If you were to blindfold me and give me something to eat or drink, I’m fairly confident in my ability to tell you what it is and what’s in it. Similarly, when I whip up this concoction or that one, I don’t usually run into too many surprises when it comes to the final product. It generally tastes about how I expected it would – sometimes a little bit better, of course, and sometimes a little bit worse. But when I took my first sip of this shake, I was shocked. Like, actually shocked. It may sound hyperbolic, but I believe this is one of the best shakes I’ve ever had and I was expecting it to be one of the worst. I’m calling it “unbelievable” because I definitely wouldn’t believe you if you gave me a glass of this and then told me the ingredient list.
Why would I purposefully create a shake that I thought would be mediocre? Pure laziness. My blender was in the fridge because I had made a miso-sesame dressing and was still working on using up the leftovers. And I wanted a banana shake. The thought of scraping all that dressing out, cleaning the blender, making the shake, and then re-cleaning the blender was, shall we say, a bit too much. But I really wanted that shake.
Now, I do know that culinary creations like miso caramel – even miso ice-cream – exist and are enjoyed. But this dressing also contained capers, black pepper, and olive oil. There was no way it would work in a shake. I resigned myself to maybe having some kind of half sweet, half savory concoction because that sounded better than cleaning the blender. In went 1 1/2 very ripe, frozen bananas, a dollop of salted almond butter (oh god, did I really want to add more salt?) and a hefty dose of unsweetened almond milk. I whirred it all up, anxiously awaiting what I was fairly certain would be a regrettable decision. And then I took a sip.
It was….it was…it was like going to one of those super gourmet, trendy ice-cream parlors that always have lines out the door and it actually meeting all the hype. I mean, it tasted like a dairy-laden, sugar-laden, salted caramel ice-cream shake with a hint of sesame and almond! And it was actually just bananas, a very healthy hippy-style miso dressing, and almond milk. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? The almond butter and sesame flavors played perfectly with the front-and-center caramel flavor, and the whole thing was just the best sweet, cold, creamy, nutty, nuanced concoction I’ve had the pleasure of tasting in a while.
Ironically, I was originally going to post the miso-sesame dressing, but then figured – eh. Everyone and their mother has a miso dressing. Sure, it’s an enjoyable way to eat a salad, a lettuce wrap, or a grain bowl. But is it blog-worthy? Meh. This shake, however, (which requires first making the standard miso-dressing) is most assuredly blog worthy. And drinking worthy. My enjoyment of it was a little bit tinged by anxiety about whether I would be able to recreate it – after all, I just used a blender containing some dressing – I didn’t measure amounts at all! I’m happy to report, however, that I was. The recipe is below. Be prepared to be shocked.
A couple notes about the recipe:
-This makes about 16 ounces of cold, creamy, goodness
-Wait until your bananas are fairly browned before freezing – not quite banana-bread worthy, but definitely ripe and spotted.
-Results could vary across brands of almond butter, miso, etc. If you have mixed results with certain products, or want to know which brands I used, let me know in the comments. If it’s underwhelming in any way, try adding an extra teaspoon of the dressing.
-The recipe below is designed for a clean blender. If you’d like to try making the dressing and then using the same blender to make the shake, you can, but don’t start with the full 2 tablespoons called for in the recipe.
Unbelievable Salted Caramel Almond Shake
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 frozen ripe bananas
- 2 tablespoons miso-sesame dressing (recipe below)
- 1 ½ teaspoons almond butter
- 1 ¼ cups unsweetened almond milk
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Creamy Miso-Sesame Dressing
In addition to the shake above, this standard miso dressing can be served on salads, lettuce wraps, grain bowls, or vegetable crudité. Keep it as is for the shake, but feel free to spice up any portion you plan to use elsewhere with roasted garlic, scallions, herbs, etc.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup hemp seeds (also called hemp hearts)
- 1 tablespoon mellow white miso paste
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon capers
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup boiling water
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
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