I love making frappes in the morning, but if you look at commercial mixes, you might not be happy. From the amount of sugar, to the thickeners, and odd ingredients used, it can get scary. Sugar-free ones exist commercially, but most contain Aspartame (Nutrasweet). I prefer not to consume that sweetener.
There is one brand that contains Sucralose, and it tastes OK, but it’s full of ingredients I don’t want:
Ingredients:
‘NONDAIRY CREAMER [CONTAINS NON-HYDROGENATED COCONUT OIL, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE), DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE (AIDS DISSOLVING), MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES (EMULSIFIER), SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, SILICON DIOXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR], ARABICA COFFEE, MALTODEXTRIN, COCOA (DUTCH PROCESSED), GUAR GUM, SALT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SILICON DIOXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, SUCRALOSE (SPLENDA BRAND).’
Making a dry mix for the pantry isn’t hard to pull together, and you can have it with cane sugar, or sucralose (or your favorite 1:1 no sugar sweetener you prefer) if you need to watch your sugar intake (or don’t want a massive spike of sugar first thing in the morning). And no non-dairy creamer, artificial flavors, or gums/thickeners are in this mix!
The mix makes 3 servings worth, you can of course make a lot more, so you are prepared for weeks of drinks.
It is important to blend the dry mix, so that it becomes properly combined. Otherwise the espresso and milk powder won’t combine and the portioning will be off.
Homemade Mocha Frappe Dry Mix Recipe
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup dry milk
- ¼ cup dark cocoa powder
- ¼ cup granulated sugar or sucralose
- 6 tsp instant espresso powder
Directions:
Add ingredients to a blender and process till smooth.
Transfer to an 8 ounce mason jar (a funnel helps, tapping the blender container first gets the powder to drop down).
Makes 3 drinks worth.
There’s a couple tricks to get a proper frappe when making it more naturally.
First, only use whole milk. If you use lower fat milk, it will be icier.
Second, a trick I picked up a decade or more ago, is to add in a banana. Not only does it taste good in it, it gives a creaminess to the frappe, and it doesn’t separate quickly (into froth and ice). Make sure to use a ripe banana, as under ripe leaves a strong flavor that isn’t good.
Homemade Mocha Frappe Recipe
Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp loosely scooped mocha mix (see above)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 ripe banana
- 14 ice cubes (1 tray)
Directions:
Add all ingredients into the blender and process till smooth.
Serve with whipped cream if desired.
Makes two smaller drinks (I pour into two 16-ounce mason jars) or one large drink (in a quart 32-ounce mason jar).
~Sarah