How to make a killer milkshake

Ah, milkshakes. The sickly sweet liquid substance you instantly associate with McDonald’s or a diner in America (where is my cherry on the whipped cream). Since it’s boiling hot at the moment, you might be craving an ice-based drink. How do you make the best one?

Here are some tips to provide you with a deliciously sweet, refreshing milkshake for your hammock.

Also read: Please cut up your entire spring onion

Powdered milk

The proportions of fruit, milk and ice cream in a milkshake are very important. Use too much or too little of one of the three and you’ll immediately miss the creaminess that makes a milkshake so delicious. That’s why powdered milk is the ingredient you should use. It adds that creaminess and full milky flavor, but doesn’t dilute anything, like liquid milk does. Ideal.

The freshest fruit

Only the freshest, juiciest and ripest fruit is good enough. Read here how to choose the best strawberries, for example. That will really make the difference between a chemically tasting milkshake and a milkshake you still haven’t had enough of after five liters.

Syrup for a kick

All flavors—vanilla, chocolate and strawberry—are enhanced when you add a syrup with the same flavor. For fruit milkshakes, you can also add jam. But go easy on it, because milkshakes are sweet enough already. You want to cool down, not go to the dentist.

The right ice cream

Fresh vanilla ice cream, thawed just long enough to reach the consistency of soft serve. For an extra intense flavor, you can also use ice cream with the same flavor as the rest of your milkshake. Chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup and cocoa, for example.

The right ratio

Depending on the milk you use (whole milk is fattier and therefore ‘thicker’ than skimmed milk, for example), the ice cream-to-milk ratio for a perfect milkshake is usually 5 scoops to 1 cup (250 ml). If you also use a cup rather than a scoop for the ice cream: 4 cups to 1 cup of milk.

Toppings

You’re making a milkshake because you feel like indulging in something sweet, right? Then enjoy it. Go for toppings. That could be a simple old-school cherry, but also, à la freakshake, a donut, marshmallows, sprinkles, Oreos and a cherry.