I've heard so many people who have their favorite - the most popular fave in my crowd is the banana pudding shake - but I doubt everyone's trying a lot of them. I know that I can get stuck in a (delicious) rut where I find something I like and prefer to not try anything else, and J is certainly that way. He thinks he's really stepping outside the box when he changes up his peanut butter fudge shake to a Reese's cup order.
So looking at the mega list of shake options (too big for one screenshot), I was quite disappointed to realize that I'd tried less than a quarter of them!
Thus far, I've tried the banana pudding (due to excessive peer pressure), chocolate malt, mocha, pineapple, watermelon, peach cobbler, banana nut, banana fudge and sips of J's various, trusty peanut butter and chocolate combos. That leaves at least 20-odd shakes left to try! So by the last day of summer - exactly 26 weeks from now - I want to have tried all of them (except egg nog,I'll have to wait until Christmastime). I'm pretty sure I can handle the difficult undertaking of one milkshake a week for two seasons!
I think I've got some good flavors in store for me. So far, in my limited shake research, I've only had one Cookout shake that didn't wow me. The peach cobbler one, was just... odd. Let me preface this by saying my one never-fail, signature dessert is scratch-made peach cobbler. I can throw one together in less than 15 minutes and it's delicious and beautiful. So to suck a deconstructed cobbler through a straw is nothing short of disorienting. The flavor was great, but having chunks of pie crust (the best part of a pie) in a shake is just weird.
I'm a little leery of the chocolate chip mint shake - the only choco mint combo I've ever enjoyed is Andes mints, egg nog - which I think has the texture of mucus, and Hi-C - which is just weird; but I'm willing to bet they'll be delicious. I was terrified of the watermelon shake but it turned out to be a favorite!
If you've never had it, be sure to get your tail to the nearest Cookout come July 1. Don't worry, it's not an artificially flavored watermelon shake because yes, that'd be disgusting and was what I was afraid of. Instead, like all their shakes (or so I like to think) there's some nutritional value because they use real fruit. Tiny chunks of watermelon are mixed into vanilla ice cream and it's the most fabulous flavor and texture. The watermelon pieces are so small and obviously so water-dense that the liquid within the cubes actually semi-freezes giving a great crunch and burst of sweet, cold watermelon juice. I look forward to watermelon milkshake season every year, but again, I am so blessed to be in love with a talented chef who's figured out how to duplicate the recipe. And yes, it was one of the many ways he wooed me, long ago. And I'm going to share the recipe with you here!
But first, let me give you some extra suggestions for your milkshake fest:
- Give the chocolate malt a try - it's all the great flavor of Whoppers candy, without that horrible biting-on-styrofoam texture
- If it says "fudge" go for it, it's wonderful, thick hot fudge that goes with everything
- The pineapple shake is a winner - it's like a third of a sundae with finely crushed pineapple. A subtle flavor but with the signature sweet and tartness of a pineapple.
- It's not technically a milkshake but be sure to try the Cheerwine float. Cheerwine is a Southern-exclusive cherry soda which they pour over a soft-serve vanilla ice cream. It puts a Coke float to shame.
Jordan's Cookout Fake-Out Watermelon Milkshake
Ingredients:
1 c milk
1 1/2 c frozen watermelon
1 1/2 t sugar
Method:
Beforehand, cut watermelon into manageable cubes (2"). Place on wax paper-lined baking sheet in freezer until just frozen firm.
Mix all ingredients in blender. If wooing someone, garnish with a pretty watermelon chunk.
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