Recipe: Chocolate Kefir Milkshake

I think this is our current favorite kefir recipe. Even the big girls (who are extremely picky about yogurt-like-substances) like this, woo-hoo!

As you may have noticed, I tend to not use real exact measurements, and this is no exception LOL.

You will need:
2 c prepared milk kefir
2 c milk
approx 4 Tbsp cocoa powder (to taste)
stevia and/or maple syrup (or other sweeteners) to taste
Optional:
mint leaves
mint flavoring
vanilla extract

Freeze 2 cups prepared milk kefir (I use wide mouth pint mason jars. Make sure to use wide mouth for 2 reasons, first, and most importantly, the wide mouth jars are marked as being ok to use in the freezer, the regular mouth are not, for good reason, the smaller mouth means as the liquid expands the jar is more likely to crack.  Additionally, you need to be able to remove the kefir while it's frozen, since the mouth of the wide mouth jars are as wide as the rest of the jar, all you have to do is run hot water around the outside of the jar to loosen the kefir and it will slide right out. Alternately, you could freeze the kefir in freezer zip bags or BPA-free plastic containers.

Once your kefir is frozen, you're ready to make your milkshake. If you're using fresh mint leaves, put these in first. Pop the frozen kefir out of it's container into your blender (my blender isn't top of the line but it IS listed as being ok for ice, make sure you're using a blender that can handle a big chunk of frozen stuff), then add 2 cups of milk (because I'm lazy this way, I just pour milk into the jar I popped the kefir out of and use that as my "measure"). Add cocoa powder (I use a generous 4 Tbsp, but we like REALLY dark chocolate around here, I'd say start with less, it's easy enough to add more) and a little sweetener (I usually use stevia, so a few drops to start with). Now blend it all up. I usually have to stop a time or two and push the big chunk of kefir down into the milkshake so it all gets blended up.

Taste, and adjust the cocoa, sweetener, and other flavors, if using, to taste.

My kids like a thick milkshake, and this is usually abit too "melted" for them at this point (the starting point recipe I read called for ice cubes, but even though my blender says it will do ice, I try to not test the theory too often, so this is my way around that). At this point I put the blender pitcher in the freezer for however long my kids will leave it alone before they drive me batty asking "is it ready yet?".

When it's time to serve, I pull it out of the freezer, blend it again briefly, and pour it into cups.

The leftovers, I pour into popsicle molds and freeze the same way I do the Orange Cream Kefir Popsicles.

I'm linking up to Try a New Recipe Tuesday at Home to 4 Kiddos