You may have seen this past week (and how could you miss it?) of a certain well-known coffee chain offering a unicorn themed iced beverage. Unlike that one, however, this version is vegan and available for longer than a few days!

For the full recipe and nutrition facts, click here or keep reading!

I didn’t actually get one of these drinks myself. I know that some vegans have tried it, switching out the milk for a non-dairy one, and also leaving out the blue swirl (which is not vegan) and of course leaving leaving off the whipped cream. But then what are you left with? A mango-vanilla smoothie dyed pink. I mean, that sounds delicious, but nothing particularly special, and certainly not for the price.

There are currently one trillion YouTube videos about how to make one (trust me, I counted), but I decided to just wing it. Therefore, this may or may not resemble the original in taste, but it looks good and tastes good, too. It’s mostly made from things that I always have on hand, so it was pretty cheap and quick, and best of all, HEALTHY! And it’s a real shame that it was so cloudy the day I made this because the pictures really are terrible, but you get the gist. So let’s get going!

First off, let’s make a naturally sour blue sauce. The simplest and easiest way to do this is by mixing coconut cream with a sour blueberry sauce. To make the blueberry sauce, add fresh or frozen blueberries and lemon juice to a blender and blend until smooth, then pour into a small saucepan. It’s not mandatory to blend them, but it makes the entire process much faster. Don’t add any sugar because you want this to be super sour. Simmer over a medium-high heat until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and doesn’t run when you wipe a bit off of the spoon. While still hot, press the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer. Allow to cool, and mix in the coconut cream. This will be beautiful and delicious, but of course is that purple-y blueberry color and will not give you the exact look because there is no artificial food dye in it. For the authentic look, skip the blueberry sauce and simply mix the coconut cream with just a touch of citric acid (available anywhere mason jar and canning supplies are sold) and neon blue food coloring. Whatever you choose, you want this mix to be really blue and really, really sour because there’s really not that much of this sauce in the final frappé,  but of course you’ll want to make this to your own taste.

To make to smoothie pink, you can always just add a few drops of neon pink food coloring. I chose to keep food coloring out of this recipe, so I made a raspberry sauce for the tartness and color. You can just add fresh or frozen raspberries to the smoothie, but I didn’t want the seeds in mine. I made a raspberry sauce similar to the blueberry one, this time putting raspberries and a bit of water in a saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the raspberries disintegrate and the sauce reduces slightly. I again pressed the sauce through a strainer. You may still want to add a drop or two of coloring to the final smoothie for a little extra vibrancy, but this sauce will dramatically reduce the amount needed.

(By the way, both of these sauces can double as awesome toppings for ice cream, pancakes, waffles, cakes, you name it! You can also add the strained berry pulp to smoothies.)

Now onto the mango smoothie. I basically made this the way I make my normal morning smoothie. You can use prepackaged mango chunks, but whenever possible, I like to have frozen yellow mangoes on hand because they’re sweeter, creamier, and cheaper. Then I added some coconut milk and a frozen banana or two for creaminess, as well as the raspberry sauce and a bit of vanilla for that milkshake magic. For a touch of tang (especially if you’re using food coloring rather than the raspberry sauce), you can add a little lime juice or just leave it out to keep it super-sweet. Now blend it up!

All that’s left is assembling your frappé in a glass. Drizzle the blue sauce on the inside of your glass. You can use a squeeze bottle, a plastic baggie with the corner cut off, or just drizzle with a spoon. Carefully pour in your pink smoothie, aiming directly for the center of the bottom of your glass so you don’t disturb the drizzle. Top with your favorite vegan whipped cream and the toppings of your choosing – pink and blue sugar sprinkles, leftover the berry sauces, or even crushed freeze-dried fruit. I decorated by taking a NEW and WASHED toothbrush, dipping it into the leftovers of the sauce, and flicking the bristles onto the whipped cream.

This recipe makes about 32 ounces of frappé which, quite honestly, I quite happily drank on my own, but it is technically enough for you and one or two friends. It’s beautiful, delicious, pretty healthy, relatively inexpensive, and refreshing. Try it out and let me know what you think!

~M

Unicorn Frappé | Unicorn Frappe

Makes 2-3 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Sour Blueberry Sauce:
1 c fresh or thawed blueberries
1 c lemon juice
½ can coconut cream (solids only)
Neon blue food coloring, if desired

Raspberry Syrup:
1 c fresh or frozen raspberries
½ c water

Mango Smoothie:
5-6 frozen yellow mango halves (or 2 c frozen mango chunks)
2 medium frozen bananas
1 c coconut milk
1 T vanilla bean paste or extract
Raspberry Sauce
Neon pink food coloring, if desired

Vegan whipped cream
Sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

1. To make the sour blueberry sauce, blend blueberries and lemon juice in a blender until smooth. Simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and reduce until a thick syrup. Strain and cool. Mix with coconut cream and food coloring.
2. To make raspberry syrup, simmer raspberries and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until raspberries disintegrate and syrup thickens slightly. Strain and cool.
3. To assemble, drizzle blueberry sauce along the inside walls of serving glasses. Blend all of the mango smoothie ingredients, including the Raspberry Sauce, in a blender until smooth. Pour the smoothie into the serving glasses, aiming away from the sauce drizzle. Top with whipped cream and sprinkles. Drizzle any remaining sauces on top.