By Lexi Loughner, Staff Writer

Since its debut in 1970, the highly anticipated Shamrock Shake comes out at McDonald’s restaurants. However, there is no need to go out and buy a minty milkshake when it can be made in the comfort of your home.  

Making a Shamrock Shake is easy and only has a few ingredients.

Other ingredients can be added to modify the shake, with a change in taste.

There have been over 60 million shakes sold, and this year, each shake now has green sprinkles on top of the whipped cream.

 

The recipe for the homemade Shamrock Shake is as follows:

2 cups of vanilla ice cream

1 ½  cups of milk

1 teaspoon of mint extract

Whipped Cream (optional)

Maraschino Cherry (optional)

Green food coloring (optional)

Put all the ingredients into a blender and mix.

The homemade Shamrock Shake tasted quite similar to the original.  It was slightly less sugary, but it made no major changes to the overall taste.

To help with the taste testing process, Penn-Trafford freshman Olivia Carrera tried the shake as well.

“It was minty but not overly powerful.  I thought it was quite like the original,” Carrera said.

For those who wish to add healthier choices into their shake, a banana could be added.  It would be an additional ingredient, so no need to switch it out for another item.  There would not be much of a taste change, but there would be added nutrients such as potassium.

The shake can also be modified by switching out ice cream for vanilla yogurt and using almond, coconut or cashew milk to add more protein and less sugar to the milkshake.

For coffee lovers, one could always add a hint of coffee into it as well. For this,  you would use one-fourth  cup of milk and three-fourths   cup of coffee.

For extreme mint lovers, Andes Candies could be melted down in addition to the mint extract or in substitution of it.  This would make the shake chocolate and mint.

Chocolate syrup could always be added for fans of peppermint mocha.

Make sure to buy mint extract instead of peppermint extract, as that will impact the taste drastically.

For those who cannot consume large amounts of sugar, there are alternatives as well.  Breyers No Sugar added ice cream is available at your local grocery store.  There is always a sugar free syrup option available, as well, so there is  no need to lose the enjoyment of a Shamrock Shake due to health complications.

Enjoy a Shamrock Shake at any time of year with this recipe. The recipe can be experimented for specific needs.  Go to the freezer and make one today.