Easy DIY Vanilla Frappuccino
This is not a vanilla frappuccino copycat recipe, but it is sweet, creamy, caffeinated, and delicious, and unlike the many other DIY frappuccino recipes out there, ours doesn’t contain ice cream. Instead, it employs milk, a bit of heavy cream, vanilla simple syrup (here’s an easy recipe for making vanilla simple syrup from scratch), and real vanilla seeds from quality vanilla beans. We use powdered espresso with caffeine in ours, but feel free to use a decaf variety or replace some of the milk with coffee (or leave it out altogether, if desired).
The options for add-ins and toppings for frappuccinos are endless—caramel, chocolate, peanut butter, whipped cream, kahlúa; you name it! They are also remarkable as-is. When we are trying to concoct an impressive, morning beverage, we start by squirting caramel and chocolate on the inside of the glass, before pouring the frappuccino in. We then top it with vanilla whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings. It’s a hit every time!
The Best Vanilla Frappuccino Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons vanilla simple syrup (Don’t have time to make it? Just use agave syrup and 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste.)
- 2 tablespoons espresso powder
- 1 grade A vanilla bean
- 3 cups ice
- Optional: caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, chocolate shavings
Procedure
- Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean. Pro tip: Throw the pod into a jar and fill with sugar for vanilla flavored sugar to use in the future.
- Add the ice to a bottom of the blender. Follow with the cream, milk, vanilla sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla bean seeds.
- Blend together the ingredients until it is the consistency of a thick, icy, milkshake.
- Optional: Drizzle in your add-ins, top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. It is also completely acceptable to blend in your add-ins, it just won’t look quite as impressive.
