I have a stubborn brain. My stubborn brain doesn’t like to buy things that it knows my hands can make at home.
Wait… maybe that’s my cheap brain. I get the two confused sometimes.
Strangely enough, my stubborn and cheap brain will easily talk me out of buying a $4 coffee drink, but they’re somehow strangely silent when it comes to the $200 pair of shoes that I “need”. Hm…. I’ll look into that.
Let’s keep it simple with these coffee smoothies. Strongly brewed coffee. Milk. A dash of sugar. A few tablespoons of instant vanilla pudding (to sweeten and slightly thicken).
Oh! Ice! We’ll need a few cups of ice… and a big fat blender.
Coffee Smoothie
serves 4
1 cup strongly brewed coffee, cooled
1 cup milk, cold (whole, 2 percent or skim, whatever you fancy)
2 heaping tablespoons instant vanilla pudding
1-3 teaspoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you like your coffee
2 cups of small ice cubes (feel free to add more to further thicken the smoothie)
Add all of the ingredients to the blender and blend until no ice chunks remain. It’s not rocket science.
Bonus!
Coffee Smoothie Boosters
The Coffee Smoothie Base is all sorts of yummy on it’s own, but why not add a little something extra?
You could add:
Half a frozen banana (this will thicken the smoothie up even further)
2 Tablespoons of chocolate syrup
a dash of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon instant coffee (for super coffee flavor)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
whipped cream on top
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Rats! We can’t get instant vanilla pudding here in Ireland! Any ideas on a decent substatute? Vanilla yogurt? Vanilla ice cream? Custard powder might work.
no instant pudding? i’d go with a few big spoonfuls of yogurt or ice cream and half of a frozen banana is great for thickening too!
Rebecca, why don’t you try instant custard powder?! I think that should work, since it also tastes like vanilla and has the pudding texture. Joy, what do you think? Do you get custard powder in the States?
Thanks all, the custard powder worked very well. The smoothie was an amazing way to spend one of our rare, hot irish summer days. I added carmel syrup to mine. Absolutely delightful. Thanks again Joy, for the wonderful inspiration.
I think something like Angel Delight is the same as pudding mix that we get in the UK, if you have that in Ireland?
I think that some kind of gum (guar gum, xanthan gum) and vanilla extract might do the trick, if to thicken and vanilla-fy the smoothie is the goal. :)
Don’t add too much gum, because the texture can get weird.
Yummy! I never thought about the pudding. That is a delicious idea!! Thanks.
Love this!!! off to make one :D
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm this looks delicious! Ima try it with cold brewed coffee–it usually needs less sugar to combat the bitterness.
And here’s your lady rationale for the shoe conundrum: I don’t think it would be cost effective to figure out how to make the perfect wedge espadrilles at home, right? I’ll go ahead and just keep foolin’ myself with that logic…
Looks so tasty. Are you making the pudding first, or using 2T of the powder mix?
Thanks for all your great recipes, and witty commentary!
ooh ooh! just the mix. good question!
When I have leftover coffee in the morning I like to pour it into an icecube tray so on a hot day I can pop them out of the freezer and make blended coffee! Adding the frozen coffee cubes keeps it tasting coffeetastic even as it melts :).
My brain does the same thing. Awesome smoothies and cute glasses!
What if you used chocolate pudding, or some other delightful flavor??? :)
sure! you can play around with pudding flavors! absolutely!
Drinking one now! Just happened to have the coffee cooling in my fridge already. Thanks!
It is in the 80′s today and this sounds like the perfect afternoon cool down. Thanks!
I’m making this today.
just one thing: “2 cups of small ice cups” I think you meant to type ‘cubes’. <3
A bit of instant pudding?! Sounds good and I can’t wait to try this.
YUM! I’m always looking for ways to have coffee all day long! Thanks for the recipe!
Yum! Shoes are a necessity above all else. So you are excused. ;)
if only i had a blender, i would have the purrfect treat for my husband for father’s day!
Mmmm, man, looks like I need to find me a blender–asap!
Where did you get those cups!? They are too cute! Can’t wait to try this recipe :)
The cups are from Cost Plus World Market (i think) from a few years back.
Those glasses are the cutest things ever! I am obsessed!
Hi..thanks for your wonderful recipes. Here in Australia iced coffee is a big thing and is usually drunk with straight icy cold milk and a good quality instant coffee stirred in and then lots of ice cream and a huge dollop of whipped cream on top. When I was little we used to have instant vanilla pudding whipped into milk…a yummy treat! Thanks again for all your great recipes and ideas. Joy from ‘Down under’ :)
No, that’s your smart brain!
Wow!! I love this recipe. I have been a fan of your blog for the last several months and I must say this looks FANTASTIC. I admit, I spend the $4 + a day on Starbucks and it really does add up. I can’t wait to try this tomorrow morning and hopefully cut down on the amount of times I go to SBX. Thanks, Joy!! Keep the recipes coming.
-Christina
might i just say that i LOVE your glasses!
Like so many others….I adore your glasses! But not as much as I adore the idea of making such a lovely sounding smoothie! And hey, I totally get spending tons of money on some things (like boots or shoes) and saving on “coffee drinks” – I think you should post some pic’s of your newest most favorite boot/shoe find…..:-)
I like the coffee banana smoothie idea. I like using frozen fruit in smoothies. They create a wonderful icy slush that isn’t watery at all
Just what I needed. An easy way to make my own cold coffee drinks. I was trying to not learn this. Geesh.
Hmmm…and I find it interesting that my brain has the same problem. No frivolous expenditures…except those more expensive, lovely, beautiful, long-lasting shoe purchases gosh darn it. Nice to know i’m not alone. Matter of fact, I don’t think we’re alone, for that matter.
I just made this! Hubby and I love it!!! I have to LOL because the pudding mix I used turned out to be cook & serve- not the instant one recommended (I didn’t read the box! Oops). I used chocolate pudding mix and it turned out great. I’ll have to try again with instant pudding mix.
Thanks for all the great recipes and photos!!!
Instant vanilla pudding mix… genius! I can’t wait to make these!
I wanna see these shoes!! Pictures, please! :~)
I love this! It’s so hot right now I’m sure I’m gonna love it. Bye bye starbucks ;)
Under boob sweat? Gross. This is a food blog.
wait… what!? this is a food blog!?
oooh…. sorry… my bad.
One of the best tricks I’ve learned for Iced Coffee is to freeze any unused coffee then use it instead of regular boring ice cubes. This way, the coffee gets stronger as you drink it, and you don’t lose any of the flavor.
Joy – I love this! I cannot bring myself to spend $4+ for a coffee drink! Can’t wait to try this out.
And, you are totally right about under boob sweat!
This looks amazing, I’m definitely going to make this.
Just made this today and its great!!! Can’t wait to make it again and trying the extras. Thanks
Could I use a little less coffee I am not a big coffee drinker and get only one shot with my frap so i still get a bit of coffee but not to much that you can really taste it and the bitterness.
Wow. Those (the bottom picture) are the freaking most awesomest cups I’ve ever seen! Where might I get my hands on some of those?!?
I made this the other day….de-licious!! Thanks for sharing!
i love this smoothie! i put a scoop of PB in mine – mmmmm!
Thanks for the great recipe idea! Here’s my variation:
1 cup coffee (allowed to assume room temp)
1 cup chocolate milk (1 cup 2% milk + 4 tbsp Ovaltine)
6 oz vanilla yogurt (instead of pudding mix)
2 cups ice
1 banana
This concoction has mostly coffee flavor, with undertone of chocolate and banana, with just a hint of vanilla.
Notice I omitted the sugar. I figured the Ovaltine in the chocolate milk and the banana would sweeten it up enough, and it did. Of course, some will like it sweeter than others. Before adding sugar I might consider adding more chocolate mix first (if you don’t mind it being more chocolate-flavored). I came pretty close to throwing in 1/4 cup of chocolate-covered almonds (my favorite snack, but I wanted to see keep it simple for now before adding even more flavors to the mix).
On the subject of sugar… I prefer to use honey in my most of my smoothies. I started using it because eating local honey regularly helps reduce your allergies to local pollens (of which I’m mildly allergic to most). Just be aware that honey’s flavor doesn’t always mix with your other ingredients.
Yummy! I’ve made this before with chocolate pudding. Super thick and super good!
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