This tastes like you’re drinking a sugar cookie.
Ok, that just sounds weird… but this is really good!
Ensure? No thanks!
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably know I don’t really like being as skinny as I am. Although I create recipes that can be very low in calories, I usually take advantage of the higher-calorie options if making them for myself. To keep weight on, I pretty much have to eat 24/7, which works out perfectly since my job entails lots of taste testing! 
In high school, I often drank vegan “weight-gain shakes” called Power Dreams. However, two things happened: the company discontinued the shakes, and I bought a Magic Bullet. So now I make my own shakes! (I wrote more about my weight-gain efforts at the very bottom of this link.)
Big thanks to reader, Kate, for inspiring this milkshake.
A few months ago, she left a comment on my Cake Batter Milkshake recipe, suggesting I experiment with adding cream of tartar to my smoothies for a fun cake-like taste. Of course, as soon as she said it, I had to try it. Thank you, Kate!!
Sugar Cookie Milkshake
(serves 1)
- 2/3 cup milk of choice (try canned coconut milk for an ice-cream-like shake)
- 1 frozen, over-ripe banana or 1/2 cup of your favorite ice cream (see nutrition link below, for my many substitution options!)
- scant 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- optional: 1-2 tbsp raw cashew butter (I like to add this)
- optional: add cinnamon for a snickerdoodle shake!
- optional: 1 scoop protein powder, if desired
Blend everything together until very smooth. Don’t add ice; it will dilute the flavor. Feel free to crumble an actual sugar cookie into the shake as well! (My “healthy sugar cookie” recipe is linked at the end of this post.)
Also shown in the milkshake photos: Healthy Sugar Cookies.
What is your favorite milkshake flavor?
According to an online poll, the most-loved milkshake flavor is chocolate. Surprisingly, people chose strawberry over vanilla. My favorite was fourth: mint-chocolate-chip!
I think the best milkshake flavor (healthy) is
YOUR Chai-Nana milkshake! (also your mint chip one!)
But, a chocolate fudge milkshake (or malt) ranks pretty high.
I still have to try your pb milkshake, but undoubtedly it will be good!
😉
Shoot, just need to try this now!
I almost always got Strawberry when I ordered milkshakes as a kid! It’s my second favourite fruit, following Mangoes.
Although just last weekend my best friend introduced me to the most amazing tasting Avacado shakes… Though I learned they’re a horrifying 1,300-odd kcal the way she makes them. (They reach that staggering number mostly due to the condensed milk.) Absolutely delicious calories mind, but SO NOT an everyday treat.
This actually made me laugh…I have a few items like this. 🙂 Avocados really bulk things up which I love about them. I haven’t experimented with making vegan condensed milk but there are options out there and it might knock down some of the calories – but hard to say, there is a fair amount of sugar and vegan margarine added. I have no idea what it will do to the taste however and if the calories are a wash maybe not worth it. 🙂
It’s not really milkshake-related, but it is avocado-related!
When I make vegan mousse, like Katie’s fudge pie, I often will replace some of the tofu with 1/2 an avocado. Honestly, the tofu+avocado combination is superb with nothing but a pinch of sweetener and salt. You don’t even need to add vanilla! But it of course works great as a base for chocolate or what-have-you.
If you make it unsweet, and add a bit of vinegar or lemon juice, it tastes like a really rich, delicious mayonnaise as well.
I haven’t tried using it for a milkshake per se (I find myself drawn to desserts I need to eat, rather than drink), but I imagine it would work splendidly to add body and creaminess.
Oh wow. I am sure that would be really good. I love the creamy fatness of avocado. This is a great idea.
This looks amazing 🙂 I’m so happy that you’ve been putting milkshake recipes on here because that’s the only thing I miss since being vegan ^^
Yum!! 🙂 I love anything that tastes like cake batter, cookies, brownies, etc. 😉
I LOVE your tablecloth! Super summery!
Ohhh, this looks yummy! I love a good Milkshake! I have to give this one a try! Thanks Katie!!
k, not only does this look amazing, but I looooooove your photos!! I seriously hope to be as good as you someday. These are so beautiful, so full of colour. Gorgeous, Katie!
WOAH. Have never thought of adding baking soda or cream of tarter in a milkshake! How interesting!!!
Ummm, no, it is not weird to drink a milkshake! It is simply efficient! Not to mention delicious! I share your frustration with wanting to gain weight. All through high school I hated being skinny. All the other girls had curves and looked like actual girls. Unfortunately I didn’t have any healthy role models, so I turned to fast food and desserts to try and gain weight. I know this has played a huge part in my health as an adult. Fortunately I did realize this at some point and changed my ways. I’ve been a veg for about 4 years. And I actually like my body now! Which is also fun.
Nice to know someone else who understands! People always say, “I wish I could eat as much cake as I want” but if you eat ten slices, you’re going to feel sick and soon start to HATE cake! 😉
I say blend in an actual sugar cookie! Those sugar cookies are FABULOUS. I raved about them on the actual blog entry a few days ago. I made a batch and took them to a house where we were trading massage and other energy/body work, and when the children had come in from school, those cookies were gone in less than FIVE minutes. The girls declared them the best cookies they’d ever had! Pretty serious accolades coming from 9 and 11 year old girls. 🙂
My favorite shake by FAR is mint chocolate chip also!!!
oh my Gosh that looks amazing! sugar cookies and milkshakes = one dynamite dessert! genius to add cream of tartar too!! never would have thought of that! and gorgeous photos — as usual:) thanks for the recipe!
Wow this looks intriguing to say the least. I think the vanilla and the cashew butter would make this taste quite good.
Do you buy the cashew butter by Artisana? That stuff is uber expensive! 🙂
Yeah, it is :(.
I’ll only buy it if it’s on sale, and then I buy in bulk! But you can also make your own by soaking raw cashews and then blending.
Katie, this looks so good! I wish, though, there was some wonderful way for those of us who are chubby vegans to share some of our problem with you hard-to-keep-weight-on ladies! Wouldn’t that be handy? ;D
Meanwhile, I was recently nominated by Kristy over at http://www.keepinitkind.com for Kreativ Blogger and the Sunshine Blogger Awards. I wanted to pass it on to you. Your site is always so cheerful and your recipes so amazing! You can check it out at http://cheerfullyvegan.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/blog-awards/
Aww Pixie, thank you so so much. I wish you could see the huge smile you just put on my face!!
For those chocolate lovers, try Hot Fudge shakes. They are much more sweet than the chocolate. I actually prefer Root Beer shakes as my favorite, though. Make a root beer float, and blend. mmmm
Woah, what’s a hot fudge shake?! Sounds incredible!
Katie, I don’t believe that your calorie counts are accurate here. I just calculated this with 1 medium banana, unsweetened almond milk, and 1 tbs of cashew butter (without adding anything else) and it already comes to 255 calories. I have found the calories counts on some of your other recipes inaccurate as well. There are some very good, nutritionist-checked counters on other sites. I like http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp and the one on myfitnesspal.com
Thanks!
Her counts are accurate.
The cashew butter says it’s optional, so I don’t know why you’d include it in your calculations.
From,
An avid calorie counter
She probably included the cashew butter in her calculations because Katie herself wrote “if I’m making them for myself, I usually take advantage of the higher-calorie options” and “optional: 1-2 tbsp raw cashew butter (I like to add this).”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nutritional analysis that takes optional ingredients into account. It’s just standard practice not to, and especially in the case of Katie’s recipes she offers so many options and variations that she’d have to include 20 different nutritional analyses if she was going to include optional ingredients!
Also, I always double check blogger’s calorie counts (because I’m ocd like that), and I’ve never found a problem with CCK’s, so I don’t think it’s fair to say her recipe calculations are inaccurate.
Ok, I just checked this. I calculated with ONLY plain almond milk (unsweetened) and 2/3 of a cup (If I remember, that’s about 5.333 ounces) and 1 medium mashed banana, that is still 138.5 calories. So, regardless of with or without the cashew nut butter, it’s still inaccurate. Secondly, Lisa. I check her calorie counts every time. It’s not a matter of fairness- it’s just true. Her calories counts are often inaccurate, especially because I go out of my way to ALWAYS do the lowest possible calorie option of all of her recipes. So, Gosh, I’m sorry you guys felt the need to get all defensive here, but the reality is, they are sometimes inaccurate. I don’t think it’s responsible to present inaccurate calorie counts on a blog that is so nutrition focused. Sorry to be so blunt, but that is the truth. Instead of all freaking out, perhaps you should just try to make sure you are accurately counting calories.
*rolls eyes at Jessica*
Honey, you really need to get a life! And if this blog bothers you so much, just stop reading.
Also, for the record, I just plugged this into spark recipes with Silk almondmilk and got 122 calories. So score one for CCK ;).
Oh dear 🙁
Crazy debates like this are probably one of the reasons poor Katie was against adding calorie counts to her recipes in the first place!
Guys, do you realize you are getting upset over the possibility of whether it’s 120 calories or 130? Can’t you see how silly this arguement is?
Can’t we all just get along? ;).
Yeah, I checked it too. She was right. Lay off.
This website is crazy! It’s the Katie army or something. so weird.
I think people get defensive because this type of question about the accuracy of calorie counts comes up all the time, and it’s not necessarily helpful (even if well-intentioned). As others have pointed out, with so many choices of milk, optional ingredients, substitutions, etc, the nutritional info Katie provides should be treated only as a rough estimate of the healthiest possible version. I’ve seen different estimates just for how many calories are in a medium banana between different calculators, so it really is best to figure out the counts for your specific recipe variation if that is important to you and not worry about whether the info here matches exactly.
Ummm…. gee whiz… I kinda count calories, but I really don’t check CCK’s calorie count for anything. Mainly cuz its in my mouth and then I check it. Maybe once or twice I found it a little inaccurate. Like by one calorie lol. But I see it as a rough estimate. My sister adds a TON of sweetener to hers, so hers will be sky high in the calorie department.
But I guess you can say what you want to Jessica, free speech right people? 🙂
Also I am not in a CCK army or anything like that. that’s kinda freaky if you ask me.
Respectfully,
Sarah who is in favor of respectful free speech (that’s a mouthful)