Thrifty Homemade Frappuccinos

Did you know you can make your own Starbucks Frappuccino for only 32 cents?  That’s what I read this week in a fun article on the Squawkfox website (Make a Starbucks Frappuccino for $.032).  Apparently it’s difficult to duplicate at home because it separates – BUT – you can get around that problem by using Xanthan Gum which is often sold at local grocery stores.

So I was pretty interested as I read along and was thinking about testing it out until I came to the ingredient list. *Yikes*   3 tablespoons of sugar!  That’s a lot of sugar in one drink.  Maybe I should pass on this little experiment after all.

Well I kept reading along and a different idea caught my eye.  One of the comments said to freeze your coffee into ice cubes and use those as the basis for a cold coffee drink.  Oooooh, clever!  Must give this a try!

Now if you’re a die hard fan of authentic Starbucks Frappucinos, the coffee ice cube trick might not live up to your expectations.  But for somebody like me who once in a while gets a little craving for a cold coffee drink, this worked out pretty darn good.   Here’s what I did.

COFFEE ICE CUBE FRAPPUCCINO

• Strong Brewed Coffee

• Flavored Liquid Dairy Creamer ( I used French Vanilla)

1.  Brew up some coffee and make it a little bit stronger than usual.

2.  Pour the coffee into an ice cube tray and freeze.  (I have an ice cube tray that makes mini ice cubes.  It took one cup of coffee to fill my ice cube tray which worked out perfectly).

3.  When you are ready to make your coffee drink, place the frozen coffee cubes into a blender.

4.  Add some flavored liquid dairy creamer to the blender.  No need to measure.  Just pour in about the same amount as you would pour into a cup of coffee.

5.  Blend until you have a smooth mixture.

I’m guessing this drink would cost even less than 32 cents per serving, with a whole lot less sugar.  Instead the flavored coffee creamer gives it the sweetness and flavor with fewer calories.  I polished off my drink in no time flat!

This could also be a thrifty way to put leftover brewed coffee to use.  You can freeze the coffee into cubes and put them in a baggie for future use in frappuccinos.  Plus this is more of an idea than a recipe so you can tweak it in all sorts of fun ways by using different flavored coffees, different flavored creamers, or by adding whipped cream or chocolate.