The Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino is a summertime offering from Starbucks that is a favorite with chocolate-loving customers. It’s mocha with a hint of cookies n’ cream – and that is a great combination in just about any form that it comes in. A regular frappuccino might be good when you want to indulge on the go, but it is pretty easy to whip up an at-home version that can hold its own when it comes to flavor.

My Homemade Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino is made with equal parts strong coffee and milk, cocoa powder, sugar and crushed chocolate wafer cookies. Oreos work just as well as plain chocolate wafer cookies, so use those if you have some on hand instead of hunting through the market to find the plain wafers. I prefer to use cocoa powder and sugar, but if you have some chocolate sauce that will also work well. All of the ingredients are blended until smooth then, like the drink that inspired it, it is topped with whipped cream and cookie crumbles.

The Starbucks version of this frappuccino is topped of with chocolate whipped cream. You can easily make a quick chocolate whipped cream by folding some chocolate sauce into some whipped cream. I happen to like vanilla whipped cream as a contrast to the mocha frappuccino and the chocolaty crumbles on top, so that is what I went with here.

Homemade Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino
4-oz strong coffee, cold
4-oz cold milk
3 tbsp cocoa powder
3-4 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup crushed chocolate wafer cookies (or Oreos)
1 1/2 – 2 cups ice
whipped cream, for garnish
crushed chocolate wafer cookies, for garnish

In a blender, combine coffee, milk, cocoa powder, sugar, chocolate wafer cookies (or Oreos) and ice. Add slightly more ice for a thicker drink. Blend at low speed until ice is crushed, then turn up blender speed to high until drink is smooth and creamy, about 30-40 seconds.
Serve immediately, topped with whipped cream and crushed chocolate wafer cookies.

Serves 2.

Recipe can be doubled to serve more.

Girl Scout Cookies are a beloved treat that most of us look forward to every year, when Girl Scouts across the country start selling them outside malls and grocery stores. Part of the reason that the cookies are so appealing is that you can’t get them any other time of year, which only seems to make people want them more. If you can’t wait until the next cookie season to get your Girl Scout cookie fix, you might want to pick up a bottle of Coffee-mate’s just-launched Thin Mints® and Caramel & Coconut coffee creamers. One is based on the Girl Scouts’ best selling Thin Mints, while the other is based on the popular Samoas cookies. The creamer should be available at Target, and as it rolls out to more retailers, you should be able to pick up bottles at other grocery stores in your neighborhood.

One of the most popular ways to make coffee these days is with a Keurig machine. They’re quick and easy, whether you’re at home or at the office, and if you start with good quality coffee then you don’t have to worry about doctoring up your morning coffee to make it taste better. The Starbucks K-cups are always high quality and deliver almost the exact same flavor that you would get if you got a cup of drip coffee from a Starbucks store. I’m happy to announce that I’m giving away a pack of Starbucks Pike Place K-Cups and a $25 Starbucks Card to one lucky reader! This gift pack will let you get some great use out of your Keurig machine and sample some of the new summer drinks (or stock up on more K-cups) at Starbucks.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post and tell me how you take your coffee. I take mine black, but I won’t hold it against you if you like yours with cream or blended up with ice because the winner will be selected at random from the entries. To get an extra entry, “like” Brewed Daily on Facebook and leave a comment on the contest post there, too! This contest ends Sunday, May 19th at Midnight, so get your entries in before then. Don’t forget to leave your e-mail in the contact form (this information will not be made public) because that is how I will contact the winner!

Update: This giveaway is now closed! Congrats to Lisa on winning the gift set!!

Brewed Daily was featured on Parade.com as part of a piece titled 9 Ways to Upgrade Your Office Coffee!. Offices are not known for having great coffee, and although the bar is higher than it was a decade ago, a coffee break usually involves a trip across the street to a local Starbucks or enduring some pretty rough brew. Fortunately, there are a few ways that you can upgrade your office coffee without a lot of special ingredients. My favorite has got to be Nutella Coffee (with Nutella Whipped Cream, if you can swing it!), but I contributed some tips for easily infusing some spice into your coffee for the article.

One last tip: If you’re in charge of brewing the coffee in your office, you can add spices directly to your ground coffee before brewing and the coffee will have the aroma of those spices – cinnamon and nutmeg are great choices – when it is brewed.

Starbucks Reserve’s Tanzania Southern Highlands is one of my current favorite reserve coffees at the moment. On paper, it looks like it would be a solid medium roast coffee that has some typical flavors that you might expect to find in African coffees – and this is true, but the coffee far exceeded any flavor expectations I had before I tried it. The coffee has a bold, tangy berry flavor that makes me think of summer and fruit desserts. It does have a chocolaty smoothness to it, but I would say that it is pretty refreshing even when it is served hot. This coffee is also a certified Fair Trade coffee.

I’ve mostly been drinking this coffee hot, but since the weather has really been heating up in Southern California lately I have been opting for iced coffee more than usual. And this coffee is great over ice, and I would say that the citrus notes come out even more strongly when it is brewed strong and served cold. I was pretty surprised at how intense the flavors were on my first sip! The coffee did mellow out a little and get even smoother as it sat for a few minutes, and ended up being an excellent iced coffee choice for a hot day.