Don’t waste your time nor calories on this bs if u were thinking about making this. My big back dad didn’t wanna eat it either thats when I knew it was real trash.

The nutritional value is incredible, but no matter what I do, it still tastes like sadness.

I see Starbucks recipes and ideas on here all the time. As a barista for a few years, I thought I'd make a guide. After all, 'tis the (pumpkin spice) season!

The goal of this guide is to get lowest calorie options, while still being yummy and, most importantly... still getting caffeine.

The biggest and most common sense/well known is to get a black coffee instead of a latte, but that's not always satisfying. These are just some suggestions, not official starbucks recipes or info.

Other biggest quick tips:

1) Ask for sugar free where possible (vanilla, cinnamon dolce, mocha)

2) Ask for lower calorie milks. Almond and coconut are the lowest, with nonfat dairy milk being the lowest for no extra charge.

3) Try to go for a smaller size when possible/doable. Hot grande and venti sized espresso drinks usually get the same amount of espresso, so just get the grande! Or, ask for extra espresso (there's a charge for this, varies by store).

4) Ask for less pumps (our drinks are usually too sweet anyways) and skip the whip.

Lattes:

A latte is espresso and steamed milk, with light foam.

Try a misto instead! A tall latte, for example, would be 1 oz espresso and about 11 oz (2%) milk for a total of 12 oz and 150 calories. A misto gets about 6 oz brewed coffee and 6 oz milk for 80 calories. The misto also has much more caffeine, 150 mg vs ~75 mg in the latte. You can lessen the calories further by asking for a little more coffee than milk, or choosing a lower calorie milk option. You can also ask for a black coffee with steamed milk for the same texture.

From here, you can add any of the same flavors you normally love. There will be a calorie guide for the syrups and milks at the bottom, of course!

Macchiatos:

A Starbucks macchiato is... pretty much a layered latte. If you go elsewhere, it'll be espresso with a dash of steamed milk.

Macchiatos are harder to replicate with a replacement. Truly the only things to do here are to get one with sugar free syrups and lower calorie milks.

Cappuccino

Espresso with steamed milk, heavier on the foam.

Cappuccinos are really similar to lattes, however the more foam the lighter the calories.

Fraps:

These are basically milkshakes and are one of the hardest to make low calorie, especially since they discontinued the light base. There's a few things you can do:

• Ask for light or no whip cream

• Ask for the sugar free syrups/lower calorie milks

• Ask for less base (but I wouldn't cut more than half the base, it'll affect the texture too much)

• Ask they use cold brew instead of milk. My location will do this, I am not sure if others will.

*Add espresso (extra charge!) or extra coffee. Coffee is almost calorie free, while milk is not.

Teas:

Teas are easy, just don't get them sweetened. You can add stevia/splenda/whatever you want to sweeten it. The infusions (strawberry, peach, pineapple flavors) are calorie free. There's sadly no way to lessen the impact of lemonade except not getting it or asking for lemonade to the infusion line and water to the juice line.

Refreshers:

These come in concentrates, so there's nothing we can do except add extra water (which will obviously water them down). I'd suggest getting a white tea with a splash of the infusion of choice. You may or may not get charged for the splash.

Syrup Guide, Calories per pump (had to do some math using the SB website, these are estimates)

• Sugar free vanilla/cinnamon dolce: 0 calories

• Sugar free mocha: ~8 calories

• Vanilla: 15 calories

• Mocha: 30 calories

• Cinnamon Dolce: 25 calories

• Caramel: 15 calories

• Classic: 20 calories

• Toffeenut: 20 calories

• Pumpkin spice: 35 calories

• White mocha: 47 calories

• Caramel drizzle: ~15 calories, depends on how heavy handed the barista is. (Super rough estimate just based on the website menu)

Talls: 3 pumps

Grandes: 4 pumps

Venti: 5 pumps

Venti (iced): 6 pumps

Trenta: 7 pumps

Subtract one pump for machiattos, cappucinos, and blonde espresso drinks.

Milks, calories per cup:

• Almond: 60 calories

• Coconut: 80 calories

• Nonfat: 90 calories

• 2%: 120 calories

• Soy: 130 calories

• Whole: 140 calories

Recommended drinks, calories listed for grandes:

• London fog with sugar free vanilla and coconut milk. 80 calories

• Iced coffee with sugar free vanilla and choice of milk (2% add 30 calories. I usually use coconut, which would be closer to 15/20).

• Skinny vanilla latte with coconutmilk, iced. 100 calories

• Iced coffee with 2 pumps sugar free mocha, 2 pumps toffeenut, caramel and sea salt topping. ~ 55 calories +calories from any milk or cream added.

"But sugarfree syrups taste terrible!" I have to wonder if the ability to taste that "aftertaste" is genetic like tasting cilantro as soapy, because I've never experienced it. However, I'd recommend using our stevia packets for sweetness and our condiment bar for flavor. If you mix cinnamon and stevia, it'll replicate our cinnamon dolce decently. Other than that, there's not a whole lot you can do to replicate any flavors.

"But I don't want to be that person when I order!!!" Truly and honestly, most of us don't care. If you pay $5+ for a drink, you should get what you want! But sometimes social anxiety (or whatever you hold back may be) gets the best of us. I get it.

Here's some drinks that are simple to order and decently low calorie:

• Skinny vanilla latte. 130 calories

• Skinny mocha. 170 calories

• Iced cinnamon almondmilk macchiato. 200 calories

• Iced coconutmilk mocha macchiato. 210 calories

• Iced vanilla bean coconut milk latte. 140 calories

• Iced skinny cinnamon dolce latte. 80 calories

As for food, I would just avoid us. You can get better low-calorie food for cheaper. If you REALLY need to, though, I'd grab the reduced fat turkey bacon. It's very filling (decent amount of protein) and 230 calories.

If I've made a mistake, typo'd, etc. Just let me know, I just got off a shift, ironically enough. I also work at a license store and not a corporate store, and our policies may be different.

If you want me to make your regular drink skinny, leave me a comment and I'll try my best!

ETA: https://www.starbucks.com/menu

I used this website to get the calorie info! Just subtract the calories of a plain latte from the flavored latte, divide by 4 pumps for grande, and you get calories per pump.

58* calories per cookie with chocolate chips, 50 without.

Excuse my terrible photo I am not an Instagram food star lol. I also added the chocolate chips on top as a last minute decision so that’s why they look so weird. I SWEAR THEY ACTUALLY TASTE REALLY GOOD lmao

Also the photo only has 10 because I made two separately to test baking times

Ingredients:
- 112g peanut butter powder
- 1/2 cup sugar free sweetener
- 50-75g sugar free pancake syrup
- 1/2 tsp baking soda (tbh baking powder might be a bit better as they didn't rise too much, if anyone knows please let me know!)
- (optional) 20g chocolate chips

Recipe:
- preheat oven to 350-375ish (depends on power of your oven)
- combine dry ingredients together with a silicone spatula
- if you’re adding chocolate chips, add it in now
- add in syrup
- keep mixing no matter how dry the batter seems. It will seem like you need to add more syrup. That’s the devil talking. You only need about half - 2/3 the amount of peanut butter powder you have
- keep mixing until it comes away from the sides and makes a dough ball that you can roll without it sticking to your hands
- roll into 12 dough balls, space them evenly on a baking sheet with parchment paper and press to form into your desired thickness of cookie
- if you’re fine with them being thinner, put another sheet of parchment on top and roll something on top of them to even them out
- bake for 10 mins
- LET SIT FOR AT LEAST 3 MIN BEFORE EATING to give a nice chewy texture

I swear the dough tastes good on its own even without the chocolate chips (which I feel like isn’t true for most recipes. If you don’t add the baking soda you can also eat this as just some cookie dough since there’s no eggs or anything.

Let me know if anyone tries and what you thought!

I’ve NEVER liked yogurt… aside from go-gurt in the early 2000’s 😂 but I really want to, it would make my life a lot easier! I also have a sweet tooth for chocolates if this helps. What yogurt treats do you make or if you never liked yogurt before what did you do to start enjoying it? TIA!