(with the return of the weird captions)
OH HAI LET'S SMILE So, today I want to talk to you about some things.
Some yummy things.
Here we have Milk and a Banana.
And a little jar of spices. But, more on that later.
You're going to want to make this. Seriously.
There are some things missing, like Boba Pearls and Brown Sugar. We'll get to those, don't worry.
English gov't approved chopping device? Just to let you know that I don't mess around on this blog, we'll just jump right into this, OK? OK.
Chop the bananas up sort of small. We're going to be blending these, and all I have is a GE personal blender, so I don't want huge chunks that are going to make the blender explode or make the blender motor burn up or something. I've seen some people absolutely mash the daylights out of their bananas before blending, and in a full-size ninja blender or something, really, are you that afraid that your mighty blender will burn up? I think small pieces are ok. I smelled something a little funny that smelled a bit like burning oil the last time I blended bananas, but we'll ignore that, shall we? Moving on now. Oh, you spotted something? Just to the top right of the cutting board? You did?
Chop the bananas up sort of small. We're going to be blending these, and all I have is a GE personal blender, so I don't want huge chunks that are going to make the blender explode or make the blender motor burn up or something. I've seen some people absolutely mash the daylights out of their bananas before blending, and in a full-size ninja blender or something, really, are you that afraid that your mighty blender will burn up? I think small pieces are ok. I smelled something a little funny that smelled a bit like burning oil the last time I blended bananas, but we'll ignore that, shall we? Moving on now. Oh, you spotted something? Just to the top right of the cutting board? You did?
FEELING CUTE, MIGHT FOLD SPACE LATER IDK And to further prove I don't mess around on this blog, it is now Later. You see, you thought you'd have to wait a lot longer for Later, however, indeed, Later is Now. And we're going to talk about another ingredient in this....drink...smoothie, boba....thing.
Banana Spice. You don't have it. You know how I know you don't have it? Because I made it up. I thought, if there's Apple Spice and Pumpkin Spice, there has to be Banana Spice. I didn't see any recipes for it. So I made it up. No, Cinnamon, that's too Apple-y. No Ginger, that's too Pumpkin-y. I wanted something with a sort of, I don't know, fresher punch of flavor. So here we have:
*2 teaspoons Mace
*2 teaspoons Cardamom
*1 1/2 tablespoon Brown Sugar
*1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
Be careful of that Cardamom. That's what gives it a punch. Of course, this amount is not what you use in the drink. Just mix it up and use it with your banana deserts. I like it. I hope you like it, too.
Banana Spice. You don't have it. You know how I know you don't have it? Because I made it up. I thought, if there's Apple Spice and Pumpkin Spice, there has to be Banana Spice. I didn't see any recipes for it. So I made it up. No, Cinnamon, that's too Apple-y. No Ginger, that's too Pumpkin-y. I wanted something with a sort of, I don't know, fresher punch of flavor. So here we have:
*2 teaspoons Mace
*2 teaspoons Cardamom
*1 1/2 tablespoon Brown Sugar
*1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
Be careful of that Cardamom. That's what gives it a punch. Of course, this amount is not what you use in the drink. Just mix it up and use it with your banana deserts. I like it. I hope you like it, too.
NO WEIRD SMELL THIS TIME YAY Put your bananas in your personal blender (or big blender) with about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the Banana Spice. Or whatever spices you like. If you're not using the Banana Spice mix, you might want to add a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup in. Be careful, especially if you're using really ripe bananas, though. They can be really sweet on their own. Stevia leaf is a good sweetener, too, I've heard.
Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk. Regular cow's milk, oat milk, whatever milk you like for smoothies or drinks. Some nut milks or stuff like that can have added sugar, so watch for that and adjust your sweetening levels accordingly.
Blend this up for a few seconds at a time, about 3-5 times. Just until you think it's blended enough. If you're using a full size blender, you could probably just put the whole amount of milk in, we'll get to that in a minute. With this personal blender, I still get tiny chunks of banana in my banana milk. I like it that way. Maybe that's why some people mash the heck out of their bananas first. I like it just a miniscule amount of chunky, however.
FILLING IT TOO MUCH IS WORSE THAN CROSSING THE STREAMS. BELIEVE ME. Ok, I'm pointing to the maximum fill line on my blender cup. I'm going to fill this up the rest of the way with milk. I think I used about 1 1/3 cup of milk total for this. I had a little left in the measuring glass after this step, so I poured it in before I chilled it and stirred with a spoon.
Anyway, we're going to blend just a bit more, get to the smoothness you like, and then put it in the fridge to keep cool while the boba cooks. My blender cups came with different lids and stuff, so I can just leave it in the cup, put the lid on, and refrigerate the whole thing.
Let's talk boba for a minute. I did a blog post about a Strawberry Milk Boba drink, and did a whole thing on how to make the "5 minute" Boba pearls, so I won't go into all that here. If you want to read that blog post, click here: Strawberry Milk Boba.
I used to like my Boba a bit more soft than I do now, so I cooked it to the maximum suggested time on the package.
BOBA IN THEIR PREFERRED ENVIRONMENT, PROBABY So, now that the boba is cooked, I put about a tablespoon of brown sugar (dark brown or light brown, whatever you've got/like) in the bottom of my boba cup, and dumped the still hot boba right in there. Stir it around a bit to get all the boba coated and melt all the brown sugar. You can cook up a brown sugar syrup thing on the stove, but sometimes it's just as good to just use the hot boba to melt the brown sugar. You might want to cook up a brown sugar syrup on the stove if you want to do the "Tiger Stripes" in your drink. But I wasn't worried about that this time. Just trying to make it a bit simpler.
Since I'm not doing the Tiger Stripes, I'm just going to pour my milk on top of the boba and stir.
And that's it. Cutting up the bananas in the beginning is a bit time consuming, but not really that much. Cooking the boba is more time consuming. But assembling the drink is not that bad.
MMMM MMMM GOOD The finished drink. Ain't it sweet? Well, you'd have to taste it to know.
To recap on the ingredients:
*1 medium to large banana
*about 1 1/3 cup of milk, or just however much works with your blender
*1/2 to 1 teaspoon Banana Spice, or to taste, or other spices to your taste
*1/4 cup of cooked boba or as much as you like
*1 tablespoon of brown sugar, or to taste
You could use maple syrup in place of the brown sugar to coat the boba if you want. Maple syrup pairs really well with bananas.
You could add some caramel sauce, too, if you're feeling fancy and you want to raise your sugar level dangerously.
So, there you go! Lots of options to personalize, and adjust sugar levels and such. Enjoy!
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