
Making today’s skinny pumpkin treat is a bit out of the ordinary. You see, you can’t just mix hot coffee with ice, pumpkin, and spices. You’d be left with a very watery mish-mosh of slush. Not very frappuccino-ish.
So how can you make this thing the right way? Well, you have to begin by freezing a few ingredients into ice cubes. You’ll need an ice cube tray to do this. They’re probably less than $1 and trust me, you’ll get enough uses out of it. In an ice cube tray, freeze milk, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and some fall spices. You may use any kind of milk you prefer. I love baking with and drinking vanilla almond milk, so that is what I used. If you don’t care to sweeten your treat with maple syrup, try honey, agave, sugar, or your favorite sweetener. If you use stevia, a natural sweetener, your skinny frappe will have less calories.
The spices I used are ground cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. You may simply use pumpkin pie spice instead. Mix all of those ingredients together and freeze. Kevin was questioning my orange ice cubes. He totally thought this was weird… which, it is.
You’ll also need some cold coffee. Decaf or regular, flavored or unflavored – it won’t matter. The temperature of your coffee is so important though! If you use warm or even room temperature coffee, the ice cubes will melt and become water, not creamy/slushy like you want. So use very cold coffee. You could also freeze your coffee into ice cubes. You’ll need some extra milk to fully blend the pumpkin ice cubes and the coffee ice cubes together. I just find it easier to use liquid cold coffee.
I make my pumpkin/milk ice cubes and brew a cup of coffee the night before. I freeze the cubes and keep the coffee in the refrigerator until I’m ready to use the next morning or afternoon. You know, whenever that pumpkin frappe craving hits. When the coffee is super cold and you’ve got your pumpkin milk ice cubes ready, blend them both together in your blender. At this point, taste your frappe. Does it need more sweetening? More spice? Add more maple syrup or spice and continue to taste, repeat as needed. I simply needed 3 Tablespoons of maple syrup total.
Top the creamy pumpkin spice frappe with whipped cream. This is completely optional, but oh-so-necessary in my world. This frappe is naturally gluten free and vegan. However, if you use dairy whipped cream, the drink will no longer be vegan. So keep that in mind if you follow a vegan diet.
This recipe can make 2 small frappuccinos or 1 VERY (very very very!) large.The large skinny frappuccino sweetened with maple syrup only has 217.5 calories – one large frappuccino sweetened with stevia (or other 0 calorie sweetener) only has 67.5 calories. This is compared to 630 calories from the coffee shop.
How’d I get that number?
- 1.25 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk = 37.5 cals
- 1.5 cups coffee = 0 cals
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree = 20 cals
- 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup = 150 cals
- spices = 0 cals
- 2 servings light whipped cream = 10 cals
If you choose to use a different sweetener, be sure to adjust the calories accordingly if you are counting. If you use stevia, a natural sweetener, your frappe will have less calories. To me, it’s not the calories, but the quality of ingredients going into my drink. Pumpkin flavor from pure pumpkin, not pumpkin syrups or flavorings. No excess sugar out of your control and you can use your favorite sweetener or low fat (dairy or non) milk.
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Enjoy a delicious pumpkin spice frappuccino at home without all the calories, fat, and refined sugar.
Ingredients:
- 1 and 1/2 cups (12 oz) cold coffee
- 1 and 1/4 cups (10 oz) unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any milk)
- 1/4 cup (57 grams) pumpkin puree
- 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup (or equal amount of honey, agave, or 4 packets stevia or other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves1
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg1
- light whipped cream, optional
Directions:
- Brew the coffee. Pour coffee into a large mug and refrigerate overnight. Coffee MUST be very cold.
- In a small bowl, whisk the milk, pumpkin, sweetener of choice, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together until combined. Pour into ice cube tray and allow to freeze.
- Once coffee is cold and pumpkin ice cubes are frozen, add everything to your blender and blend on high until smooth and icy. Add more milk if your blender isn't blending it well. Taste the frozen drink and add more sweetener or spices if needed. Top with whipped cream, if desired. Serve immediately.
Additional Notes:
- Instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves - use 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.
This drink is naturally gluten free. Keep it vegan by using non-dairy milk and excluding whipped cream.
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