Shake 'n' Date for 1

A delicious date shake reminiscent of Middle Eastern flavors, I concocted this shake a few mornings ago to help reduce a surplus of milk and bananas. (With a little bit of inspiration from npr.org website.) Organic ingredients are preferred for this recipe. Note: this is not a thick shake. Yields one large sixteen ounce beverage or two smaller eight ounce beverages. Be sure your milk or milk substitute is well chilled before preparing.

• Ready In: 5 mins
• Serves: 1
• Yields: 16 ounces

Ingredients

• 4  dates, pitted (I used two medjool and two deglet nours)
• 1  pinch ground cardamom
• 1  small banana, peeled and cut into chunks (a partially frozen banana is okay to substitute)
• 3  drops  almond extract
• 1  cup milk (I use whole milk but you can use another milk alternative ( almond, rice, coconut milk, soy, etc.)
• 2 -3  tablespoons tahini or 2 -3  tablespoons plain yogurt
• 1⁄2 tablespoon honey, to taste (or other sugar alternative such as agave, unbleached cane sugar, etc.)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon  orange blossom water
•  cinnamon, to garnish

Directions

1. Take a sharp knife and run it under hot water. Remove the pits and cut the dates up into very small pieces.
2. Place the dates and the remaining ingredients *except* for the cinnamon in a blender. Blend on HIGH speed a full 1 minute. (Some of the date pieces will not blend and that is okay and to be expected.).
3. Pour shake into a tall glass. The small dates pieces that didn't blend will sink to the bottom. Have a long sundae spoon handy to eat them!
4. If desired, [lightly] sprinkle cinnamon on top.
5. Enjoy!