Sometimes I find myself daydreaming about what life would be like if I grew up during the 1940s-1960s.

The women’s fashion. The music. The simplicity. And the old-fashioned soda/malt/candy shoppes.

I like to imagine myself sitting in a place like this in a cute little pastel-colored dress, sipping a handmade chocolate malt:

Wouldn’t that be just lovely? Sometimes I get so caught up in my retro daydreams that I almost yearn for the ability to go back into time. It even sometimes makes me sad, because I get so curious about what it would have been like to grow up back then.

Then I realize that I’m very fortunate to be living during the present. Yeah, things aren’t quite as simple as they once were. And sadly, not many of those cute malt shoppes exist anymore… But the fact that I’m living in the 21st century means this: I can wear soft contacts [which means I can actually see! no coke-bottle glasses for me!]; as a woman, I have many more rights and freedoms than ever before. And finally, I can still wear retro-inspired clothes, listen to oldies, and even make my own malted milkshakes! See? The present isn’t so bad. Let’s not be one of those “back in the good ol’ days” people. There are pros and cons to living in any and every era.

I’ve always been a huge fan of malted everything. Seriously, chocolate + malt is sooo good. But combining pineapple with malt probably seems a little strange.

I had actually never even heard of a pineapple malted milkshake until I received Joy the Baker’s original cookbook several years ago. I bookmarked the page [among many others; that cookbook is one in which I kinda want to make everything!], then kept forgetting about it. I also haven’t had a reliable blender in, well, since I lived with my parents.

Finally, tonight I decided to make a pineapple malted milkshake in my fancy Blendtec blender [yeah, they’re pricey… but they are so worth it!]… And I am pleased that I allowed myself to splurge on this dessert. This pineapple malted milkshake is sweet – but not as sweet as you might think. It’s also creamy, light, pineapple-y, and delicious. The pineapple is a nice, fruity alternative to your usual chocolate and vanilla malt flavors.

The vanilla bean ice cream creates little vanilla bean freckles throughout the milkshake. How cute! 

Even if you think it’s weird, just try it. You might be pleasantly surprised! Plus, it’s just fun to drink malted milkshakes on occasion. Then I can pretend I’m a classy 1950s lady, sipping on a tasty milkshake. 😉

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Old-Fashioned Pineapple Malted Milkshake

Yield: One generously sized milkshake; for me it was enough to fill a pint glass.

Ingredients:
– 1 cup vanilla bean ice cream
– 1/2 cup of milk
– 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
– 3/4 cup of frozen pineapple chunks
– 1.5 TBS. of malted milk powder [I get mine from King Arthur Flour]

Instructions:
1. Place all of the liquid ingredients in your blender first [milk, and vanilla]. Then place in the ice cream, pineapple chunks, and malt powder in the blender.
2. Blend until it forms the consistency of a milkshake. Serve immediately. {Note: My blender has a “milkshake” setting on it, so I just used it, and it worked out fabulously.}
3. Another thing of note: recipe easily doubles, if you’d like to make two!

Recipe slightly adapted from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.