Welcome to 24/7 Christmas music season! Today is my last day of Thanksgiving break between semesters, so I’m enjoying it as much as I can before homework and studying start back up tomorrow. I’ve got not one, but TWO trees up 😉 One of them is in the background of this photo all decorated, the other is still kind of bare except for the star.  I’ll get around to decorating it today, I hope!

Absolutely! Two of the main ingredients of this drink are traditionally made with an espresso machine – the espresso of course, but also the steamed milk. But don’t worry – they’re super easy to recreate without an espresso machine too! For the espresso, a strong brewed coffee or instant espresso will work just fine. 

Most lattes are made with steamed milk, but I actually warmed up the milk on the stovetop for this recipe and skipped the frothy, steamed milk. If you do want to make steamed milk, you would normally just use the steam wand of an espresso machine to both heat the milk and build the volume of the milk by creating a microfoam (the one where the milk looks glossy). When you’re in Starbucks, this is the part of the process where you hear that really high pitched gurgling/whistling noise. If you don’t have an espresso machine, all you have to do instead is heat the milk in the microwave to just before boiling, then use a milk frother to add volume. You want to increase the volume by about 30-50%, so that the 2/3 cup of milk you start with will turn into about a full cup of steamed or frothed milk. There are also some really great standalone milk steamers on the market for around $30 that will give you that same gorgeous microfoam you’d get from the steam wand of an espresso maker.

If you’re new to steaming milk with an espresso machine, check out this video or this blog post for tips. If you’re frothing the milk with a hand frother, check out this video or this blog post for tips.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this Peppermint Mocha Protein Latte at home:

• Espresso – A full-bodied, fresh brewed espresso works great in this recipe, but if you can get your hands on a blonde espresso, go for that instead. It’ll help make sure the chocolate and peppermint are able to shine through. And if you don’t have an espresso maker, a strong brewed coffee will work too!
• Milk – You don’t have to have a milk that’s capable of steaming or frothing in this recipe, though you could absolutely opt for steamed milk to get a foamy head on the drink and skip the whipped cream.
• Chocolate whey protein – Go for a tasty whey or whey/casein mix here since it brings a ton of flavor to the drink.
• Dutch cocoa – I recommend Dutch processed cocoa powder since it gives you maximum chocolate flavor with the least amount of bitterness.
• Peppermint extract – Obviously this is what makes this a peppermint mocha rather than hot chocolate, but you could always skip it if you prefer!

Now, we all know that Starbucks makes some bomb-diggity holiday drinks, but most of them are loaded down with sugar or just generally don’t have as much protein as we might like.  So I decided to make my own Peppermint Mocha Latte with a big protein kick!  The nutrition info below includes the whipped cream on top too.

Recipe

Check out the old photo of this recipe – I think my photography has gotten just a bit better!

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