This homemade Cinnamon Dolce Latte takes 5 minutes to make and is bursting with all the right flavors. You can make this with an espresso shot or high quality instant coffee. If serving over ice, concentrated cold brew works great, too. There’s no reason to wait in the drive thru line again once you sip this plant-based gem.
Better than Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte
Before we dive into the recipe, let’s talk about our first love— Starbucks cinnamon dolce latte. I spent my lunch break for months getting this drink when I worked at an ad agency in Santa Monica. It’s addictively sweet, perfectly caffeinated and packed with cinnamon. Yet it also has 190 calories in one cup, plus contains: natural flavors, carrageenan, potassium sorbate, citric acid and Diglycerides.
The more I embrace a plant-based diet, the less I want to put ingredients like that in my body. None of that is real food…it’s not grown from the earth— it’s created in a factory. No bueno.
How to make a cinnamon dolce latte
To avoid those ingredients and make it even tastier, I created my own plant-based version that is amazing. I am not even a huge fan of sweet coffee, anymore (I prefer the Rawkstar Coffee method)… yet this recipe has been calling my name around 2pm every day since I first made it.
Plant-Based Whole Food Ingredients
A homemade cinnamon dolce latte recipe has 125 calories and only contains: whole grain oats, coconut sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon, espresso and salt.
These are all ingredients you can pronounce and visually trace them back to an actual plant they are grown on within a second. That’s my style of eating.
Equipment needed to make this latte
High speed blender: This is the #1 piece of equipment for this recipe (and in my kitchen). The high speed allows it to heat up in just 4 minutes of blender. I blended with the Vitamix A3500 and their new Aer Disk Container that is designed to froth milk and muddle mojitos. (It’s not necessary to use this container to get a frothy latte).
Right now, there’s a $120 OFF Vitamix deal for Mother’s Day Sale.
If you don’t have a high speed blender, you can heat the oat milk to desired temperature on stovetop or microwave before adding to a standard blender that will still blend and create some foam.
Espresso Machine: I also used my Rancilio Silva Espresso Machine to pull espresso shots (we take coffee very seriously in my home). You can also use an Aeropress or high quality instant coffee in about 2 ounces of hot water to create an “espresso alternative.” Feel free to use decaf beans if you’re sensitive to caffeine.
Skinny cinnamon dolce latte
This recipe is for a traditional Cinnamon Dolce Latte, yet can easily be adjusted to become a Skinny version if you’re watching your blood sugar levels or have a dietary concern.
If you were to order this at the coffee shop, it would have around 60 calories, 9 grams sugar and include these ingredients: Cow milk, Brewed Espresso, Sugar Free Cinnamon Dolce Syrup [Water, Natural Flavor, Xanthan Gum, Sucralose, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid]
You can make a skinny plant-based version at home with much cleaner ingredients. Start with our base recipe and just decrease the coconut sugar from 2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp and add 2g monk fruit (or a dash of stevia.) This will get your sugars to 12g and calories to 85… and still taste great. That’s what I like to call Plant Power!
Iced cinnamon dolce latte
This recipe taste amazing as an iced cinnamon dolce latte as well. You can pout it all directly into a mason jar (no blender needed), add ice and a lid. Give it a good shake and you’re ready to enjoy. You could even swap out the espresso for concentrated cold brew (Stumptown is really smooth) to enhance the coffee flavors.
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This homemade Cinnamon Dolce Latte is bursting with all the right flavors. You can make this with an espresso shot or high quality instant coffee. There’s no reason to wait in the drive thru line again once you sip this treat.
Ingredients
- 6 oz oat milk
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla bean
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 oz espresso
Instructions
- Pour oat milk into blender.
- Add all ingredients (except espresso) and blend again.
- Blend on high for 4 minutes to heat the milk. If you don’t have a high speed blender, you can heat the oat milk to desired temperature on stovetop or microwave before adding to the blender.
- Pull espresso shot (or instant coffee in notes) while milk is warming in blender.
- Add espresso to coffee mug and pour hot oat milk on top.
- Sprinkle with extra cinnamon.
Notes
If you don’t have espresso machine, you can add 1 serving instant coffee to 2oz hot water.
Keywords: cinnamon dolce latte
Got my oat milk to make this tomorrow morning. Can’t wait!
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Woo hoo! Let us know how you like it! 😀
I could not find coconut sugar at the supermarket. Can I replace coconut sugar with another sugar?
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Hi Daniel! You can sub raw honey or if you are looking for a vegan option, pure maple syrup or date sugar. 🙂
Wow this is so very awesome! Thank you. I love it. I used Oatly Barista oat milk and Stok cold brew heated up because I don’t have an espresso machine. If mine was awesome, imagine how much better it is with espresso!
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Way to be resourceful, Colleen! Glad you liked it. 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the alternative options! Where did you get your nifty grinder from?
I think I’ve realized that what I like about lattes is the texture of the milk, which has really opened me up to trying different plant-based alternatives. Looking forward to trying this version with oat milk! I doubt I’ll miss the dairy milk in it, and the pictures and video are awesome. Where can I get countertops like that?!?!
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I bet this CDL with oat milk would taste delicious!
What a cute video. I can’t wait to try this recipe. I’ll use my aeropress as I don’t have a fancy espresso machine… yet!
Sounds good, Rosalie! Let us know what you think after you try it. 🙂
Can you tell me more about the vanilla bean?? I saw somewhere here that it’s vanilla bean powder? Is this something you purchase in store? hmmmm- I make look into an Aeropress to make this :). It looks yummy!
Hey Dana! You can buy vanilla bean powder online or you can make your own using a spice grinder.
The video was so fun and totally showed me that it was possible to make this. Since i don’t have espresso, I made a strong cup of french press and poured 1/3 cup into the mug. It turned out really well. I like my coffee sweet, so the 2 TBS coconut sugar was spot on. It’s crazy how much this reminded me of the CDL at Starbucks, but def felt more decadent and healthy making it at home. I truly felt like I just treated myself and might make this a weekly event. Thanks Jen for the recipe… and happy Mother’s Day to you and your family.
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So glad you enjoyed the drink and it’s great to know you can make it even if you don’t have espresso!
This is excellent and thank you for the latte recipe!!
I used only 1T coconut sugar and is plenty sweet.
Glad you like it and for the folks who like their coffee drinks less sweet, that’s a great tip! 🙂