A Better Than Snickers Milkshake for Halloween

Remember that one house in your town that gave out full-size Snickers bars to trick-or-treaters? This shake is that same sort of victory.

Remember the kids pointing you up that long driveway, showing off their chocolaty treasure? This is that sort of recipe, the kind of trick you'll want in your back pocket come Halloween.

It's funny, one of my favorite childhood Halloween memories wasn't actually the costumes or the pillowcases full of candy. I had one friend who somehow became the designated Halloween party host for our little crew. This was great because she had the type of parents who were really good at throwing parties for kids—they were experts at peeled-grape "eyeballs," at Jell-o made to look like innards, at finding the creepiest music and fake spiders that almost looked real.

The most important piece of the festivities, though, was their morning-after-Halloween waffle bar, which consisted of a bottomless stack of frozen waffles and any absurd sugary topping that you wanted. You better believe I chose melty peanut butter, chocolate chips, caramel syrup, and whipped cream to create a pretty legit Snickers waffle. It was glorious.

In the spirit of Snickers-ing all the things, I'm prepping for Halloween candy madness with an ode to the timeless Snickers in milkshake form. The key is starting with plenty of ice cream—caramel in this case and much more than you'd expect—as the base for a nice thick milkshake. I originally thought I'd add store-bought chocolate syrup for the requisite chocolate flavor, but the finished product ended up way too sweet. Subbing in unsweetened cocoa powder solved the sweetness issue, while providing a bass note of chocolate flavor. Swirl some caramel syrup in the glass and top it all off with chopped peanuts for texture and a pillow of whipped cream.