Mint Chocolate Monster Milkshake

Mint Chocolate Monster Milkshake

Milkshakes are a lot of fun to make, and so easy! The trend right now is absurdly huge milkshakes, with so much other stuff on them that it’s hard to eat the whole thing. Fun, if really, really unhealthy. My mint chocolate monster milkshake doesn’t have as many extras on it as some do, but it’s still fun.

One of the great things to remember about these milkshakes is that you can always make them smaller. Use a small cup, and you can have the fun without so much excess. It also means better portions for kids.

But if you need the whole thing once in a while, go for it. Nothing wrong with indulging yourself occasionally.

These milkshakes have chocolate sauce in the cup and chocolate around the rim to hold some candy decorations. A cookie with a gummy eye on it gives it a little bit of a monster look. If your shake is thick enough, this will sit nicely on top.

Start out by freezing the glasses you want to use for your milkshakes. This will make decorating them easier later on.

Melt chocolate in a bowl big enough to dip the tops of the glasses in. Use 30 second increments in the microwave, and stir between rounds. Allow chocolate to cool but not solidify before dipping glasses in the chocolate. You don’t want to shock the frozen glass and make it crack. Add any decorations to the edges of the glasses before the chocolate solidifies, and return to the freezer. Sprinkles are easiest – pour them into a bowl and dip the top of the cup. I chose some Halloween candies, which was a bit more work but I like how they look.

Take one cookie for each shake you plan on making and put a dab of chocolate on top. Place a gummy eye on the chocolate. Refrigerate the cookies to solidify the chocolate.

Defrost your ice cream for about 10 minutes. This makes it easier to blend with less milk. You’ll get a thicker shake this way.

I used mint chocolate ice cream. You can use any flavor, of course. Vanilla is the most common, and then you can add in flavors for whatever you want it to be. I chose mint chocolate because blending it gives a kind of murky green-brown color that I felt was a good choice for a monster milkshake. I also love the flavor.

You want about a quarter cup of milk for every three scoops of ice cream. If it’s not blending well, you can add more milk, but too much milk will make the shake runny. Add in any flavors you want. Blend until smooth.

ice cream in blender

Prepare the glasses. Remove them from the freezer and drip chocolate sauce around the inside.

decorated glass

Pour the milkshake into glasses. If you’re putting the cookie on top, the monster milkshake will need to be very close to the rim. Serve immediately.

monster milkshake

Mint Chocolate Monster Milkshake
Ingredients
  • 3 scoops chocolate mint ice cream or any other flavor
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • chocolate syrup
  • 1 cookie
  • 1 gummy eye
Instructions
  1. Please note that ingredients are per serving. Ice cream and milk are approximate - just how big do you want the shakes to be?

  2. Freeze serving glasses.

  3. Melt chocolate in a bowl big enough to dip the tops of the glasses in. Use 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring between rounds until smooth. Allow to cool but not solidify. You do not want to shock the frozen glasses, as they could crack if the temperature difference is too great.

  4. Dip tops of cups in melted chocolate.

  5. Dip tops of cups in sprinkles or add small candies by hand. Return glasses to freezer.

  6. Place a dollop of chocolate on the cookie. Put gummy eye on top of the chocolate. Refrigerate to solidify the chocolate.

  7. Defrost ice cream for about 10 minutes to soften.

  8. Scoop ice cream into blender. Add milk and any other desired flavors. Blend until smooth.

  9. Remove glasses from freezer and drizzle chocolate sauce along the insides.

  10. Pour milkshake into glass. Stand cookie at the top of the glass. Serve.

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

 

chocolate cherry smoothie

This year we’ve had some exceptionally affordable cherries at our local grocery store. As a result, I’ve been buying, pitting and freezing cherries. I needed to find a way to use them, and smoothies are a favorite of mine. With frozen cherries, one almost can’t help but think of chocolate, so I worked up a chocolate cherry smoothie.

Chocolate and cherry are not the only ingredients, of course, but they’re the focus of the flavor. Adding in other frozen berries really does something great for the flavor, however. Keep that in mind, and tweak this smoothie recipe for your own use. I eyeball the ingredients for the most part – it’s a smoothie, not a cake and precision is not required.

This comes out fairly sweet without any help, but you can add some honey to make it sweeter. If you want a bit of tartness, add a dash of lemon juice. It really brightens the flavor. Don’t use too much – you want the chocolate cherry flavor to shine through, not a sour flavor.

To make this healthier, add in a handful or two of spinach or kale, some celery, and a carrot. They don’t change the flavor much, but vegetables generally have far less sugar than fruits, and a lot of vitamins, making this much healthier. I very rarely make a smoothie without vegetables. Too much fruit means too much sugar in the finished product.

chocolate cherry smoothie with carrot

Cacao nibs add a stronger chocolate flavor, but require that you add a fat to control the bitterness. I like what they do. 4-6 ounces of plain Greek yogurt takes care of it.

My husband loves to add bee pollen granules to all smoothies. Just make sure no one has an allergy before serving.

I make this one with milk, although juice works as well. Pick something that won’t overwhelm the flavor of cherries and chocolate.

If we ever have leftovers of this, I’ll make popsicles for my kids from this too, but so far even with a double or so batch, it hasn’t been a problem. It almost tastes like a milkshake, even though there’s no ice cream.

I always make smoothies in my Vitamix blender. The container holds quite a bit, which is nice when you’re making smoothies for 4-5 people and they want fairly large servings. I start on low, then speed it up until it’s at full speed. If any pits were left in the cherries, it breaks them up pretty well.

My kids help with pitting the cherries when we get them fresh. Always wear dark colors when pitting cherries – you don’t want cherry juice stains showing up on light colored clothes. We have a very basic cherry pitter, but there are some available that will pit multiple cherries at once. I don’t think there’s a cherry pitter out there that gets every pit out perfectly every time, so keep an eye on whether the pits come out or not.

Freeze the cherries before making the smoothie, or you will need to use ice in your mix to cool it. That’s not a bad thing – water is a good thing to include, since it doesn’t add calories or sugar. Ice can be especially nice on a hot day when you want your drink to be more cooling.

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie

1-2 cups frozen cherries
1-1 ½ cups milk (nut milk, soy milk, whatever works for you)
1 4-6 oz container plain Greek yogurt
1 peeled banana
1 tbsp soaked chia seeds
1-2 tbsp cacao nibs
1-2 tbsp cocoa powder

Optional

1 carrot
1-2 pieces celery
handful kale or spinach
ice

Throw it all in a blender, blend until smooth. Add more liquid if you have trouble blending. Pour and enjoy!

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