These easy Pumpkin Milkshakes are the perfect spooky 15 minute dessert served in decorated glasses. A big hit with kids and adults alike, they taste like pumpkin pie but take a fraction of the time!
These easy Pumpkin Milkshakes taste like pumpkin pie in a glass! Made with vanilla ice cream, real pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice. For Halloween, I decorate the glasses with melted chocolate jack-o-lantern or ghost faces.
What you should know first
Painting melted chocolate faces on the inside of short, wide-mouth glasses before filling them is what turns these into Halloween milkshakes. Real pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice give each shake its pumpkin pie flavor, and the glasses can be decorated ahead so the shakes are ready to blend and serve in minutes.
⏱ Total Time: 15 minutes. 🍽 Serves: 2. 🧾 Ingredients: 5. 📊 Difficulty: Easy. 🥛 Dietary: Vegetarian.
- Short, wide-mouth glasses are essential for painting the chocolate faces. Tall, narrow glasses make it too difficult to reach inside with a paintbrush.
- Use plain canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling already has sugar and spices added and will change the flavor of the shake.
- Cold ice cream and cold milk keep the shake thick. Stop blending as soon as everything is smooth to prevent the ice cream from melting.
- For vanilla ghost shakes, leave out the pumpkin puree and replace it with extra vanilla ice cream. The white shake creates a clean background for the chocolate ghost faces.
- Decorate the glasses first and let the chocolate set before blending. The painted glasses can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.
Generated with AI and experts from the Tara Teaspoon team.
This pumpkin pie milkshake has all the flavors I love about fall baking, without turning on the oven. Vanilla ice cream makes it rich and creamy, and pumpkin puree and warm spices give it that classic pumpkin pie flavor.
What makes these Halloween milkshakes extra fun is the decoration. I use a small paintbrush to paint melted chocolate faces on the inside of the glasses. Fill them with pumpkin milkshakes for jack-o-lanterns or vanilla milkshakes for little ghosts!
They're perfect for a Halloween party, an after-school treat, or a quick fall dessert. Serve them with my Halloween Ghost Cupcakes or Pumpkin Marshmallow Cupcakes for an extra-festive dessert table.
What makes these pumpkin milkshakes so good
There's no need to bake an entire pumpkin pie when you want a little taste of fall. This pumpkin spice milkshake has all that familiar pumpkin pie flavor in a cold, creamy dessert. Plus the decoration on the glasses is key to this impressive treat!
Here are the other reasons you'll love this:
- Ready in 15 minutes. The milkshake itself takes just minutes to blend. The rest of the time is for decorating those cute Halloween glasses.
- Made with simple ingredients. You only need vanilla ice cream, pumpkin puree, milk, and pumpkin pie spice for the shake.
- Fun for Halloween. Chocolate-painted jack-o-lantern and ghost faces make the milkshakes a party-worthy dessert without a lot of fuss.
- Easy to customize. Make pumpkin shakes, vanilla ghost shakes, or a combination of both for your Halloween crew.
Jump to:
- What you should know first
- What makes these pumpkin milkshakes so good
- Ingredients
- How to make Halloween pumpkin milkshakes
- Tara's tip for pumpkin puree
- Original Halloween milkshakes
- How to make spooky Halloween milkshake glasses
- Tips for painting chocolate faces
- How to make vanilla ghost milkshakes
- Can you make these ahead?
- Equipment
- More Halloween recipes
- 📖 Full Recipe
- 💬 Comments & Reviews
What a great idea to paint the faces before the shake goes in!
- Mary
Ingredients
You only need a handful of ingredients to make these creamy pumpkin pie milkshakes. Here are the details, and you'll find the exact measurements in the recipe card below.
- Vanilla ice cream: Creates the sweet, creamy base for the milkshake. Use a good-quality vanilla ice cream for the best flavor and texture.
- Pumpkin puree: Use plain canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Milk: Whole milk makes a rich milkshake, but other milk varieties work too.
- Pumpkin pie spice: Gives the milkshake its familiar pumpkin pie flavor with a blend of warm spices.
- Orange food coloring: Optional, but a few drops can give your jack-o-lantern shakes a brighter orange color.
- Chocolate chips: Melted chocolate is used to paint the Halloween faces inside the serving glasses.
How to make Halloween pumpkin milkshakes
These milkshakes are almost as easy as scooping ice cream into a bowl. The chocolate decorations make them special, but the shake itself comes together in a blender in minutes.
Paint the Halloween faces. Melt the chocolate chips and use a small, clean food-safe paintbrush to paint jack-o-lantern or ghost faces on the inside of two serving glasses. Keep the designs toward the bottom of each glass so they'll show through the milkshake.
Blend the milkshakes. Add vanilla ice cream, pumpkin puree, milk, pumpkin pie spice, and optional orange food coloring to a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Fill and serve. Pour the pumpkin milkshakes into the decorated glasses and serve immediately.
For the complete measurements and instructions, see the recipe card below.
Tara's tip for pumpkin puree
Pumpkin milkshakes are a delicious way to use leftover canned pumpkin puree. If you've made my Whole Wheat Walnut Pumpkin Bread or Pumpkin Cake Roll, save that extra pumpkin for a shake!
Original Halloween milkshakes
When I worked as a Food Editor at Martha Stewart, I created these darling Boo-nilla shakes for Martha Stewart Kids magazine. I painted little ghost faces inside glasses and filled them with vanilla milkshakes.
I still think they're pretty darn cute! But I wanted to take the idea a step further. Why stop at ghosts when you could make jack-o-lanterns, too?
That's how these pumpkin milkshakes in spooky glasses came to be.
How to make spooky Halloween milkshake glasses
The trick is to paint the designs on the inside of the glasses using melted chocolate. You don't need any special decorating skills, just a little patience and a clean paintbrush.
I use small, food-safe paintbrushes to make the eyes, noses, and mouths. The chocolate creates a fun contrast against the orange pumpkin milkshakes or white vanilla shakes.
One of my biggest tips is to choose the right glass. A short glass with a wide opening makes decorating so much easier! I made simple ghost faces in tall, skinny glasses, but a jack-o-lantern would have been too tricky.
Tips for painting chocolate faces
- Use short, wide-mouth glasses. They're much easier to reach into with a paintbrush. Tall, skinny glasses make it difficult to paint detailed faces.
- Keep the designs simple. Triangle eyes, a little nose, and a toothy grin make a darling jack-o-lantern.
- Paint near the bottom of the glass. This keeps the faces visible even if the milkshake doesn't fill the glass completely.
- Use food-safe brushes. Choose small, clean brushes reserved for food decorating.
- Let the chocolate set. Give the chocolate time to firm up before adding the milkshake. You can refrigerate the glasses briefly to help it set.
How to make vanilla ghost milkshakes
I didn't forget those happy little vanilla ghosts from my magazine days. They're too cute not to make!
For vanilla ghost milkshakes, simply leave out the pumpkin puree and use extra vanilla ice cream in its place, as directed in the recipe card. The white vanilla milkshake makes a perfect background for the chocolate ghost faces.
I like serving a combination of pumpkin jack-o-lanterns and vanilla ghosts at Halloween parties.
Can you make these ahead?
Pumpkin milkshakes are best served immediately after blending. The ice cream will melt as the shakes sit, so I recommend making them just before serving.
The good news is you can decorate the glasses ahead of time. Paint the chocolate faces, let them set, and keep the clean, decorated glasses ready in the refrigerator until it's time to make the shakes.
If you have leftover milkshake, store it covered in the freezer. It will freeze firm, so let it soften slightly before blending again. The texture may not be quite as creamy as a freshly made shake.
Equipment
- Wide mouth glasses
- Tall glasses
- Clean craft paintbrushes
- A great blender
More Halloween recipes
If you're looking for fun Halloween dinner and snack ideas, try some Halloween Monster Sliders, Ogre-Nose Pizza, or Pizza Roll Ups Mummy Snacks.
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📖 Full Recipe
Easy Pumpkin Milkshakes in Spooky Glasses
Video
Ingredients
- Melted chocolate chips
- 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
- ½ can (⅔ cup) pumpkin purée
- ¾ cup milk
- ¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- A few drops orange food coloring
Instructions
- Brush melted chocolate onto the inside of 2 glasses in a jack-o-lantern or ghost face shape. Paint design as close to the base of the glass as possible.
- Add remaining ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. Pour into prepared glasses and serve immediately.
Notes
- You can make vanilla milkshakes if desired for ghost faces! Just omit the pumpkin puree and add extra ice cream.
Nutrition Per Serving
Tara Teaspoon
I'm Tara, a recipe developer and food stylist with nearly 30 years in food publishing, including the test kitchens of Martha Stewart and Ladies' Home Journal. My recipes and styling have appeared in magazines, cookbooks, television and advertising, and I'm the author of two cookbooks, Delicious Gatherings and Live Life Deliciously. Every recipe here is tested and reliable. Have a question? Leave a comment and I'll answer it, or get new recipes by email.
Recipe and images by Tara Teaspoon.
Brittany Smart says
Love the video!!
Mary Bench says
What a great idea to paint the faces before the shake goes in!