Serves 1 to 2

This delicious, energizing smoothie is better than any cup of coffee! It’s smooth, creamy, and sweet, but it’s completely dairy- and refined sugar–free. A perfect dessert, afternoon pick-me-up, or breakfast! A high-speed blender is best for this recipe, but a regular blender will work as long as it can crush ice.

Raw cacao nibs are seeds from the actual cacao tree. Larger natural foods markets carry them, or you can buy them online at rawfood.com. Agave nectar, a delicious alternative sweetener from the agave cactus, is also available at natural foods stores in the baking section with other sweeteners. Nut milks are available in natural foods stores and many larger grocery stores.

2/3 to 3/4 cup plain hazelnut or almond milk
3 tablespoons cacao nibs
1 to 2 tablespoons agave nectar
pinch sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 a frozen banana
15 to 20 ice cubes
fresh mint and/or whole cinnamon sticks for garnish

Combine nut milk, cacao, agave, sea salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and banana in a blender and process until completely smooth. Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary. Add ice and blend again until smooth and frosty. Pour into glasses and garnish with mint and/or cinnamon sticks. Serve immediately.

See step-by-step photos of this dish!

Mexican Cacao Smoothie

This delectable and healthful recipe was inspired by raw foods chef extraordinaire Claudine Stone — although my version is not 100% raw. Feel free to experiment and adjust to your tastes and needs!

Start with 2/3 to 3/4 cup nut milk (I’m currently really into this hazelnut milk, but almond milk is also very delicious!). You can use rice or soy milk if you prefer — just be sure to use a plain version without refined sugar. Place your nut milk in a blender. A high-speed blender (such as a Vita-Mix, K-Tec, or Blendtec) is preferable, but a regular blender will work, too, as long as it can crush ice.

Next, add about 3 tablespoons raw cacao nibs. Cacao nibs are pieces of the chocolate bean or seed from the cacao tree. You can buy them at rawfood.com. These things are amazing — a real chocolate experience like no other! Real cacao will really satisfy your chocolate cravings without any commercial dairy, sugar, or other undesirables found in standard candy bars. Now, if you really don’t want to get some cacao nibs, you can also try some grain-sweetened chocolate chips, such as Sunspire. But trust me on this one… the cacao is worth it!

My favorite sweetner for this smoothie is agave nectar. Agave has the consistency and sweetness of honey, but it’s much lower on the Glycemic Index and therefore causes less of a blood sugar rush (translation: no sugar crash an hour or two after eating agave!). Sweeten to taste (for me, this is about one to two tablespoons agave).

If you’d like, you can add some maca powder (I use about 1/2 a teaspoon). Maca is actually a root vegetable — very strengthening and grounding and wonderful for stamina. It’s available as a supplement in powdered form in your health food store or from rawfood.com, so you can pick some up to try when you get your cacao nibs!

Add a pinch of sea salt, 1/2 a frozen banana, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (my secret ingredient!) to the blender and process until completely smooth. Observe as the mixture turns a deep chocolate brown! Taste and adjust as necessary (not sweet enough? Add more agave. Not chocolatey enough? Add more cacao. Can’t taste the cinnamon? You need a little more!).

Add about 15 to 20 ice cubes and blend again until smooth and frosty. Keep adding ice and blending until you reach your desired consistency.

Garnish with mint leaves and/or cinnamon sticks and serve immediately! Enjoy!