This homemade iced coffee naturally sweetened with dates and topped with thick whipped cream, is the perfect summer treat.
When it is warm, I usually swap out my evening cup of coffee for a nice cool glass of iced coffee. It is so refreshing and really easy to make at home, you don’t have to shell out an arm and a leg at some fancy coffee shop.
I usually have it plain, but just once in a while, I dress it up with a dollop of freshly whipped cream. Mmm… lovely! Just like my favorite frappe, but even better!
And the best thing of all, I use dates as a natural sweetener in my iced coffee. It adds a nice body to the coffee and is absolutely delicious. If you have never tried dates smoothies, you are seriously missing out. Dates have this rich, buttery sweetness to them and they are full of essential vitamins and minerals. Dried dates, as it is most commonly sold here, have an amazing shelf life. They last for months in the refrigerator. So get yourself some good quality Middle-Eastern dates and make yourself little treats every now and then.
Dates work great in smoothies. I make smoothies with dates, bananas, almond milk, and sometimes even chocolate. But my favorite way to use them is in my iced coffee. You can think of this recipe as a dates smoothie, really. Or an iced coffee. Either way, it is so simple, yet so delicious.
If you have this iced coffee without the cream and butterscotch chips, you will have yourself a healthy treat with no processed sugar at all. But if you are in the mood to indulge, whip some cream up, by all means.
I’ve been good this year, I only bought one tub of ice cream in all these months after winter. I swear. So I can treat myself to some nice, thick iced coffee, can’t I?
The recipe is super simple. I use instant coffee powder and simply blend all the ingredients together. But feel free to use traditional brewed coffee if that’s what you have.
Now you can make coffee-shop-worthy iced coffee right at home.
- Dates - 20, pitted (the dried variety)
- Milk - 4 cups, divided
- Instant coffee powder - 2 tbsp
- Ice cubes - 12
- Heavy cream - ½ cup, cold
- Powdered sugar - 1 tbsp
- Butterscotch or chocolate chips - a few, optional
- Soak the dates in 1 cup of slightly warm milk for a couple of hours, or at least for 20-30 minutes. Some really powerful blenders might not need soaking the dates, but it just makes your job easier.
- Add dates and the milk it was soaking in to your blender jar and blend to a smooth paste.
- Then add the rest of the milk, coffee powder and ice and blend till smooth.
- Whip the cream and sugar in a cold mixing bowl till you form firm peaks.
- Pour the dates iced coffee into glasses, top with fresh whipped cream and some butterscotch or chocolate chips, if you like. Enjoy.
2. You can even add a small handful of nuts while blending the dates to make an even thicker and healthier smoothie.
3. Feel free to replace regular milk with non-dairy or nut milk to make this vegan.
Can you believe iced coffee can be healthy? Use dates in yours, and it just might be!
This dates iced coffee is a great pick-me-up in the evenings and such a fabulous treat during the warmer days. Make some, pronto!
Do you like dates? And coffee? Put them together and this just might be your new go-to beverage.
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I am sharing this over at Fiesta Friday, FoodieFriDIY & Saucy Saturday.
over the years i have tried many many different ways of making iced cofee but with the dates its the best i have had Thank u so very very much for this recipe It is definitely the bomb And its funny because i drink dates milkshakes all the time never thought of iced coffee. U have made me an addict now
Thank you, Ed. I am so glad you enjoyed it!!
This looks absolutely delicious! I’ve never actually had a date smoothie and I’m wondering how that could be. I LOVE iced coffee, I drink it all year round- usually standing at the station waiting for my train in winter with numb hands because I’m drinking an iced latte!
This is going on my absolutely must make asap list!!
Thank you, Michelle. I can drink frappes in any weather too <3
This coffee is to die for and the innovation of using dates for Natural sweetening is truly out of the world… Hats off to you! 🙂
Just came to your blog for the first time–how lovely, with some lish looking recipes and creative ideas! Pinned this date iced coffee, and can’t wait to come back and look around some more!
–G
http://gingerwroot.com
Thank you so much and welcome to my little space 🙂
I always have some dates in the fridge to use in deserts….and I love coffee so no excuse not to try out this fabulous drink:)
Absolutely not, so I hope you will give this a try 🙂
This looks delish! I’ve been known to grab a date or two when I’m craving something sweet and just recently made a date shake! I can’t wait to try this.
Mollie
Do try this, Mollie. Dates are really so versatile 🙂
I plan on it – and just got a new blender this evening! I’m so excited!!
I never thought of sweetening dates with coffee! YUM!
Thank you!!
I love this, dates are great and I think they work great with coffee! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!!
This is so perfect for the warm weather outside. Good timing – I have few dates sitting in the fridge. 🙂
Oh my. I have a bit of a date obsession going on. I think this sounds superb. Pinning so I don’t forget to give it a go.
Thank you, I am sure you will love this!!
Sounds yummy! I’ve been eating more dates because they’re so healthy!
They are so good for you!!
Oh wow Anjana! I’m making this right now!!! 😀 Wait…no – I’m drinking this right now!!! It was so tempting I couldn’t wait to finish my comment and had to make it immediately! 😀 I used unsweetened coconut milk and it’s SO delicious! Thank you so much for sharing at Fiesta Friday I know it will go down very well! 🙂 For a choc date smoothie would you use cocoa powder, hot chocolate powder or real chocolate?
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it.
I have made this with all three forms of chocolate that you mentioned. Make sure your blender is powerful when using chocolate chips or bars, that is the most chocolatey version of the lot. Chocolate drink mix is easiest to blend and combine, the cocoa powder falls somewhere in between.
I love this so much… come to think of it I might just have another one now – maybe a mocha version? It’s so very delicious and we always have dates so I can make it all the time! 🙂 Thank you again Anjana 🙂
The pleasure’s all mine. I am so glad you are enjoying it 🙂
Excellent recipe and photography!
Thank you!!
You have a very beautiful food site…do we have to use whole date or take out the seed while we make coffee…please help..thank you.
Remove them, of course.
What a great way to sweeten your coffee routine! These are so beautiful, they’re better than those you’d get at the coffee shop. Thank you so much for bringing them to the fiesta this week. I’m sure a lot of people will be trying them out! Happy FF, and have a fab weekend! 😀
Thank you, Kaila!! Happy FF 🙂
Anjana this looks so good!! 🙂
Thank you so much 🙂
Amazing photography! I stumbled across your page in a forum about posts not showing up on your Reader. Were you ever able to fix this? I am having the same issue. On a side note, <3'ing your blog! Following!
Thank you so much.
I didn’t find any particular solution, sorry. Some months, ll my posts appear in the feed as soon as I post them. Other times, the posts disappear for a couple of weeks. Apparently, it has to do with how WordPress sweeps self-hosted sites for new posts. There are hits and misses. Go figure!!
I have actually never liked dates, despite however times my mom keeps reminding me to have them since they are good for health 😀 Now THIS makes them look appealing and I might just have them for once 😀 Thanks for sharing!
That’s exactly how I came up with recipe. My son doesn’t like dates, so I would make chocolate-dates smoothie for him. Once we tried that, iced coffee with dates followed!
Hi Anjana! What a great idea to use the dates. I have plenty of really good dried ones, but am often at a loss about what to use them for. This is happening TODAY!
A small question: for 2 cups, how much coffee decoction would you reckon? Instant coffee is an absolute no-no in our home!!
Thank you, Nishka. I would start with a couple of tablespoons of decoction. It depends on how strong you brew it. So you can taste and adjust the amount. Cheers!
Wow. Making coffee healthy with dates..never thought of it. I have had dates shake before but this seems interesting. Will try for sure.
Thank you
A lovely recipe and I love dates. Thank you and have a great day.
I love dates too, Liz. They make great snacks. Hope you try this recipe 🙂