I don’t keep ice cream in our home. I will eat it. I’m fine with eating ice cream in isolated instances at another place, but there is just no sense in keeping ice cream here. I will eat it. All of it. Bad idea. ANYWAY…. that means that I never have the essential milkshake ingredient. I was really feeling a milkshake tonight, though, so I did what I do best: I scrounged.
Ingredients
Oh man. Did I measure? Of course not. Just dump it in the blender. But I’ll give you my best guess. 🙂
- 20ish cubes of ice
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 heaping Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3-4 Tbs sugar (or a few good squirts of honey might be good instead)
- milk (pour it into the blender last, until it goes about halfway up the mound of ice and peanut butter)
The great thing about milkshakes is that they’re incredibly forgiving. You don’t have to be exact. You can throw a bunch of random stuff in there and there’s a pretty good chance it will turn out delicious. And if not, throw something else into the mix and it will probably balance out the problem.
Have I mentioned that chocolate and peanut butter were made for each other?
Directions
Well, it doesn’t get much easier than this.
- Dump all ingredients into the blender.
- Blend.
- Wash the blender (I had to include another step in there somehow).
It was a total experiment, and I thought it was delicious! I proudly handed Stephen a glass of it, and after taking a sip, he announces: “That’s DECENT!” (Apparently that’s a huge compliment in some parts of Mississippi, according to his friend. I didn’t take it as such. He said he was just teasing. And then he jumped up and down and fake squealed in excitement. I’m not sure which reaction I prefer.).
But seriously, folks. Despite the surrounding drama, we both thought it was delicious, and certainly healthier than ice cream.
Disclaimer: Stephen is no drama queen. And I’m not a delicate flower whose emotional stability teeters on the edge of milkshake approval. He was totally kidding. And he really did love it. We’re just weird like that.
bonjourhan 
This sounds amazing, I love the PB and chocolate combo.
Re: being healthier than ice cream, I’m not so sure. I guess it depends on what ice cream and what peanut butter you are using, but, from what’s in my kitchen:
Natural peanut butter (no added sugar or salt, just peanuts) has in 1 TBSP (15g): 100 calories and 8 grams of fat
Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream (regular) has in 1/2 cup (106g) 207 calories and 18 grams of fat.
So, 1/2 cup of peanut butter, gram for gram 7.06 x the values in 15g (106/15 = 7.06) which would add up to 706 calories and 56.5 grams of fat!!! I think I’ll stick to ice cream 🙂
This recipe makes a lot more than 1/2 cup though, so it winds up being about the same per cup. Using these instructions makes about 3-4 cups.
Well it’s sure not a health food by any means. 🙂 My thought was just that in peanuts, etc., it has more calories and fats that the body can actually use, rather than the more empty/processed (and less useful) calories in ice cream. Not that peanut butter isn’t processed in some way, but the body probably has more use for the fat in nuts than the fat in heavy cream.
As you can see, I come to scientific conclusions the same way I make my food. It may not be measured perfectly, but the pieces seem to fit together. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
I just made myself a shake for dessert inspired by yours:
1 frozen banana, chopped
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
a few ice cubes
milk to cover
Blend! It was great!
Girl, I’m the exact same way about ice cream.
yumm. I am liking your recipe and can’t wait to give it at try.
I added a little vanilla extract to mine too. It was good stuff.
[…] glad we’ve got that settled. No variables here. Refer to my post on the Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake with No Ice Cream for my feelings on the […]
I love this idea! I cannot eat dairy, but I love ice cream. Peanut butter and chocolate make perfect companions! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I am going to give it a try tonight using almond milk! Yummmm!
I hope you like it! 🙂
Like it? I LOVE it! I had one every day for a week just because I could! It was so delicious! I learned several things while making them. First, rice milk does not work well with this recipe. Second, don’t forget the sugar. Third, the blender is loud enough to alert all occupants of my home that I am making a shake, so I have to make a lot. Maybe I should take it out to the garage to mix it up!
This was so delicious!! Thank you for the great recipe!!