My apologies for missing the last two Saturday Smoothie recipes. Tim and I were at our summer study group meeting at Mt. Shasta in northern California. Camping. No smoothies there. So, to catchup a little, I’m offering a pretty different smoothie recipe that the girls and I invented this Wednesday.
I set out to invent a smoothie that tasted (sorta) like a cherry pie. It sorta does.
For this smoothie, I had some excellent help from my professional kid-tasters, Ema and Adia.
Here are the results of our inventiveness:
Cherry Pie Chill
INGREDIENTS
- 4 ice cubes
- 1/2 frozen banana
- 1 cup pure black cherry juice, unsweetened
- a teense* of almond extract (careful, a little of this extract goes a long way!)
- a splinch* of vanilla (halfway between a splash and a tinch (very different from a teense)
- 1/2 cup cream (or if you are non-dairy, use coconut cream)
- 1/2 cup frozen pie cherries (the tart kind)
- 2 whole graham crackers
- 1 extra graham cracker, crumbled, for garnish
PREPARATION
Add everything to a blender and pulse until blended. Continue blending on high until it’s nice and smooth. Garnish with additional graham cracker crumbs
NOTES:
* these amounts are adjustable. Start with less and add more according to your own taste. Make up your own words for the amount you end up using. 🙂 Be careful with the almond extract — it’s potent and can overwhelm all the other flavors if you accidentally put too much.
* The half and half or coconut cream is in this smoothie to substitute for the “buttery” flavor you’d get in a cherry pie crust. Coconut cream gives the smoothie a bit more mouth-feel than half and half. We used both and the girls liked the half and half better. You could get really decadent and make this a milkshake instead of a smoothie — by adding vanilla ice cream instead of the half and half or coconut milk… It would be much sweeter, though. 😉
* The graham crackers add a subtle flavor that fills in for “pie crust.” If you are avoiding flour or gluten, skip the graham crackers.
