I’m writing this recipe down for you before I forget because I think this one is a winner. It’s super creamy, luscious and ridiculously too good to be healthy. It tastes like an espresso milkshake. My nine year old daughter has developed a penchant for iced coffee so I thought she would enjoy this. As it turned out, she not only absolutely loved it but we both found ourselves sitting outside on the sunny patio together sipping the last of this smoothie down to the drop, scraping the inside of the blender with our fingers to get more of this goodness.
First I made hazelnut cashew nut milk with my Vitamix and strained it through a nut bag. Usually when I make almond milk there is a great amount of pulp and it takes some squeezing to get the milk into a pitcher, however, not so with this blend of cashews and hazelnuts. I discovered that hazelnuts blend easily and the cashews give it a creaminess that is dreamy.
Since I tend to just improvise in my kitchen and grab whatever I have on hand without measuring, it makes it a challenge to give you exact ingredient amounts. Pretend that we are neighbors then, and I’m describing what I made, so you’ll understand how easy guessing and experimenting with smoothie ingredients can be. I used about a cup and a half of hazelnuts and about a cup of raw cashews. I only use raw unsalted nuts of any kind when I make nut milks, smoothies, pesto, or anything else.
Then I opened two fresh coconuts. Put the contents of one coconut —coconut water and meat— in blender with the nuts and a generous dash of vanilla extract. I blended this until it became very creamy. Then I added the other coconut— just the water, not the meat— my only reason was that the mixture was quite thick and didn’t require more. I cut up about four to five dates and added it, along with freshly grated cinnamon and nutmeg. Next, two heaping scoops of Vega protein powder (vanilla flavor). I’ve been keeping frozen bananas in my freezer for smoothies, so I added one large frozen banana. Then I poured about a half a cup of cooled down espresso into the blender with a sprinkling of instant coffee, about one tablespoon. To make this smoothie very icy, I put about five ice cubes inside before blending.
Hazelnut Coconut Espresso Smoothie
ingredients:
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two coconuts, use one water and meat, the 2nd just coco water
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four-five dates, pitted
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one frozen banana
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one and a half cups hazelnuts
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one cup raw cashews, unsalted
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two teaspoons ground cinnamon
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two teaspoons nutmeg
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one tablespoon vanilla extract
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1/2 cup espresso, cooled to room temperature
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one tablespoon instant coffee
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two scoops protein powder (Vega vegan protein, vanilla flavor)
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one spoonful of coconut oil
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five cubes of ice
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one tablespoon maca powder (optional)
Make the hazelnut cashew milk first:
Put one coconut with water and meat, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, hazelnuts and cashews into high speed blender. Blend until creamy.
Strain.
Then add the remaining ingredients until icy and frothy. Flavor with more or less espresso, coffee and vanilla until desired taste.
This hit the spot on a hot sunny day in my backyard. My daughter gave me an A++ on this recipe but added that next time I can also add chocolate to the smoothie. I agreed on that idea and wished that I had more hazelnuts to make another batch.
I hope you enjoy this on a beautiful summer day and feel refreshed.
