Summer is slowly starting her exit and making way for glorious autumn. There are only 19 days until autumn makes her grand return, and I, for one, cannot wait! However, summer is still lingering on and the temps are certainly evidence of that. This week, in fact, is showing to be one of the hottest we've had all summer!
My mom, sister and I love getting iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts whenever we go on a road trip, and occasionally when we're just out running errands too...and yes, there are those times when we simply make a coffee run just for the fun of it. I love Dunkin's French Vanilla iced coffee and literally cannot get enough of them!
One of my little goals for the summer was to find the perfect iced coffee recipe so I could make us a fancy, coffee-shop style drink at home whenever we desire. It took some trial and error, that's for sure, but I finally came across a recipe that I tweaked and adjusted to our personal taste. And I can honestly say that we are obsessed with this drink! Currently, I switch between French vanilla and caramel flavor...my mom found some natural, refined sugar-free coffee syrups at Sprouts earlier in the year and we've been having a blast using them. They were quite expensive at about $9 per bottle, but we've used them each probably half a dozen times and they're just barely halfway empty...so it's well worth the money and much cheaper (and healthier!) than the coffee shops.
There are so many other flavors that I want to try, especially as the autumn flavors are coming out again...perhaps, I'll share those as I come across our favorites!
Note: We prefer to use unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but you can certainly use whole milk if you want. We just try to limit our dairy as much as possible. And we also opt for decaf coffee...especially if we're enjoying this drink in the later afternoon. Decaf is always my go-to because caffeine and I aren't the best of friends! {{winks}} But use whatever you prefer!
Truly, the Perfect Iced Coffee
2 cups vanilla almond milk, unsweetened
1 cup water
6 tsp. brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
6 tsp. instant coffee granules (decaf or regular)
3 tbsp. flavored syrup
1 1/2 cups ice cubes
Blend all of the above ingredients together in a blender until the drink is smooth and icy.
Pour into individual glasses and serve over a bit of crushed ice. Enjoy!
(The above recipe makes 3 medium-sized drinks or two larger ones.)
I sure hope you get to try this recipe out before summer makes her official exit...
what are your favorite iced coffee flavors?