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I wanted to celebrate so I thought "What better way than with milkshakes?"

So, this milkshake. On a health scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being something really healthy and 10 being something really unhealthy, where would you say this milkshake weighs in? Personally, I’m not really sure.

Seriously, you lose your perspective on these things when you live with 12-foot teenage boys whose ideal breakfast is a dozen chocolate chip cookies and a gallon of milk. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but not by much.

I’d have to say it’s about a 7 or 7 1/2 maybe. Fine, maybe if we’re being honest it’s more like an 11 but you don’t have to drink it all by yourself.

You can make a double and share it with your besties to split the guilt, how about that? I think there are definitely occasions where a splurge is necessary and part-splurges with friends are even better. Oh, and I used my favorite caramel and chocolate sauce recipes for this! So just do it!

Salted Caramel Swirl Pretzel Crunch Milkshakes

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 2 large or 4 smaller shakes and extra caramel

Ingredients

4 cups vanilla ice cream (I used the no-churn ice cream in this recipeminus the cookie dough|)
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup snack pretzels
1/4 cup salted caramel sauce (recipe follows)

Optional toppings:

chocolate syrup (I used homemade)
sweetened whipped cream
chocolate chunks
pretzel pieces

Salted Caramel Sauce:

1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
a generous pinch of sea salt

Instructions

First make the caramel. Combine sugar, milk, cream, and butter in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring just to a boil, stirring gently. Immediately reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring often, every 60 - 90 seconds, until caramel is thickened and smooth, it should take 12 to 15 minutes depending on your stove. Remove from heat and cool for about 30 minutes before making shakes.
Drizzle the bottoms(inside) of your chosen serving glasses with the still-warm caramel and place them in the freezer while you blend up the shakes.
Place pretzels in a blender or food processor and pulse until crumbled. Add vanilla ice cream, milk, and 1/4 cup caramel sauce and blend until as smooth as you like. I left a bit of pretzel pieces for a little crunch but you can blend it smooth too.
If desired, top with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, chocolate chunks, and pretzel pieces and serve!

For more great food ideas and inspiration, please do not forget to look at my other recent posts

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D750 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

And, by the way, to all the minnows out there, my intro post did a huge $0.21. The key to success on Steemit is to be consistent and persistent. Click on the link below for some great tutorials on how you can also succeed on the steem blockchain: