Thick Mexican Chocolate Smoothie
Do you ever associate things in your head that may or may not actually be related? I really have no idea what a classic “Mexican chocolate” type of recipe would entail, but when I think of cinnamon, almonds, and chocolate the label just fits. If your version of Mexican chocolate needs a kick, I suggest a little ginger (fresh, powdered, or crystalized), rather than cayenne, to keep with the sweet smoothie theme.
Since I make this beverage so thick, you could call it a shake. But for me, if it is virtuous enough to consume for breakfast, it gets a smoothie title. Shakes are dessert in that rule-oriented brain of mine. Regardless of how you classify it, this is my entry into this month’s …
Thick Mexican Chocolate Smoothie
Recipe adapted from Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living.
This is a very flexible recipe and the results will vary depending on the amount of fruit you use, how ripe your fruit is, and how thick you want it. If it comes out too thin, add some more frozen banana, too thick … thin with more milk alternative. Also, for a sweeter option from the get-go and more of a dessert shake, feel free to use a regular chocolate milk alternative rather than the unsweetened.
This recipe is Vegan / Vegetarian, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free, Peanut-Free, Soy-Free, Sugar-Free, and Low in Fat.
- 1 Very Large RIPE Banana (or 1.5 medium bananas), broken into chunks and frozen
- 3/4 to 1-1/4 Cups Unsweetened Chocolate Almond Milk
- 1/2 Ounce “Raw” Almonds, ground in a spice grinder (if your blender is really powerful, you may be able to skip the pre-grind)
- 1 to 2 Teaspoons Cocoa Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- Sweetener to taste (optional)
Combine the frozen banana and 3/4 cup of the almond milk in your blender, and pulse to combine. Add more milk alternative as needed to get the consistency you are looking for. I like mine really thick (and spoonable) so I use as little as I can get away with while still getting a smooth blend.
Blend in the ground almonds, cocoa powder to taste (I like just 1 teaspoon, but 2 will give it a richer flavor), and cinnamon.
Since I wait until my bananas are really ripe, I rarely need any added sweetener in this. But give it a taste test, and add in a little of the sweet stuff if desired. You can use stevia, maple syrup, agave nectar, brown sugar, white sugar, sucanat, palm sugar, etc. or for an all-fruit concoction, blend in a fresh date (pitted of course!).
Yields 1 cool and creamy serving
16 thoughts on “Thick Mexican Chocolate Smoothie”
Yum! I love Mexican hot chocolate, and this looks like a great summertime version.
A smoothie for me! Thank you! It’s terrific – I love the almonds and the cinnamon additions! Yummy!
This is looking really good to me right now. Since breakfast is long over, I may try the dessert version!
Oh yum this looks delicious! And I just won a bunch of crystallized ginger – I’ve been wondering what to do w/ it. Great idea to incorporate into smoothies!
I love mexican chocolate flavored everything. I’m all over this for my dessert in, oh, 5 minutes.
Mmmmmmmm, this looks so yummy! I will try this!
That looks so thick and rich and yummm! Way to Go Alisa!!! And love that we are FB friends now too 🙂
xo
Thanks! My girls will absolutely LOVE that smoothie for dessert in half an hour! Just gonna change almond milk for rice milk and add 1 tbsp almond butter. Thanks again!
This looks wonderful! And perfect timing… I just got a brand new blender so it’s smoothie time in my house!
Mmmmm mmmmmm! This smoothie sounds amazing and TOTALLY up my alley! I LOVE chocolate and spice! Delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe… and the idea for ginger. Ginger is great in just about everything and using it to add the spice in the smoothie is brilliant!
Stupid question, but I was just wondering if you could possibly give an approximate measure in teaspoons or something for the ground almonds. Still living in a tiny apt, and a kitchen scale is one thing we just don’t have!
There is nothing like the delicious union of chocolate and banana. This looks so yummy, I wish I had a blender to make it! If this were authentic mexican chocolate, the way the ancient Mayans enjoyed it – this would probably taste pretty gross! They added chilli, musk, honey, and even cornmeal to their drinking chocolate. Yum!
SO delicious! I recently posted the recipe for my chocolate and chile shake– a similar creation!
Yum. I didn’t have frozen so I used a fresh banana. Also didn’t have cocoa powder, but did have hershey’s choc syrup, so used that. I had some cocoa powder coated almonds and used those. It still tasted scrumptious!
Oh and I used ice for thickness, as well 🙂
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