It’s no secret that pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin bread are popular recipes when the fall season rolls around. If you love pumpkin desserts as much as I do, be sure to check out these 30+ pumpkin dessert recipes!
Today’s pumpkin treat, however, is a bit out of the ordinary. We’re making an icy-cold pumpkin drink, like a pumpkin frappucino you get at a coffee shop.
You see, you can’t just mix hot coffee with ice, pumpkin, and spices. You’d be left with a very watery mish-mosh of slush. So how can you make this the right way? Well, you have to begin by freezing a few ingredients into ice cubes. You’ll need an ice cube tray to do this. In an ice cube tray, freeze milk, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and some fall spices. You may use any kind of milk you prefer. If you don’t care to sweeten your treat with maple syrup, try honey, agave, sugar, or your favorite sweetener.
The spices I use are ground cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. You could simply use pumpkin pie spice instead. Mix all of those ingredients together and freeze. Someone might question your orange ice cubes.
You’ll also need some cold coffee. The temperature of your coffee is so important. If you use warm or even room temperature coffee, the ice cubes will melt and become water, not creamy/slushy like you want. You could also freeze your coffee into ice cubes. You’ll need some extra milk to fully blend the pumpkin ice cubes and the coffee ice cubes together. I just find it easier to use liquid cold coffee.
I make my pumpkin/milk ice cubes and brew a cup of coffee the night before. I freeze the cubes and keep the coffee in the refrigerator until I’m ready to use the next morning or afternoon. When the coffee is super cold and you’ve got your pumpkin milk ice cubes ready, blend them both together in your blender. At this point, taste the drink. Does it need more sweetening? More spice? Add more maple syrup or spice and continue to taste, repeat as needed. I simply needed 3 Tablespoons of maple syrup total.
Top the drink with whipped cream if you’d like. The beverage is naturally gluten free and vegan. However, if you use dairy whipped cream, the drink will no longer be vegan.
This recipe can make 2 small drinks or 1 very large. The large beverage sweetened with maple syrup has 217.5 calories – one large drink sweetened with stevia only has 67.5 calories. This is compared to 630 calories from a coffee shop.
How’d I get that number?
- 1.25 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk = 37.5 cals
- 1.5 cups coffee = 0 cals
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree = 20 cals
- 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup = 150 cals
- spices = 0 cals
- 2 servings light whipped cream = 10 cals
If you choose to use a different sweetener, be sure to adjust the calories accordingly if you are counting. If you use stevia, a natural sweetener, your beverage will have less calories.
If you love pumpkin flavored drinks, be sure to try my homemade pumpkin coffee creamer, too!
Print
Homemade Lighter Pumpkin Frappuccino
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 12 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: serves 2
- Category: Drinks
- Cuisine: American
Description
Enjoy a delicious pumpkin spice frappuccino at home without the huge price tag and without all the calories, fat, and refined sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (12 oz) cold coffee
- 1 and 1/4 cups (10 oz) unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any milk)
- 1/4 cup (57 grams) pumpkin puree
- 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup*
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
- optional: light whipped cream
Instructions
- Brew the coffee. Pour coffee into a large mug and refrigerate overnight. Coffee MUST be very cold.
- In a small bowl, whisk the milk, pumpkin, sweetener of choice, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together until combined. Pour into ice cube tray and allow to freeze.
- Once coffee is cold and pumpkin ice cubes are frozen, add everything to your blender and blend on high until smooth and icy. Add more milk if your blender isn’t blending it well. Taste the frozen drink and add more sweetener or spices if needed. Top with whipped cream, if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links):ย Blender (like this Ninja chopper/blender or this Ninja blender)
- Sweetener: You can also use an equal amount of honey, agave, or 4 packets stevia or other sweetener.
- Spices: Instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, you can use 1 and 1/2 teaspoons store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice.
- Gluten Free & Vegan: This drink is naturally gluten free. Keep it vegan by usingย non-dairy milk and excluding whipped cream.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Low calorie YUMMY TREAT !
I made the Skinny Pumpkin Frappucino this morning and it was really good. ย The flavor was very nice, not overpowering and the texture was right on. ย I would make this again!
Hi Sally, I just had to stop back and tell you that this is my FAVORITE drink!!!! I drink it several times a week. I have gotten lazy, though, so I freeze the pumpkin and the milk separately so I always have them on hand (cookie scoop for pumpkin, ice cube tray for milk). Then I toss those in, the spices, the coffee and a little honey and some extra milk if need be. I top it with homemade whipped cream. It’s the best!
YUM! I always have leftover pumpkin! Now ย something to do with the leftovers! It’s so easy! and WOW Yummy! all the ingredients is something always on hand! and I use a french press for my coffee there is always one cup left that I make Ice coffee with, NOT anymore keep these in the freezer!This is my favorite type of recipe! GENIUS! TY!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I had leftover canned pumpkin and had no idea what to do with it! I just placed two ice cube trays in the freezer and still have left over pumpkin. So I am going to make this mixture and refrigerate it for hot lattes! ๐ Again, thank you!
This was amazing!! Thank you for this recipe. Now I can drink a “Starbucks” drink without the guilt or the calories. ๐
This stuff is SO good! I am not a fan of coffee (and have never been to a Starbucks) but I thought this was quite tasty. I could see having one every day. Might make use of that Keurig afterall. lol
I made one with milk in place of the coffee for my kids and they loved it. I thought it was pretty tasty as well, but prefer it with the coffee. Next I’m going to try it with some cold hot chocolate. Mmmmmm!
I just finished drinking one of these, and it is so much better than the original. Thank you!!
Have you tried this with cold brewed coffee? I would bet you’d need even less sweetener if you went that route.
Hey Mara! I sure have. I actually did today. I still needed the same amount of sweetener though. Give it a shot and add your sweetener to taste. Enjoy!
This is so amazing!!!!