Honey Fig Walnut Banana Smoothie with Cinnamon Cream

Imagine a glass of fig and banana smoothie, cold and velvety, with toasted walnuts giving it body and warm cinnamon running through every sip. Then picture a thick crown of sweet whipped cream dusted with cinnamon sitting on top. This chilled drink comes together in one blender jar, and the whole process takes about twenty minutes from the first cut to the last swirl of cream.

This fig walnut banana smoothie is built around ripe fresh figs, a ripe banana, toasted walnut pieces, honey, grated cinnamon and milk. Everything is loaded into a blender, blended until smooth and poured into a tall glass. The finishing touch is a piped layer of lightly sweetened cinnamon whipped cream and a dusting of ground cinnamon.

The drink is rich, sweet and nutty, with a warm spice note that works equally well as an afternoon treat or a dessert-style drink after dinner. Two tall glasses is the natural yield for a single batch, and the recipe is easy to scale if you need more.

Ingredients

Why this recipe works

The method starts with the fruit and the nuts, because soft figs and banana break down quickly in a blender and take the texture of the drink. Toasting the walnut pieces first brings out their roasted flavor, which balances the sweetness of the figs and honey.

Grating the cinnamon stick directly over the board gives you fine, fragrant shavings that dissolve completely into the smoothie, rather than the gritty texture of old ground cinnamon.

Adding the liquids last lets the blades catch the soft fruit and nuts first, which creates a vortex that pulls everything down into the blades. Blending on high for about a minute produces a silky, uniform light brown color with no visible chunks. The whipped cream is made separately with cold cream, which holds its shape on top of the smoothie and keeps the drink cold to the last sip.

Notes and substitutions

Fresh figs are best when they are ripe and soft to the touch, with a sweet smell at the stem end. Purple and black varieties tend to give a deeper color, while green figs produce a lighter, milder smoothie.

If fresh figs are out of season, use dried figs soaked in warm water for about ten minutes, then drained. Dried figs make a thicker, sweeter drink, so you may want to reduce the honey slightly.

You need a blender jar large enough to hold all the ingredients with room to spare, a long chef's knife for quartering the figs, and a box grater for the cinnamon stick.

A hand mixer makes whipping the cream fast, but a whisk and a bowl will also work with a little more effort. A piping bag with a star tip gives the cream its neat, thick top, and a tall clear glass shows off the layers of color.

• Heavy cream: Chilled whipping cream with at least 30 percent fat, or a thick non-dairy whipped topping for a different finish
• Milk: Oat milk or soy milk for a non-dairy smoothie, though the cream topping will still contain milk
• Fresh figs: Dried figs soaked in warm water for 10 minutes and drained, for a deeper, chewier smoothie

Equipment

• Blender jar
• Long chef's knife
• Cutting board
• Box grater
• Piping bag with a star tip
• Tall clear glass
• Hand mixer or whisk