Peach-Snickerdoodle Milk Shakes from Bon Appetit Magazine, September 2010

Looks amazing, huh? Peaches. Snickerdoodles. Milk shake. What's not to love. The truth is that I didn't even want to make this. I had printed out the recipe for Bunky Cooks Brandied Peach Ice Cream. If you look at the bowl of ice cream in her picture, you'll see why. I was so looking forward to it.

However, it got to be October and I started in on Bon Appetit. The Peach-Snickerdoodle Milk Shakes recipes was one of the ones in the "R.S.V.P. / Readers' Favorite Restaurant Recipes" section and since going through magazines and reviewing the recipes in them is what I do, the milk shake won out (sob).

The recipe isn't on their web site for some reason. The original is from the 8oz. Burger Bar in Los Angeles and someone thought it was outstanding and asked for the recipe. Bon Appetit puts a line at the end of each recipe noting that they've adapted it from the restaurant's so I don't know if that's the reason I can't find it on the site.

In any event, while I am sure that the ice cream would have been delicious, with the alcohol in it our daughter wouldn't have been able to enjoy it (which isn't always bad, but can be a bummer for her). However, with this milk shake, we were able to turn it into a family treat. Since it's the end of peach season, I was lucky to find a small crop of South Carolina mountain peaches at a nearby produce stand and I snatched up enough for the shakes.

This recipe is a bit different than I expected because the peaches are cooked in lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon prior to being put in the blender with the other ingredients. Because of that, it's important to leave enough time for the cooked mixture to cool completely. I won't go into how I know, but trust me; it affects the flavor.

At this point I was beating the family off with my cinnamon stick because they were hovering so closely I couldn't move or breathe. And, when the two people get in the kitchen, both pets think food might fall on the floor and so our somewhat petite cat and not so petite 100-pound golden retriever join us. It's a small galley kitchen and gets crowded. Hence the bludgeoning by cinnamon. (You think the familial pressure had anything to do with my knowing what happens when the fruit isn't cooled completely?)

Soon enough the beautiful peachy snack was poured into glasses and handed around. I sucked up some peachy goodness and sighed in satisfaction. Our daughter took a sip and declared it unacceptable (not a snickerdoodle fan apparently). My husband said it was ok, but not great and proceeded to finish his entire glass. I did think the cinnamon was a bit on the heavy side and would have preferred less of that so the peaches shone more, but I still enjoyed the freshness and flavor of the milk shake very much.

We were lucky too. We had these on an 80 degree day and today the high isn't even 65. It was the perfect good bye to summer.