When I was a child I was that fussy kid your mum hated having over for dinner. What’s that? You’re having your family’s all-time favourite dish? Yeeeaaahhh, I’m probably not going to eat that. I was fussy with all kinds of basic things most people eat on a daily basis, but every now and then I would admit to not liking something that practically everyone in the world loves and it would kick up a fuss.One such time occurred at my best friend’s house after school; her mum decided that she would treat us kids to something a little special – homemade milkshakes!  My heart sank. Now I know what you’re thinking; “Who doesn’t like milkshakes?!” and I don’t even have a proper explanation for you! I’ve never been a big fan of milk, so I was already at a disadvantage, but realistically, I never had a good reason for not liking milkshakes. I just didn’t.

I may have been fussy, but I was also very shy, so naturally I just kind of stood there awkwardly while she got out the blender and the milk, just silently freaking out as to what I was going to say when I was handed this frothy, milky beverage.

We were handed our milkshakes and instructed to take them outside to enjoy in the yard. I shuffled out, staring at the seemingly enormous cup of milk in a mixture of horror and disgust. Once we were out of earshot of the adults I tentatively whispered to my friend, “I don’t like milkshakes.” My friend stared at me dumbfounded for a minute, the only sound between us was the slurping of her straw as she finished off her own milkshake. Without a word, she silently handed me her empty cup and liberated my untouched milkshake to be enjoyed as ‘seconds’. It was the perfect plan. That is of course until she became violently ill from ingesting an excessive amount of milk and sugar. Our ruse was discovered pretty quickly after that…

It was a couple of years before I gave milkshakes another proper try, this time in the form of thick shakes. Now I know that milkshakes are delicious and all, but whoever decided to replace half the milk with copious amounts of ice cream was a genius. I may not be a huge fan of milk on its own, but ice cream is something I can get behind every time! I’ve never looked back!

The best thing about Milkshakes/thickshakes is that the method is pretty much the same regardless of what flavour you choose. If you decided to go with strawberry or chocolate, I would suggest adding in a tough of flavoured toppings or actual fruit but as it stands this is a pretty simple way to make yourself a shake. Normally I don’t make mint flavoured recipes, but the green colouring was totally necessary for the Zombie theme so I made an exception…

Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream

Full Cream Milk

Peppermint Crunch Chocolate bar (or similar)

Red Food Colouring (flavourless)What You Do:
1. Add together 1 cup of milk and roughly 1 cup of ice cream together in a blender and pulse until a thick, smooth consistency. I like my shakes to be EXTRA thick, so you can alter these amounts until you get the desired consistency.

2. Take a serving glass and add around 1 teaspoon of food colouring – enough to cover the bottom of the glass.

3. With the shake mixture ready to pour, take the glass and swirl the food colouring around the lower half of the cup so that the sides are coated. Quickly, before the colouring starts to settle at the bottom again, pour out the excess and quickly pour in your shake mixture filling to 2cm from the rim of the glass. You should have created a marbled red and green effect around the edge of the glass. The colouring wont affect the taste of your shake.

4. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon out one or two scoops of ice cream into the centre of the glass.

5. Using a rolling pin or something heavy, gentle crush the Peppermint Crunch Bar while still in the packet. Sprinkle the crushed pieces on top of your shake.

6. Serve immediately and try not to make as much of a mess as I did. (Especially with the food colouring, that stuff staaains!)