It’s no secret that pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin bread are popular recipes when the fall season rolls around. If you love pumpkin desserts as much as I do, be sure to check out these 30+ pumpkin dessert recipes!
Today’s pumpkin treat, however, is a bit out of the ordinary. We’re making an icy-cold pumpkin drink, like a pumpkin frappucino you get at a coffee shop.
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. So how can you make this 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. In an ice cube tray, freeze milk, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and some fall spices. You may use any kind of milk you prefer. If you don’t care to sweeten your treat with maple syrup, try honey, agave, sugar, or your favorite sweetener.
The spices I use are ground cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. You could simply use pumpkin pie spice instead. Mix all of those ingredients together and freeze. Someone might question your orange ice cubes.
You’ll also need some cold coffee. The temperature of your coffee is so important. If you use warm or even room temperature coffee, the ice cubes will melt and become water, not creamy/slushy like you want. 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. 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 the drink. 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 drink with whipped cream if you’d like. The beverage is naturally gluten free and vegan. However, if you use dairy whipped cream, the drink will no longer be vegan.
This recipe can make 2 small drinks or 1 very large. The large beverage sweetened with maple syrup has 217.5 calories – one large drink sweetened with stevia only has 67.5 calories. This is compared to 630 calories from a coffee shop.
How’d I get that number?
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 beverage will have less calories.
If you love pumpkin flavored drinks, be sure to try my homemade pumpkin coffee creamer, too!
Enjoy a delicious pumpkin spice frappuccino at home without the huge price tag and without all the calories, fat, and refined sugar.
