As I blinked my eyes open on Sunday morning, I spotted a thin shaft of sunlight streaming in through the cracks in the window blinds. Judging from the angle, I assumed I knew the time, but out of idle curiosity, I glanced at my cell phone on the nightstand. It flashed exactly an hour later.
That sneaky Daylight Savings Time—it surprises me every spring!
I crawled out from under the covers and shuffled through the house in my PJs and fuzzy slippers, brushing my teeth, tidying the kitchen, and mopping the floor—my typical Sunday morning chores routine. Eventually I sank down into my padded desk chair and turn on my computer to take care of a little work.
As usual, I scrolled through my email inbox before reading new blog comments. While typing responses to your sweet notes, I discovered that a certain website had stolen 10 of my blog posts. Word for word. Plus my watermarked photographs. And my recipes. The site copied and pasted my personal stories about my parents, my guy, and my grocery shopping experiences before publishing it as their own.
As I stared at my computer screen, I grew lightheaded and dizzy. I clutched the sides of my wooden desk to steady myself, panicked for a good 3 minutes, and then texted my angelic friend Dorothy from Crazy for Crust. She immediately wrote back, full of sympathy and telling me to hold tight while she researched numerous options of what to do. After a few moments, she typed out another response, patiently walking me through the unfamiliar language and pointing out what I needed to know.
She was a complete savior.
By the time I could breathe again, adrenalin rushed through my veins, creating a strong urge to either (a) run 10 miles or (b) eat a lot of chocolate. Since my knee started throbbing before I even jogged to the end of the driveway 2 weeks ago and still hadn’t quite recovered, I went with the latter—and added lots of caffeine to stay away from the time change too!
As a result, I created this sweet and satisfying compromise: a Skinny Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino! Rich, dark chocolate flavor fills every refreshing sip, topped off with a garnish of decadent chopped chocolate. This lightened copycat practically tastes like your favorite fudgy brownie in drink form, but for a fraction of the cost and calories of Starbucks. And it’s secretly healthy and clean-eating friendly!
This drink is incredibly simple to make; it only contains 5 ingredients plus ice! You’ll start with chilled double-strength coffee. Do not use hot or even lukewarm coffee because it will quickly melt the ice and prevent the frappuccino from thickening. After my crazy morning, I brewed my coffee the “lazy way” and mixed 2 teaspoons of instant coffee crystals with ¾ cup of boiling water. After about 10 minutes, I stuck the mug in the fridge to cool for almost an hour. If you need your caffeine fix sooner, use only ½ cup of boiling water and drop in 2-3 ice cubes once the coffee crystals dissolve to rapidly chill it instead. (And yes, drip coffee works too!)
Cocoa powder provides essentially all of the rich chocolaty taste. Both regular and dark (aka Dutched) work well, but the latter adds a really deep, rich flavor. As a self-proclaimed dark chocoholic, I immediately opted for that!
Instead of mixing chopped chocolate into the beverage, I saved it for the top as a garnish. I like my blended drinks to be as smooth as possible! To ensure the chocolate pieces don’t clog your straw, chop them rather finely—even smaller than miniature chocolate chips. (Plus when you cut them finer, it gives the illusion that there’s more chocolate without adding lots of extra fat and calories!)
Before mixing up your drink, assemble all of your ingredients. You don’t want the frappuccino to melt before you can take a sip! First add the coffee, milk, and cocoa to a blender and pulse until smooth. Cocoa powder sometimes clumps when added to liquid ingredients, so combining it with the coffee and milk beforehand prevents any large clots of dry cocoa from ending up in your straw. Then add the ice and any sweetener (if using), and blend everything together until no large ice chunks remain. Top with the chopped chocolate and enjoy!
Ahh… Pure dark chocolaty bliss.
After my whirlwind morning, all of that luxurious chocolate really calmed me down and even brought a smile to my face. Full of rich flavors, this Skinny Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino tastes as decadent as dessert—but contains none of the guilt! I compared it to the grande Starbucks original here. (Go ahead, check it out! The link directs you to a page on my site and opens in a new window, so you won’t lose your spot here.)
Did you see that? Even if made with nonfat milk and no whipped cream, the Starbucks version still contains 181 more calories and 41.2 grams more of sugar—and my drink is actually larger than theirs too!
I’m such a chocoholic that I’ve already mixed up 2 more since Sunday… Ready to make your own?
A decadent dark chocolate drink topped with chopped chocolate—a chocolate lover’s dream! This frappuccino can easily be made decaf if caffeine is an issue; simply substitute double-strength decaf coffee in place of regular.
- Add coffee, milk, and cocoa powder to a blender. Pulse until well combined, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add the ice and sweetener (if using). Blend until smooth and no large ice chunks remain. Pour into a glass, top with the chopped chocolate, and serve immediately.
Notes: To prepare the double-strength coffee, I used 2 teaspoons of instant coffee crystals mixed with ¾ cup water.
For a vegan version, substitute your favorite non-dairy milk (soy, almond, coconut, etc.).
I’ll have to try this. Perfect for a weekend.
I hope you enjoy it Heide! 🙂
My wallet is rejoicing at your recipe! No longer will I have to fork out hard-earned cash for my caffeine fix. 😀 I was wondering if I could leave the ice cubes out and simply chill the drink? I’m not sure if my blender can take the strain of blending ice cubes. Thanks!
You totally deserve to keep your paycheck in your wallet Bianca! 🙂 I’ve actually just chilled it before when I’m too lazy to clean a blender. The flavor tastes great, but you do need to stir multiple times while drinking because the cocoa powder sometimes doesn’t want to stay dissolved and falls to the bottom of the cup. Another option would be to use crushed ice so your blender doesn’t need to work so hard! If you have a refrigerator that automatically does it for you (lucky you!), then use about 1/2 to 3/4 the amount of ice. Or you could add the ice cubes to a double-bagged ziplock baggie and smash them with a rolling pin. But if that sounds like too much work… Just go with the chilling route. 😉
This looks really delicious, I’m going to try it. I’m so happy I found your site! I LOVE chocolate and during the summer I am addicted to iced coffee…
Thanks Jeanna! I’m so happy to have you here. 🙂 I’m currently addicted to iced coffee too — I basically “need” it every afternoon as a little pick-me-up!
How do you blend you ice? Whenever I try to make it the ice always winds up so chunky and off, not like the smoothness of a Frappuccino.
I’m sorry Casey; that must be really disappointing! Most of the time, the ice consistency depends on the power of your blender and the sharpness of its blades. However, I’ve found that by adding the ice last (to the liquid ingredients) and blending it for a longer period of time, it helps get rid of the chunkiness. I hope your next one turns out better!
This looks soooo good! Just tried my first one yesterday. 🙂 This is probably a crazy question, but what could you substitute for the coffee? Surprisingly I hate anything with coffee in it, so if I was going to Starbucks I had to get mine without it! Lol
Thanks Maddy! You could probably substitute black tea if you wanted. I haven’t tried it myself, but since the chocolate flavor from the cocoa powder almost completely masks the coffee taste, I’m guessing that tea would be just fine too. You could probably substitute extra milk too, if you weren’t a fan of tea either. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I love this frappe! So coffee-ey and chocolaty! Quick tip: try adding 1/2-1 teaspoon of xanthan gum to help thicken and keep it from separating. Love your blog Amy, every time I research a recipe, I always end up on your site.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the frappuccino Hope!
Happily sipping away at my frapp! So delicious, thanks for the recipe, Amy?
It’s my pleasure Cacey! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!! 🙂
Very good!! Very similar to McDonalds frappe! Definitely making again!