Pumpkin Date Shake

Pumpkin Date Shake, like the famous date shakes from Hadley's in California with creamy pumpkin added in. 

I caved. Its November already and I finally caved in and made something pumpkin. I was pretty proud of myself for holding out for so long but I had the idea for this recipe last year actually and an opportunity presented itself that was perfect timing for sharing this amazingly delicious pumpkin date shake.

I grew up in Southern California and California is known for their dates. Hadley’s on the way to Palm Desert is known for their date shakes. I lived in San Diego when I was younger and as would take road trips there just for their date shakes. It was a LONG road trip for a shake. We didn’t even go all the way to palm springs. Silly kids.

Anyway the shakes were amazing. They make theirs with a blend of date paste, milk and ice cream. Simple but oh so good. I had no idea how amazing the date was until my early 20s.

When I was a kid I thought all that they were these little rock hard nuggets that came in trail mixes. Those are only one type of dehydrated date pieces. I avoided all dates after almost breaking a tooth on them. I had no clue that the glorious medjool date had been available to me since I was a kid.

 My parents got a dried fruit tray during the holidays and I would always snag the dried pineapple and peaches and that was it. There were medjool dates on the tray but I had no clue what they were, and since no one else was eating them then they must have been gross and I wasn’t about to eat one either. Then I had one later on in life (early 20s is so old you know) and realized what I had been missing out as a kid.

 I now have been making up for lost time. One of the ways I have been doing this is with bacon or prosciutto wrapped dates (WOW) and the other is with these pumpkin date shakes. There are a few different types of dates, Medjool are my favorite. Soft and caramel like and so good! I figured it has been fall for a while now that I should make at least one pumpkin recipe this year.

And I had been craving a date shake for a while. I wasn’t about to road trip it to Hadley's so I figured this would be a great way to fix that craving and make it seasonally appropriate. 

Pumpkin Date Shake

Shanna

Inspired by the California Date Shake from Hadleys with a fall seasonal twist - Pumpkin Date Shake Makes 2 shakes

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Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• For the shake:
• 1 dozen medjool dates, pitted and chopped
• 1 c cold unsweetened almond milk, or any milk you feel like using
• ⅔-¾ c pure pumpkin puree
• 2 c organic vanilla bean ice cream
• ½ c ice
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• For the topping:
• ⅔ c heavy cream
• 2 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• more grated nutmeg for garnish

Instructions

 

• Combine all of the shake ingredients into the blender and blend or puree on high until fully mixed and thick and the date skins are fully blended. Add more ice if desired.
• Pour into two glasses and set in the freezer for a few minutes
• In a small bowl pour in the heavy cream and whip with a hand mixer (or blender) and whip or puree until you get stiff peaks. Add in the maple syrup and whip again until combined. Either spoon onto the shakes or place in a piping bag fitted with an open star tip and pipe on top. Sprinkle grated nutmeg over the top and serve immediately.

These really are very good. You can sub out the pumpkin for anytime of sweet winter squash puree - butternut or acorn would be good. Even sweet potato would be yummy.