Are you a milk shake lover? Admit it! They are so much fun…harkening back to the good ol’ days when things seemed so much simpler. Milk shakes are a fabulous American tradition…but they don’t have to be limited to visits to the ice cream parlor or malt shop. You can make an amazing milk shake yourself at home.

Milk shakes only require a few simple ingredients: milk and ice cream.

• To flavor the milk shakes, you can keep it simple with a dash of extract (vanilla, peppermint, almond, etc.) or go bolder. Fruit, jam, nuts, coconut and even cookies are all possible.
  
  
• You can also substitute a more flavorful milk (such as coconut milk or almond milk) for the regular milk.
  
  
• When making them, you blend the flavorings into the milk and then add the ice cream. This allows the flavors to disburse fully in the final mix.
  
  
• Now, when it comes to the ice cream, go for quality. If you buy cheap-tasting ice cream, your milk shake will reflect that flavor. But if you stick to something of higher quality and with flavor that you love, the milk shake will be so much better.
  
  
• As for the milk to ice cream ratio, it really depends on how you like your shake. If you like your milk shake thinner, use ¼ cup milk for 1 cup of ice cream. But for a thicker shake, double the ice cream, keeping the milk at ¼ cup.

Now, the only question that remains is…what’s your favorite milk shake flavor?