date shake

Palm Springs date, almond, banana shake

The date shake I had at The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs has been on my mind since I got back. Date shakes are one of the must-haves when you visit Palm Springs. Many of them rely on ice cream and milk to give substance. I found them a bit too sweet and heavy with all that dairy and I’d like to be able to have them more often, so I’ve been meaning to try to make my own. I played around with proportions and ingredients but this morning we cracked it. This is still a pretty sweet drink but the toffee like sweetness comes from the dates so you get the deliciousness with a nice hit of fibre.

If you drink protein shakes, you could easily add some protein powder to this.

We’re on a bit of a smoothie roll at the moment in our house as the summer school holidays are giving us time to linger over making breakfast together. My little one had his 3rd birthday a couple of days ago and loves to cook. He and his 4 year old brother love chopping fruit for smoothies and, most of all, pressing the button on the blender.

the boys hard at work
the boys hard at work

The bananas make the shake creamy, fibre, potassium and magnesium rich. I added almond butter to give a nice hit of protein, skin boosting vitamin E and calcium. You could use regular cows milk but as my little one is lactose intolerant we’re switching over to coconut and almond milk. I used coconut milk today but almond or oat works fine. Just be sure to buy an unsweetened one. Dates have such a wonderful toffee flavour that you really don’t need anything else sweet.

If you wanted to add more substance you could add some oats too.

Leftover shake mixture is amazing frozen in lollypop [popsicle] molds too. Just the ticket for a mid-afternoon treat or a post-dinner bit of sweetness.

Don’t get hung up on the measurements, they are a guide to proportions rather than a precise recipe.

Date Shake Ingredients (to make enough for 2 people)

  • 2 ripe bananas, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons almond butter – buy one that has as few ingredients as possible
  • a pinch of salt
  • around 350ml [one and a half cups] very cold milk or unsweetened almond, oat or coconut milk
  • a quarter to a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon (depending on how cinnamony you like things)
  • 4-6 dates, de-stoned
  • optional – half a cup of oats or a scoop of unsweetened protein powder.  If adding oats you’ll need to add extra milk or some water

To make:

1.  Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until you have a smooth shake

2. Serve immediately or freeze in lollypop molds for later

Equipment

You can now buy the equipment I use in this recipe through my shop. I’ve spent years testing my favourite bits of equipment so rest-assured that whatever I recommend is the best tool for the job and will give you great results without cluttering your kitchen with unused tools. I receive a small affiliate fee from Amazon if you buy via my link. The products don’t cost you any more. These small fees help me keep creating all the free content I share.

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Find more recipes for dates, shakes/smoothies and drinks here.

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