Apple Pie Smoothie

📝 Ingredients

• 2 sweet apples (about 180 g each)
• 70 g rolled oats
• 400 ml well-chilled oat drink (100 ml for soaking, 300 ml for blending)
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ lemon (for the juice)
• 1 pinch of nutmeg
• 6 ice cubes

🍴 Utensils

• Blender
• Chopping board
• Paring knife
• Bowl
• Measuring jug
• Spatula

📖 Steps

1. Put the oats in a bowl with 100 ml of the oat drink and half the cinnamon. Stir and leave to soak for 5 minutes: the oats soften and will give you a really smooth smoothie, with no gritty bits in your mouth.
2. Meanwhile, wash the apples, cut them into quarters and remove the core and pips with a knife. Leave the skin on, as it adds flavour and fibre, unless your blender isn't very powerful: in that case, peel them.
3. Cut the apple quarters into 2 cm pieces and immediately drizzle with the juice of the half lemon to stop them browning. The lemon also adds the slight tang of a real apple pie.
4. Put the apples, the soaked oats with their liquid, the remaining 300 ml oat drink, the honey, vanilla, nutmeg and the rest of the cinnamon into the blender jug, keeping back a pinch for decoration.
5. Blend for 1 minute on the highest speed until perfectly smooth and creamy, with no visible bits of skin. If the blender struggles, stop it, scrape down the sides with a spatula and start again.
6. Add the ice cubes and blend for another 20 to 30 seconds, until there are no shards of ice left: the smoothie becomes colder, lighter and slightly frothy. Don't blend any longer, as the heat from the motor would end up warming it.
7. Pour into two tall glasses, sprinkle with the reserved pinch of cinnamon and drink straight away, ideally 45 minutes to 1 hour before training: the oats and apple give you energy without sitting heavy on your stomach.