Ina Garten's Rocket Fuel Is A 4-Ingredient Coffee Drink That Packs A Punch
As calm and content as she comes across on the "Barefoot Contessa," Ina Garten gets a lot done. Once an employee at the White House, she's since owned a specialty food store, written multiple best-selling cookbooks, and hosted Food Network TV shows — and she's been known to use coffee to power through her days. But whether you're a celebrity chef or not, sometimes you just need a little extra boost in the morning, and Garten has the perfect drink to accomplish this.
She calls the drink "delicious rocket fuel" on her TV show "Be My Guest," and it's easy to see why. Between the sugary ingredients — sweetened condensed milk and simple syrup — and the espresso or strong coffee, this beverage has everything you need to wake up fast. Beyond these components, Garten includes half a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract per two drinks for more flavor. Technically, her rocket fuel is called a Vanilla Coffee Shakerato, named because the ingredients are combined in a cocktail shaker. "It's really intense," Garten said of her creation.
Make the shakerato your own
To whip up Ina Garten's Vanilla Coffee Shakerato, there are two key elements to consider. You'll need to shake everything in a cocktail shaker, as we mentioned, including a cup and a half of ice cubes. This cools all the ingredients as they're combined and makes the texture of the drink light and airy, with a thin layer of foam on top — which is why you won't need a frother to achieve this beverage's consistency. And while you can use a bottled simple syrup, Garten makes her own. Just stir a cup of sugar and a cup of water together on the stove, bring the mixture to a boil, and wait until the sugar dissolves.
While Garten is a clear connoisseur of the shakerato, she's not the only celebrity chef to make the drink her own. Giada De Laurentiis has a dairy-free version with a shot of chocolate syrup, which goes into the shaker. She drinks the concoction out of a martini glass to make her mornings a little fancy. And if you've ever had the now-popular Starbucks shaken espresso, you may not have realized that it was inspired by the shakerato. In fact, the chain's recipe for its Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso uses a cocktail shaker as well — but it also deploys six ounces of oat milk, which you won't find in Garten's shakerato or most others.