HOWTO make a shamrock shake at home

Bethany Nixon's husband claims to have found the exact proportions of peppermint extract, green food dye, and vanilla ice-cream to reproduce the seasonal McDonald's Shamrock Shake year round. This will certainly come in handy for those out-of-season snake infestations!

Dan is one of those people that run out the door to get a Shamrock Shake the day they are back at McDonald’s. You too? Well, today my husband created his own version in our kitchen, and I thought I’d share his recipe with you. Now both of you can have that minty goodness without ever leaving home & all year long!

Homemade Shamrock Shakes (via Craft)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: carbs • Food • Funny • howto • maker • not food

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http://twitter.com/kpkpkp Kevin Pierce

The recipe calls for surprisingly few shamrocks.
- Rhett Holechek
  
  Then it has plenty of sham….zing!
Daemonworks

Ugh, peppermint. Fortunately, can easily replace with other flavours.
lknope

Nonsense! McDonald’s doesn’t have vanilla ice cream in theirs.
- IronEdithKidd
  
  True, true. It’s artificial vanilla flavor ice milk. One stupid artifact I wish I didn’t remember from my first job ever.
  - bcsizemo
    
    I’m surprised it’s even real diary…
  - bkad
    
    My parents always used to buy us ice milk when we were kids, because it is lower in fat than ice cream. I had wondered what happened to the product, since I haven’t seen it in stores in years. Wikipedia tells me that in the US at least one is permitted to sell ice milk as “low fat ice cream”. So it does still exist, and I’ve probably been buying it without even knowing it, since buy the lower fat stuff exclusively.
    - IronEdithKidd
      
      It’s been a while since I even looked for anything in the ice cream isle (not a big fan of sweets), but it may still be available in Wisconsin. That was the last place I saw it (like 15 years ago, though).
Dani Booth

Mmm. That gives me an idea. Shamrock Shake Cupcakes!

http://www.cupcakecabaret.co.uk
Rhett Holechek

Also, recipe available :
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/McDonalds-Shamrock-Shake-Recipe.html
http://twitter.com/cicadamania Cicada Mania

Can I make one with Midori liqueur?
- Merrybad
  
  Yuck, that’s melon liquor. You mean Creme de Menthe, and yes, it’s way better than extract.
  - RJ
    
    That does sound awfully good.
Bevatron Repairman

I had a Shamrock Shake a couple of years ago after a strategic pause of more than 30 years. Is there a word that applies when the attempt to recapture something destroys the nostalgia for the thing?
http://www.facebook.com/dhosek Don Hosek

I used to love the shamrock shake. Then a couple of years I had one again it was like drinking a cup full of toothpaste. I don’t know whether it’s the shake or me that’s changed, but my craving has been permanently cured.
- http://twitter.com/lythander Rob Maxwell
  
  Ugh. Tried it with my son just the other day. I had fond memories from college of Shamrock shakes, but the one I got was far too minty. My son finished both. Not winning a parent award for that day.
Merrybad

Ask for chocolate drizzle with it. Their term. Skip the whipped cream.
franko

to be fair, the shamrock shake these recipes are trying to capture and the current ones available are not the same. i miss the ones of old. nowadays, they even put a huge glob of whipped cream on them, ugh.
TooGoodToCheck

I’ve never really been aware of the shamrock shake – I don’t think I’ve even tasted one – but the current advertising campaign for them really caught my attention with it’s portrayal of a dysfunctional, almost psychotic relationship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MIXbbA0zoM

It’s the kind of edgy advertising that makes me feel like I should back away slowly
- Eat Bacon
  
  You’ve never had a shamrock shake? How is that even possible?
  
  Go. Get. One. Right. Now.
  - TooGoodToCheck
    
    I imagine I missed it because I’ve only eaten at McDonalds maybe 10 times in my life. When I was a kid, A&W was the fast food of choice.
    
    Are you encouraging me to get one because it’s a cultural touchstone, or because it’s really tasty?
    - Eat Bacon
      
      I’m encouraging you to get one because it’s one of life’s simple pleasures.
      
      And yes, it’s tasty :)
      
      But be warned, it’s addictive somehow, probably in part because it’s only offered for a limited time each year. You’ll find yourself craving one once in awhile throughout the year, but you can’t get it. Then one day out of the blue you’ll notice they’re back and not being able to resist satisfying your craving for that minty goodness, you’ll head for the nearest drive-thru. That’s when you know you’re hooked. THEN it becomes a cultural touchstone, best shared with friends and family as a tradition.
      - EH
        
        Large companies actually do flavor research to give their products unidentifiable, yet individual, shades of flavor. In the old days it was that McDonalds put sugar on their fries before frying, and it’s only progressed from there. It explains preferences for different flavors of Pepsi vs. Coke as well as probably just about everything at Applebee’s, such that a customer will only ever be able to find that flavor in that company’s establishments.
      - penguinchris
        
        I don’t get cravings for random fast food products… and I’m glad I don’t have this sort of problem.
        
        I think I may have had one of these when I was a kid – it does sound familiar – but I completely forgot about it. Now that I think of it, I can recall seeing ads for it in previous years, but I don’t eat at McDonalds and had no desire to try one.
        
        I know I’m not alone…
  - ryuthrowsstuff
    
    I’d imagine its because they didn’t exist nationally for the most part. They were never available in the region of New York I grew up in, and I’ve never seen the things in NYC until the this year. I was actually pretty offended when I first came across them in Philly.
travtastic

Holy crap. Enjoy in moderation.
Antinous / Moderator

Wrong season and color, but a Candy Cane Frappe from Brigham’s is a much tastier version of a mint shake.
redjon

Is it true that McDonald’s uses actual ice cream in their Shamrock Shakes?
http://twitter.com/ianbobmorris ian morris

i guess chief clancy wiggum was right about the flavor
http://twitter.com/cicadamania Cicada Mania

The Shamrock is what the Flintsones used to clean up spills on their counter tops.
snagglepuss

I don’t care if it’s a foie gras and truffle oil shake. It’s Mickey D’s. I’m not touching it.