Caramel Frappé
کیریمل فراپے
A is iced coffee blended into a thick, spoonable slush, and caramel is the flavour most people order it in. Unlike a cold coffee shake, its body comes from finely crushed ice rather than ice cream, so it is lighter but still rich. The keys are strong coffee so the taste comes through the ice, caramel blended right into the drink as well as drizzled on top, and a full minute in the blender so there are no icy chunks.
- ⏱ Total: 13 min
- Prep: 10 min
- Cook: 3 min
- Easy
- Serves 2
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Whisk the chilled cream with the icing sugar in a cold bowl for 2–3 minutes, until it holds soft peaks. Keep it in the fridge.
In the blender jar, stir the instant coffee into the hot water for 30 seconds, until fully dissolved.
Add the cold milk, 3 tablespoons of caramel sauce, the sugar if using and the pinch of salt.
Add the ice and blend on high for about 1 minute, until thick, smooth and slushy with no ice chunks left.
Drizzle a little caramel around the inside of two glasses, then pour in the frappé.
Spoon the whipped cream on top, finish with the last of the caramel and serve with a wide straw.
Kitchen notes
Ordinary packet cream (around 25 percent fat) won't whip properly. Use whipping cream with at least 30 percent fat, or a ready-made topping.
Blend the caramel into the drink, not just on top. Drizzle alone looks good but leaves the frappé tasting of plain coffee.
Frappés melt fast. Have the glasses and cream ready before you start blending.
The café frappé
The word frappé comes from French, where it describes a drink served very cold or over crushed ice. The blended coffee frappé as most people know it today was made famous by international coffee chains, and caramel quickly became its most popular flavour. In Pakistan it sits on the menu of almost every modern café next to the local cold coffee, and it has become a favourite with younger customers in summer.
Ice is the body
A frappé gets its texture from ice blended so fine that it turns into a smooth slush. That needs a good amount of ice, about a cup per glass, and a full minute on high speed. Because all that ice dilutes the drink, the coffee has to be strong: dissolve it in only a few tablespoons of hot water. Caramel goes in twice, blended into the drink for flavour and drizzled on top for looks. A pinch of salt turns it into salted caramel and makes the sweetness taste rounder.
Variations
- Creamier: add a scoop of vanilla ice cream before blending.
- Lighter: skip the whipped cream and use low-fat milk.
- Caramel cream frappé: leave out the coffee entirely for a children’s version.
- Coffee ice: freeze strong coffee in an ice tray and use it instead of plain ice for a stronger frappé.
Serving
A frappé is meant to be drunk straight away, with a wide straw or a long spoon. It does not keep, because the ice melts and separates within about 15 minutes. You can prepare the dissolved coffee and the whipped cream a few hours ahead and keep both in the fridge, then blend just before serving.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a frappé and cold coffee?
Pakistani cold coffee is blended with ice cream and lots of milk, so it is creamy and frothy. A frappé uses more ice and little or no ice cream, so it is thicker, icier and spoonable.
How do I stop my frappé separating into ice and liquid?
Cafés use a little thickener for this. At home, blend for a full minute so the ice is very fine, and drink it soon. A scoop of vanilla ice cream or a teaspoon of cornflour mixed into the milk also helps it hold.
Can I make caramel sauce at home?
Yes. Melt 1/2 cup of sugar in a heavy pan until amber, take it off the heat, whisk in 1/4 cup of cream and a tablespoon of butter, then cool. It keeps for two weeks in the fridge.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 315
- Protein
- 5 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Carbs
- 35 g
