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COOKIES AND CREAM RECOVERY SMOOTHIE
Ideal for strength athletes in pursuit of building lean mass, this cookies and cream recovery smoothie from the Thrive Energy Cookbook by Brendan Brazier is a delicious way to feed your fatigued muscles while reducing inflammation and oxidative damage to your cells.
Popularized at the “Thrive Energy Lab” by those who just spent themselves at the gym, this is guaranteed to fill you up and keep you going through hard and light workouts alike.
Use a good power blender to easily pulverize the nuts and chocolate chips for a super smooth consistency.
Remember to join our community for more post-workout smoothies and recipes from Blender Babes and our friends! If you try this recipe, share your thoughts by rating it in comments section below! We love to get your feedback!! Happy Blending!!x
Cookies and Cream Recovery Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tablespoons raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons vegan dark chocolate chips or non-vegan dark chocolate
- 1 tablespoon raw cacao or cacao nibs*
- 1 tablespoon raw cashew butter or other nut butter
- 1 tablespoon pitted and chopped Medjool dates
- 1 scoop vanilla Vega Sport Performance Protein or other vanilla protein powder
- 1 ⁄4 cup maple syrup or raw honey optional
- 1 to 2 cups ice
Instructions
- In a blender, combine all ingredients except the ice. Add ice to about 1 inch above the liquid line. Blend on high speed until smooth and creamy.
- For Blendtec: Press the SMOOTHIE button (2x) or use your highest manual speed and blend until smoothe.
- For Vitamix: Select VARIABLE Speed #1. Turn machine on and slowly increase speed to VARIABLE Speed #10/HIGH. Blend until desired consistency is reached, about 1 min 20 seconds.
- Serve immediately. Enjoy!
- All done! Enjoy!! Now take a photo, rate it, and share your accomplishments to enter our weekly photo contest! 🙂 Tag @BlenderBabes & #BlenderBabes
Notes
Nutrition
BLENDER BABE RECIPE NOTES
For this recovery smoothie, try different nut butters for a different flavor or if it’s what you have on hand! Out of nut butter? Don’t fret, you can also double the amount of cashews instead! Try adding half the cacao nibs, chocolate chips, and cashews after you have blended smooth, and pulsing to break into little pieces, if you enjoy a “chunky” cookies and cream smoothie! If you aren’t vegan any chocolate chips will do, or try using 1/4 of your favorite dark chocolate bar.
This smoothie recipe is great for recovery after an extra strenuous workout, however if you didn’t exercise very hard (or at all!), due to the high calorie & fat content you might consider cutting [the protein in] this recipe in half – or use it as a meal replacement smoothie. No Vega Sport protein? No problem, try it with any vanilla protein powder (note it might not have the BCAAs and Glutamine for muscle recovery).
HEALTH BENEFITS OF CASHEWS
Cashews are the plant-based athlete’s best friend!
They contain a whopping 31% of your recommended daily value of copper, 23% manganese, 20% magnesium, 17% phosphorus, and 12% vitamin K!
That means they’re great for fighting free radicals, helping you get a great night’s sleep (also great for recovery), in addition to adding some healthy fats and protein to your diet!
This smoothie tastes way too good to be this healthy — preventing heart disease, lowering blood pressure, and strengthening your bones, just to name a few of it’s awesome health benefits!
Excerpt and image with permission from Thrive Energy Cookbook by Brendan Brazier. Publisher: Penguin Canada
This was definitely an amazing smoothie!! I didn’t have the Vega but I used another unflavored protein to cut some of the sugars. I left out the maple syrup or honey and only use the one date. This is more of a dessert treat flavor so it was definitely a treat after my workout! thank you blender babes for an amazing smoothie I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Glad to hear it Dea! Yes this smoothie is delicous and you can definitely use what you have on hand and keep the sweeteners to a minimum. 🙂 I appreciate you sharing your feedback and rating! Happy Blending! ~Tarashaun
I haven't try the Vega Proteins, but I very much look forward to it! My preferable would be the Vega Protein Smoothie Bodacious Berry!
Green smoothies have changed my outlook towards greens forever!! 🙂 Love it !!