I tried to emulate what I buy at the juice bar in LA Fitness Gym. Didn't work out well.

It tasted good, but turned into a drink, more than a shake/smoothie. I need some ideas on how to "fluff" it up or other input. The PB and or cocoa powder powder also ended up "bubbling" at the top even after mixing. Ice also just disappeared as soon as I used the immersion blender on low.

My chocolate PB "drink"

2 tbsp choc PB2

1 tbsp Ghirardelli cocoa

1 scoop GENEPRO Protein Powder flavorless (not the think bully whey type powder, this is "miconized"

8oz fat free milk, 3/4 cup ice cubes from machine

1 tbsp pure maple Syrup (too bitter without)

261 cal, 35g carb (28g sugar, 12 from milk) 3g fat, 43g Protein.

Less PB2 powder? Less cocoa powder? More ice ratio? Thicker milk (fattier?)

This is possibly going to sound crazy, but could you try freezing some of the milk into cubes, if it isn't icy enough?

You could drop the amount of milk, and if that gives you too little to drink, maybe you could replace some of the milk's "bulk" with yogurt?

A lot of people add a banana (and that might make it so you don't have to add the maple syrup if you don't want)--but I'm a little bit allergic to bananas, so I wouldn't do that, personally.

As for the clumping, do you have another kind of blender? I love my Magic Bullet blender. Or can you work harder to blend near the top of the mix? Cocoa powder is super hard to blend into cold milk, just as a general rule, and I wouldn't trust an immersion blender to do it.

Throw in 1/4 of a frozen banana and it will thicken it up.

That tbsp of maple syrup is not a great idea, can't you use something like stevia instead?

Regular blender

more ice

less sweetener

??????

Try using Unjury Chocolate Splendor protein powder with 8oz of original almond milk, 1 Tblspoon of real peanut butter and 1/3 of a banana Frozen in a drink blender or magic bullet. Talk about amazing!

You can make a "chocolate milk" and keep it on hand so you have enough for a couple of days using your milk and the cocoa powder. You could then freeze it into ice cubes and use those to thicken your shake while adding more reg. milk.

A lot of times, cocoa powder won't dissolve unless boiled into a liquid. It will float on the surface. You might get it to work by using an emulsifier like banana or avocado. I'd personally rather have the frozen banana than the pure maple syrup if you are gonna add sugar to it anyway. You could also add SF Hershey's Chocolate Syrup to replace the cocoa powder, but will lose the anti-oxidants in the cocoa powder.

You could also cut the milk in half and replace with Greek yogurt or a scoop of 2% cottage cheese.

Using a good blender (high speed one, if you have access to it) seems to make all the difference when it comes to smoothies.

Agreed with all the above, especially @FluffyChix about the cocoa powder being a PITA to dissolve in a cold liquid. If you want a smoothie consistency, adding milk alone isn't going to do it. Ice can but I found that it often melts too fast since I don't drink them quickly. I almost always use either greek yogurt or cottage cheese in my shakes. Now I hate cottage cheese, but man does it make one super thick and creamy smoothie!

I.E. 1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 scoop protein powder

1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp stevia (or to taste, I use 2 packets which I think is 2 teaspoons)

1/4 cup almond milk

As the others mentioned, frozen banana is a good way to thicken it up, as is avocado though I would recommend that more for savory shakes. I like it with peanut butter and spinach personally but it's not for everyone.

My blender of choice: Ninja. That thing is my baby.

Edited November 15, 20187 yr by Kay07

Has anyone tried using carob powder instead of cocoa, I am and for 43 years been allergic to chocolate in all its forms.

3 minutes ago, Frustr8 said:

Has anyone tried using carob powder instead of cocoa, I am and for 43 years been allergic to chocolate in all its forms.

I have oddly enough. I would say it is similar in taste, but not exact. I kind of felt it had an earthier flavor to it, less rich. Not bad though. I had it mixed with high flavor items though so its possible it was a mix of things rather than the norm.

Yeah I have said before the items will have a milk-chocolate instead of the dark intense k8nd.

And can anyone figure out a non- chocolate homemade shake? Anything but vanilla, I am beginning to LOATHE vanilla!

Can you use sugar free pudding as a base?

Just got a real good high speed blender 3hp. Has pulse and blend settings from 1-10.

putin 20oz soy milk, 4 medium Bananas, 3 servings of protein powder, half a dozen small ice cubes and blitzed it all up in about one minute high speed it was completely liquid milkshake.

Beautiful. Will come in handy for when I do have operation and have to live off liquids can blend all kinds of fruit and vegetables

4 bananas in 1 shake sounds like a heck of a lot. Have you calculated the calorie count etc?