Salted caramel smoothie bowl

A great alternative to a smoothie drink, this salted caramel smoothie bowl is made with cream cheese, banana and dates and topped up with walnuts, cocoa nibs and more bananas. The salted caramel flavour is made up of sweet dates and fine salt. If you have salted caramel sauce you can use it to drizzle over the smoothie bowl toppings.

Why make this recipe?

• Easy to make breakfast recipe
• Nutritional & healthy recipe
• Easy to digest
• Make it different every day by adding various toppings

What exactly is smothie bowl?

That’s a great question and one that I nearly had to look up myself, when I was testing my first recipe. It’s basically a slightly thicker version of a breakfast smoothie, which is served in a bowl and decorated with various toppings, including fruit, seeds and edible flowers.

Most recipes are made with fresh fruit or vegetables, dairy or non-dairy milk and ice cubes, which are blended together, then scooped into a bowl and garnished with toppings.

I like to add more protein (like cream cheese, peanut butter or tahini) and healthy fibre (like oats) or carbohydrates (like millet, oats or rice flakes) to thicken my smoothies even more and to give me more energy.

There are many recipes, which makes making the breakfast smoothie bowl real fun. Every day you can make a different flavour and you’ll never run out of ideas on what to make.

My top tips on making this recipe successfully the first time round

• Start with less liquid than the recipe states and only add it in, if the mixture is too thick (remember this recipe ment to be smooth and thick)
• If you are not sure how you like your salted caramel, I’d add less salt than the recipe states. Taste it and if you are happy with the flavour add more.
• I prefer to keep my salt separate from the smoothie, so I only fold it in at the end. This gives me a crunch and a strong salty flavour of the salt amongst the sweetness of the smoothie mix.
• If you add your salt in at the beginning you will end up with all round salty smoothie mix. Some people like it and prefer it that way, but if you are new to salted caramel flavour, I’d suggest you try my previous idea of just folding the salt in at the end of the smoothie making process.

Any specialist equipment needed?

You will need a hand blender or food processor to make your breakfast smoothie bowl.

Ingredients

• milk – any milk will do, including dairy milk or plant based milk.
• cream cheese – plant based or dairy or use any kind of plain yoghurt
• banana – ideally you want these to be frozen and the more ripen the better
• dates – regular dates or large medjool dates
• salt – any salt is fine to use, but fine sea salt or Himalayan pink salt is particularly good

Toppings

• cocoa nibs or dark chocolate
• walnuts chopped
• salted caramel sauce
• bananas

The method – Instructions

Preparation (if you have the time)

• If you have the time or if you can remember to do this 12-24 hrs before you like to make this breakfast smoothie bowl.
• Pour the milk into ice cube trays and leave to freeze. You can freeze more milk to have them ready for the next breakfast smoothie bowl. Try to remember how many ice cubes is in 1/2 cup to know what to ad to your recipe. It doesn’t have to be precise, but it helps.
• Freeze bananas by peeling them and roughtly chopping them and adding them into a freezer bag. Again, these are very useful for other smoothies and breakfast bowls recipes, so freeze more than you need.

To make your breakfast smoothie bowl

• Add the milk ice cubes, yoghurt or cream cheese, frozen banana, dates in to a food processor or a blender. Blend everything until it’s thick and smooth.
• Taste the coconut smoothie and adjust the taste by adding extra dates or other sweetener if needed.
• Add the fine salt in and either fold it in the smoothie mix (to get a salty crunch) or blend the whole mixture again for 1-2 min again to achieve all round salty flavour.
• Pour or spoon the salted caramel smoothie into breakfast bowl.
• Top the smoothie with cocoa nibs, roughtly chooped walnuts and extra drizzling of salted caramel sauce if you have it.

Tailor this recipe to your diet

• Vegan – use plant based yoghurt, cream cheese (everything else is already vegan friendly)
• Gluten – Free – all ingredients are gluten-free
• Dairy – Free – use plant based yoghurt or cream cheese
• Nut – Free – don’t use walnuts

Serving size

This recipe is for 1 large serving of breakfast smoothie bowl, which replaces a breakfast. Alternatively, you can make it into 2 smaller portions for smaller appetites or use it as a pudding or an afternoon healthy snack.

Can this recipe be made in advance?

Make this recipe in double or triple quantity, divide between plastic freezer friendly bowls, add lids (or use a strong cling film) and freeze. When you are ready to have your breakfast smoothie bowl, take it out the night before and defrost in the fridge. In the morning top it up with your choice of topping and enjoy your breakfast!

There is no need to use frozen milk and frozen bananas when you are making this recipe to intentionally freeze later.

How to store this recipe – any leftovers

If you have any leftovers, your breakfast smoothie bowl will be fine in the fridge for 12-24 hrs. If you know that you won’t be able to finish your smoothie within that time, it’s best to freeze it.