Okay, I’m not vegan but if you read this week’s Fitness Challenge you’ll see that I’ve swapped out cows milk for Almond milk in my diet exclusively.
I suspect I’m a little lactose intolerant, but even if I’m not, Almond Milk has fewer calories and less fat than cow’s milk – so I’m sticking with it.

The issue I have with almond milk is that I have yet to find a good recipe for a hot latte (serious. If you have one, throw it my way!)
But with the weather hotting up, and my normal habit being to binge on frappuccinos, I decided to give Almond Milk one more try to woo me – in an iced coffee – and I’m so glad I did.
I have to say, this is actually a really good dairy-free starbucks dupe without having to use Soy milk.
No soy! Soy Free! Yey!
(I hate Soy milk).

I don’t have a very powerful blender, but if you do, you could totally use this exact recipe below to make a frappuccino, just by blending up the ingredients at the end.

You need:

*1 shot of espresso. I have a nespresso machine, so this is 1 large shot from a “Roma” pod (Intensity 10).
*Almond Milk (approx 100-150ml)- I use Almond Breeze or Alpro. Almond Breeze has fewer calories – and I always buy the “original” variety.
Cup of Ice – I used crushed ice, normal ice cubes will work, but not as well. You could just crush cubes up with a rolling pin.
Syrup (optional)

Method:

This is literally the simplest recipe ever, and now I’m here writing it, I can’t believe I’m claiming something so easy is a “recipe” at all. However, I’ve been drinking this each morning for over a week, and I’m loving it so much more than my regular morning coffee.

Step 1: Put the ice into the drinking cup. It should come between 1/2 and 3/4 of the way up the cup. Don’t worry – there will be plenty of coffee!
Step 2: Pour on the coffee. It should still be at least warm – this will melt a little bit of the ice & compact it a little.
Step 3: Pour in the Almond milk until about 2cm below the rim. 
(It obviously depends on your cup but I normally add around 150ml)
Step 4: (optional) Add in some syrup, stir, taste & adjust as necessary.
Step 5: Top up with Almond milk.
Step 6: (optional) Throw it into a blender to create the Frappuccino.

So, there you go. Vegan, low-fat, cooling, soothing, versatile and cheap.
Oh, and delicious. Don’t forget delicious.
I used Caramel syrup here but its also delicious with Hazelnut syrup, peppermint, orange zest (serious, try it), a little cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla. The possibilities are pretty unlimited.
Since I’m cutting out on sugar, I have made most of mine without syrup at all, because I quite like the taste of almond milk – so why not give that a try?

I guess you could also use coconut or hazelnut milk too, or even rice dream, I just prefer almond milk as the taste is creamy but not imposing.
If you prefer a nuttier taste, go for Hazelnut, and if you prefer a more tropical taste try coconut with some vanilla or cocoa.

Enjoy!