Make Your Own Malts

For the last several years, my family has maintained a weekly tradition called "Ecletic Family Dinner" (EFD for short). This is a standing date for a home-cooked meal. No invite is necessary, just come when you can. The reason we call it "eclectic" is because a multitude of extended family members, roommates, friends and significant others have been included - at one time or another - when living in the area. The beauty of EFD is that we see lots of people we love. The challenge is in feeding so many people! That's why I recently offered to handle dessert - by preparing Ice Cream Parlor Malts. They are quick, delicious and (best of all) customizable! So everyone gets what they want.

Preparing this great summer treat is simple. First, get your cups and straws out. Then grab your favorite mix-ins! We created a little buffet of options for customizing our malts by chopping up larger candies like Reese's® Peanut Butter Cups® and Twix® and slicing some strawberries we had on hand.

Pour the instant malted milk powder into the blender.

Then add the milk. Blend these two ingredients together for about 30 seconds so the powder can dissolve into the milk.

Add your ice cream to the blender next. The official recipe calls for chocolate, but we used vanilla instead in order to have more options for specializing our malts.

Blend the ice cream into the malt powder/milk combination, stopping regularly to scrape down the sides so everything gets well mixed. This only takes another half of a minute or so. When you're done, your malt will be nice and creamy!

Distribute the malt into separate glasses, then set the troops loose to mix in their favorite treats. We had chocolate-peanut butter malts, strawberry malts, chocolate-berry mixes and more!

There's something for everyone! So, try these Ice Cream Parlor Malts at your next gathering of the eclectic bunch of people you love, then rate and review the recipe online.

Stop by the blog on Thursday for another great dessert - I'm making a raspberry shortcake.

Amanda is paid to write for the Land O'Lakes Recipe Buzz™ Blog.