Dessert · 10 minutes
The Mr. October Chocolate-Peanut Milkshake
This is the shake for the day the game goes into extra innings and you need something to keep you at the table. It's thick enough to stand a straw in, deeply chocolatey from the candy alone, and rounded out with real peanut butter so the peanut flavor carries all the way through. One whole bar goes into the blender, and a few chunks stay back to pile on top.
The reason a candy bar makes such a good shake is that it brings its own everything. Blend a Reggie! Bar into cold ice cream and the milk chocolate melts into the base, the caramel adds a chewy, buttery sweetness, and the peanuts break down into little flecks you catch on the way up the straw. Add a spoonful of peanut butter and a swirl of caramel and you've built a shake that tastes like the bar turned into a drink.
Ingredients
- 1 Reggie! Bar (1.8 oz), chilled and chopped, plus extra for garnish
- 3 large scoops (about 2 cups) vanilla ice cream
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) cold whole milk
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon caramel sauce, plus more for the glasses
- A pinch of salt
- Whipped cream, to finish
- Chopped roasted peanuts, to finish
Instructions
- Chill your glasses. Put two glasses in the freezer while you get everything else ready. A cold glass keeps the shake thick from the first sip to the last.
- Load the blender. Set aside a few chunks of chopped bar for the top. Drop the rest of the bar into the blender with the ice cream, milk, peanut butter, caramel and a pinch of salt. The salt is small but it sharpens the whole thing.
- Blend short. Start on low to break everything down, then bump to high for 20 to 30 seconds, just until it's smooth and pourable. Stop as soon as it comes together. Over-blending warms the mix and thins it out.
- Check the texture. If it's too thick to pour, add a splash more milk and pulse once. If it's too thin, drop in another scoop of ice cream and give it a quick blend.
- Dress the glasses. Take the cold glasses from the freezer and drizzle caramel around the inside walls so it streaks down as you pour. Then pour in the shake.
- Top it off. Finish with whipped cream, the reserved bar chunks, a scatter of chopped peanuts and one more line of caramel. Serve right away with a wide straw or a long spoon.
Want it extra thick? Freeze the chopped bar on a small plate for 15 minutes before blending, and hold the milk back to a 1/2 cup. Blend just long enough to combine and you'll get a spoon-standing shake. You can always loosen it with a splash of milk, but you can't easily thicken one that's gone thin.
A few ways to take it further. For a malted version, add a tablespoon of malted milk powder with the ice cream for that old soda-fountain flavor. For an adults-only nightcap, a shot of bourbon or coffee liqueur folds right in. And if you like a little texture in every sip, pulse in the reserved chunks at the very end for one or two seconds instead of blending them smooth, so you get flecks of chocolate and peanut throughout. Two people can split this comfortably, or pour the whole thing into one tall glass if you've earned it.
Good to know before you blend. This shake contains milk, peanuts and soy, and the peanut butter adds even more peanut. Reggie! Bars are made in a facility that also processes egg, wheat, almond, cashew, pecan and coconut, so this is not an allergen-free drink. Skip it, or swap for a safe alternative, for anyone with a peanut or dairy allergy.
Keep a couple of bars in the door of the freezer and a tub of vanilla in the back, and this shake is a ten-minute answer to a hot afternoon or a late-night craving. It's the good kind of over the top, the sort of thing you make once and get asked for again.
Made with The REGGIE! Bar. One bar per blender, so grab a few and keep the freezer stocked.