I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas! December always runs by so fast, but yet it always manages to surprise me how fast we reach the holidays. With Christmas Eve just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about what we could make for our guests after dinner or lunch. While cakes and pies and cookies are great, why not make a milkshake with delicious speculoos cookies and creamy homemade caramel sauce with as many toppings as you can think of. It is a real sugar bomb, though, so if you’re eating/drinking it before bed, you’re doing it at your own risk 😉
INGREDIENTS (makes 2 very generous milkshakes):
For the caramel sauce:
200g (1 cup) granulated Agragold sugar
90g butter (room temperature, cut into small cubes)
120ml whipping cream (not whipped, though)
For the milkshake:
300g (about 8 very very heaped tablespoons) of vanilla ice cream
½ cup milk
4 speculoos cookies
Also:
¼ cup whipping cream
Decorations
HOW TO:
Make the caramel sauce a day in advance. Start by placing the sugar in a pan and place it over low heat. Mix it constantly with a silicone spatula and wait (but don’t just wait and watch – keep mixing all the time, otherwise it will burn). Wait for it to turn into a liquid caramel (it took mine around 10 minutes) and then slowly add in the butter. It will start to bubble vigorously, so use a big enough pan for it not to go over. Once the butter is completely melted, add in the heavy (whipping) cream (not whipped!) and mix well.* The caramel sauce is done once it’s completely smooth.
Allow to cool down and keep refrigerated in a closed glass.** It will harden a little in the fridge so take it out a half hour before you need it, or heat it up a little in the microwave or on the stove. The longer you heat it, the more liquidy it will be.
To make the milkshake, first, take the ice cream out of the freezer and the caramel from the fridge and allow them to sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. Place the ice cream, milk and crushed cookies in a food processor or smoothie maker and mix well. Boom! Your milkshake is done.
Decorate the glasses with caramel sauce, then pour in the milkshake, and decorate it with whipped cream, and all sorts of toppings that you can think of.
* if the butter doesn’t mix with the caramel, take it of the heat and mix like a crazy person until it does. Also, don’t worry if the heavy cream turns the caramel into one hard lump – just bring up the heat a little and mix it patiently until it completely dissolves.
** you will get a lot more caramel sauce than you need for the milkshake, so feel free to use it for some other desserts or maybe pack it in small cups and use them as delicious homemade gifts for your loved ones.
