ambrosia: Snickers and Pretzel Milkshake

I hope everyone on the East Coast that's been affected by Sandy is alright! This isn't my favorite way to start off a blog post, but it must be said. It definitely seems like Sandy caused a lot more damage than I had anticipated; I hadn't given it much thought, thinking it would only be around the status of Irene last year. That was clearly not the case though. I was at Columbia during the entire duration of the storm, so I didn't even notice any of the effects very much. Being this far uptown, all we noticed were heavy winds and some rain, and we didn't lose power or anything. I wish I could say that everyone else got off this easy though. I managed to get off the phone with my sister a little while ago, and she told me that they're not likely to get power back for another week! Sigh. Hopefully public transit and power are restored soon! In any case, I hope everyone is alright from the storm, and that no one suffered from too much damage. But anyway, let's lighten up the mood. It's practically Halloween, and candy and milkshakes are in order.

Wait. Candy + milkshakes?! Yes. It's time.

Trick or treating brings back so many memories from when I was little, as I'm sure it does for most people. My sister and I were very serious about trick or treating, and we would always try to stay out as long as possible in order to maximize our trick or treating results and get the most amount of candy possible. Before we moved out to Long Island, we used to live in Queens, and one year, we got together with a close friend of mine, and went trick or treating in our old neighborhood. Needless to say, that was the BEST trick or treating experience ever. We weren't trying to play cool and go off trick or treating without our moms, as we figured that having more candy >>> looking cool, so we were able to enlist the help of our moms to help carry candy once our bags got too full. It a matter of about an hour, my sister, my friend, and I got about 11 pounds of candy...each. It was absolutely ridiculous. My mom made us weigh the bags of candy once we got home, because we just couldn't believe that we had gotten that much candy in such a short period of time. It was without a doubt, the best Halloween ever. I don't remember my costume from that year, but the excess in candy certainly made up for it!

There's always that question of what to do with Halloween candy. Getting the cheap/gross candy that no one ever wants to eat is unavoidable, or at least, I've never experienced a Halloween without getting some in my trick or treat bag. Then there's the portion of candy that you actually want to eat and get to eat, and then, there's the portion of candy your mom takes away from you and hides because she feels you've become hyperactive and wants to prevent you from having a cavity-infested mouth (aka, the portion that mom and dad eat). Even though I haven't gone trick or treating in a while, I haven't stopped loving fun-sized candies any less. I love them so much, that I bought an entire back of Snickers and a case of pretzel sticks (one of my favorite non-candy trick or treat goodies) and a pint of chocolate ice cream so that I could create some kind of "leftover Halloween candy-inspired" milkshake. And you know what. It was damn good.

I loved this idea of using leftover Halloween candy and other treats to create something else. Let's face it, if you get ever get 11 pounds of Halloween candy, there's a good chance that you'll have some leftover, and will need to come up with some other kind of creative use for it. Milkshakes are the perfect way to go about this! You don't have to use Snickers bars and pretzels. I just used them because they're my favorites, and the combination of chocolate, peanuts, and salty pretzels was just perfect. I really loved this combination, but the possibilities for this milkshake are endless! You can customize it in any way that you want, by changing the chocolate ice cream for vanilla, or by adding in your own favorite Halloween treats. This is sure to be a milkshake that will make you smile and feel like a kid all over again. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

Snickers and Pretzel Milkshake

Ingredients

2 cups chocolate ice cream
4 fun-sized Snickers bars (or any chocolate bar of your choice)
1 package of pretzel sticks, broken up

Directions

In a blender, combine the chocolate ice cream, Snickers bars, and pretzel sticks. Blend until the the Snickers bars and pretzel sticks have been broken up, and everything comes together. Pour the milkshake into glasses, top off with a little whipped cream, and more crushed Snickers bars. Serve immediately, and enjoy!