Friday, September 19, 2014

Mocha Frappe

Ever since we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale early in the summer, it has been too hot to have our morning coffee in the cockpit. At some point during our stay here we happened to be running errands and we stopped in at McDonalds <ugh> to order one of their McCafe mocha frappes. It was, undeniably, delicious. After enjoying a few sips I told my husband, "I think we could make these on the boat, you know." It took a few tries to get the proportions just right, but we have a winner and now we don't start the day without one. I'm sure it will get cool enough to enjoy our coffee in the cockpit soon, but for now we're ok with the heat...as long as we start out the day with our mocha frappe.


Ingredients:

Ice
Instant expresso
Hershey syrup
1/2 and 1/2
(optional whipped cream)

Directions:

We use the Magic Bullet, but any blender capable of crushing ice will work. I have never found any 12v blender really capable of making a frappe, so we use our generator when on the hook.  If you've found a 12v blender that is honestly capable to crush ice and costs less than season tickets for the opera, please leave a comment as I'm sure someone might be interested. I got my Magic Bullet on sale at Costco for $39.95 and it comes with a bunch of cups, a variety of lids for the cups, a nearly full-size blender container, and three blending blades that fit on either the cups or the blending container. It makes great chicken or ham salad, blends butternut squash soup, chops nuts, and makes a killer frozen margarita. I'm sold.

The ingredient quantities are very subjective on this recipe. You'll have to experiment with your blender and cups till you get what works for you. In the meantime, enjoy your experiments!  The cups I use are 16 oz and I start by filling them almost 2/3 full of ice. Then I take 2 heaping teaspoons of instant expresso (regular for my husband, decaf for me) and mix about 1/3 cup of water into it to dissolve it. I pour this over the ice. I then squirt (I kid you not) about 4 seconds of Hershey syrup into the cup - don't worry I measured it this time and it comes to about 1/4 cup. I add enough 1/2 and 1/2 to cover the ice, put the lid on and pulse it on the Magic Blender until the big chunks of ice are broken up completely. Then I run it full out for 10 seconds, let it rest for about 30 seconds so any missed chunks fall to the bottom, then run it for 10 more seconds. Add a little whipped cream (didn't have any this time) and a couple drizzles of chocolate sauce and then close your eyes and savor it. It won't last long, I assure you!


Fill a 16 oz cup about 2/3 full of ice.
Mix 2 heaping teaspoons of instant expresso with about 1/3 cup of water and stir till dissolved.

Pour the coffee over the ice. Add about 1/4 cup of chocolate syrup.










Pour enough 1/2 and 1/2 to cover the ice.









Pulse it till the ice is chopped up fairly fine, then blend it on high for 10 seconds. Let it rest for 30 seconds and blend again for 10 seconds. Add a little whipped cream and enjoy!