Thursday, December 02, 2004

WDIDWT? Leftover Ice Cream

I know, I know, that's such an oxymoron - who on earth heard of such a thing? But the situation can arise if, say, you have someone over who wants to bring something, so you tell them to bring ice cream to go along with your dessert, and you use it just as a topping to your brownie, so you have almost a whole carton left in the freezer, and then you get hit with the early-pregnancy blahs and don't want sweets for a few weeks, and by the time you're back in the market for ice cream, it's turned all icy and freezer-burnt....well, anyway, the scenario is possible. I expect it would also be an excellent way to use up leftover cheap store-brand vanilla ice cream that you wouldn't really want to eat straight but which would lend itself beautifully to a little clever disguise.

This is the second time in a week that I've pulled this off, so I think it's an official recipe by now:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshakes

(The proportions are a little shaky - I just tossed the ingredients in without measuring until it looked right)

1/4 cup milk (or less - the more milk, the runnier the shake)
A few Tbl. cocoa
An equal amount of powdered sugar (maybe less - Michael thought it a bit rich the 2nd time)
1-2 Tbl. creamy peanut butter
1 Tbl. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Several scoops of vanilla ice cream

Melt peanut butter and butter in microwave. Stir until smooth and add a dollop of ice cream to cool it. (The first time I did this, I didn't add this step, and the shake was very runny.) Set aside.

Put milk, cocoa, and sugar in blender. Blend until smooth. Add vanilla and ice cream; blend until thoroughly mixed. Add peanut butter mixture and blend very briefly. Serves 2, with small second helpings all around.

Very quick, rich, smooth, creamy, and delicious.

2 comments:

Queen of Carrots said...

It does sound very good except . . . what's the butter for? I would never have thought to put it in.

A shake that D1 liked when she was still Baby was frozen mixed berries, bananas, and a little milk. Nutmeg on top.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...I think I put it in at first because I'm just in the habit of adding butter to anything I microwave-melt (caramels, chocolate chips) to prevent scorching. It made it rich and creamy and smooth, so I stuck with it. Plus it thinned out the peanut butter so it mixed better. I bet it would do fine without the butter, though - the peanut butter would be clumpier, which is actually more how it is at Baskin-Robbins. As a general rule, I just tend to think that adding butter to anything usually improves the flavour, texture, and nutrition. =)

~Rose