Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Blizzard

Happy 2014 everyone!  Who wants to celebrate with something chocolaty?  Forget worrying about new year's resolutions to loose weight or eat healthier because this scrumptious blizzard is healthy enough to eat for breakfast guilt-free!  No Dairy Queen blizzard ingredients here.  My favorite milkshake when I was a child was chocolate cookie dough.  I have recreated my favorite frozen treat, only better. It is the perfect combination of rich, creamy, frozen, chocolate "ice cream" mixed with my mouthwatering peanut butter cookie dough bites.

I got a Vitamix blender for Christmas and I can't begin to tell you how much I already love it!  It blends everything perfectly with less liquid so making this blizzard was a snap!  The base is frozen bananas, cocoa powder, and almond milk.  By using the Vitamix I was able to get a thick, creamy consistency that I have not been able to achieve with my old blender because I would have to add so much milk.  You can make this without a high-powered blender, it just might come out slightly more runny, but no less delicious!

If your bananas are ripe enough (I'm talking almost brown), then you might not have to add any sweetener.  I like to use lucuma powder to sweeten mine.  Lucuma powder is made from the Peruvian Lucuma fruit and is a low-glycemic sweetener that is rich in many nutrients including beta-carotene, iron, zinc, vitamin B3, calcium, and protein.  Quite the superfood!  It adds a maple, almost caramel-like flavor that pairs wonderfully with chocolate.  If you don't have lucuma powder, don't worry.  You can use just about any sweetener you want.

I topped this tasty blizzard with more chopped cookie dough and cocoa nibs.  Chocolate chips or melted peanut butter are some other great options.  I had melted some peanut butter to top this shake with, but I wound up eating it while taking pictures. Oops!  Let's start 2014 off on the right foot: with peanut butter and chocolate!


Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Blizzard
vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free (makes one serving)

4-5 Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites

1 ripe banana, frozen
1/3-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp special dark cocoa powder, or more cocoa powder
1 tsp lucuma powder, or sweetener of choice
1-2 tsp cocoa nibs or chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
Add banana, 1/3 cup almond milk, and vanilla extract to a blender and blend until smooth.  If necessary, add more almond milk to help blending or until desired milkshake consistency is reached.  Add cocoa powders and lucuma powder. Blend until smooth.  Chop peanut butter cookie dough balls and mix in, reserving a few pieces to top the blizzard with.  Top with cocoa nibs or chocolate chips and chopped up cookie dough bites.