Make it Yourself Monday: Iced Frappuccino

While I'm not a huge coffee drinker, I LOVE Starbucks Iced Frappuccinos. It's more like a dessert in a cup.
What I don't love? How friggin' expensive they are!  The smallest size (which, of course, is called "Tall") costs between $3.50 and $4.00, depending on your location.  And a "venti" -- that's large to us regular folks -- costs upwards of $5! I can feed my whole family dinner for that amount!


But they're still delicious, so I did a little research to see how I could replicate this drink at home. Here's what I came up with.


Homemade Iced Frappuccino
(adapted from Scott D Irwin's Blog)
1 cup strong dark brewed coffee (I like Green Mountain Dark Magic for the Keurig)
3/4 cup whole milk (you can easily use a non-dairy milk as well)
4 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 cups ice
1 tsp pectin


For the topping:
Heavy whipping Cream (or canned, but it's not very eco-friendly!)
Chocolate Syrup (Plain ol' squeeze-bottle Hershey's works great)


1. Mix the first 5 ingredients in the heaviest-duty blender you have. You want the consistency as smooth as possible. I used my Cuisinart and it worked great.
2. Pour ingredients into a large glass, leaving 1/2" at the top.
3. Whip up the whipping cream with a hand mixer.
4. Swirl whipped cream and chocolate syrup onto your drink!


This whole recipe can be made for about $1, and is equivalent to a Venti Starbucks drink -- saving you about 80%! And you never have to leave your house!


A note on the pectin: I didn't use it when I made my drink at home because I'm just coming off a jam-making bender and didn't have any in the house. The frappuccino tasted fine without it, but adding it will give you that thick, smooth mouthfeel that will convince you it's more like the store-bought version.