How to make top notch milkshakes at home

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For as long as any member, guest or employee can remember, Cherry Hills Country Clubjust south of downtown Denver, has been serving up some seriously delicious milkshakes. According to the club’s pastry chef, Kristen Riehl, these milkshakes can be traced back to one of two eras: the early 1920s, which coincides with the club’s formation. AND when the concept of the soda shop was just taking off across the United States; or during the 1950s, when the gas store craze was at its peak.

Either way, Cherry Hills milkshakes have been delighting members and guests for the better part of a century. To find out the secret behind their success – and to learn how you can create equally delicious milkshakes at home – we went straight to the source. Some of what we learned may surprise you.

What’s not surprising is Riehl’s commitment to using premium ice cream. Like anything you cook in the kitchen, the best dishes—or in this case, dessert drinks—are only as good as the raw ingredients used to make them. So throw ice cream on the top shelf. In fact, Chef Riehl admits that gourmet gelato also makes an outstanding mixed drink.

But as the Cherry Hills pastry chef admits, the term milkshake is a bit of a misnomer, at least as it applies to the ice cream-based treats served at the club. After all, Riehl points out, ice cream is milk-based, and above all, you want to preserve the creaminess of the ice cream in the finished product. In other words, a little milk goes a long way.

“When we mix, we add the least amount of milk we can save,” she says. “Milk should be used sparingly, and only enough to loosen the ice cream.”

It’s also best to rely on whole milk for the small amount you’re adding. Other milks—2%, 1%, and skim milk, in particular—will only compromise the thick, creamy viscosity of the finished shake. And let’s be honest, a milkshake is a treat to begin with; no point in trying to make it healthy.

If you’re using syrups to flavor your shake at home, Riehl advocates skipping the milk altogether. Combining milk and other liquid-based ingredients, such as flavored syrup, can produce a drink that is too thin.

From there, well… the sky is the limit in terms of what you can create. At Cherry Hills, in addition to relying on different flavored syrups, the pastry team can add candies or cookies or even cake mixes to create specific milkshakes, such as S’mores, Nutella, birthday cake or peanut butter and jelly. Mixing vanilla ice cream and orange sorbet, for example, makes a deliciously creamy milkshake. Just remember that in that case, the ice cream and sorbet are providing most of the flavor.

That’s really all you need to know. Just whip up some milk, make sure you’re using the best ice cream or gelato you can find, and — in the words of the Cherry Hills patisserie — “let your imagination run wild.”