Culinary Explorer
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Salted Caramel Pretzel Shake
Created by Chef Dean
A gloriously excessive collision of sweet and salty: buttery caramel swirled through vanilla ice cream with crushed pretzels adding crunch and brine, topped with clouds of cream and more of everything good.
The American palate has always understood what European pastry chefs took centuries to discover: salt makes sweet taste sweeter. This milkshake exploits that truth without apology.
Pretzels in a milkshake might sound like county fair novelty, but the combination is rooted in something deeper. The pretzel's alkaline crust, that distinctive snap, the mineral salt clinging to its twists. These belong with ice cream the same way french fries belong dipped in your chocolate shake, which you've done since childhood whether you admit it or not.
The salted caramel ties everything together. Good caramel tastes of butter cooked past golden into something darker and more complex, then pulled back from the edge with cream and a heavy hand of salt. Swirl it through vanilla ice cream with crushed pretzels and you have a drink that satisfies every craving at once. Sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy. There is nothing subtle here, and that's precisely the point.
Ingredients
premium vanilla ice cream
Quantity
4 large scoops (about 2 cups)
whole milk
Quantity
1/2 cup
very cold
salted caramel sauce
Quantity
1/4 cup, plus more for drizzling
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| premium vanilla ice cream | 4 large scoops (about 2 cups) |
| whole milkvery cold | 1/2 cup |
| salted caramel sauce | 1/4 cup, plus more for drizzling |
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