Every once in a while as a kid, I begged my mom to help me rearrange my bedroom to give it a little makeover. Although hesitant at first, she eventually agreed under one condition: that I planned it all out on graph paper first.
So I borrowed one of her mechanical pencils and pads of yellow engineering paper for work, along with Dad’s tape measure for woodworking. Upstairs in my room, I slowly walked around every piece of furniture, holding up the measuring tape and carefully printing the lengths and widths in inches on my notepad.
Once I finished, I plopped down in the middle of the carpet, cut out the miniature graph paper pieces of furniture, and began arranging them in my scaled drawing of my bedroom. All as a 9-year-old.
After Mom approved, we started the process of moving: pulling all of the books off of the shelves, removing the drawers from the desk, unplugging all of the lamps and other extension cords… Despite being quite young, I was so gung-ho about rearranging my room that I always tried to carry the heaviest loads into the hallway!
During one afternoon of work, my younger brother wandered upstairs to where Mom and I were inching the nightstand across the floor and asked if he could have a bowl of ice cream. Mom agreed, and he walked out of the room, but…
Two hours later, we took a break and found the carton of cookies ’n cream ice cream sitting on the counter halfway melted with no brother in sight! Apparently he thought Mom planned on serving him to ensure he didn’t eat too much. Whoops.
Although Mom immediately put the container back in the freezer, I was sorely tempted to ask if we could stir together all of the contents, stick three straws in, and call it a milkshake.
I knew better then, and I still know better now… Which is why I made this healthier Cookies ’n Cream Protein Milkshake! It’s thick, creamy, sweet, and chocolaty just like a milkshake should be, but it’s packed with {mostly} good-for-you ingredients instead. And not a single scoop of ice cream!
Instead, the creaminess comes from Greek yogurt, one of my favorite ingredients in healthier baking. I add it to muffins, cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and even frosting! It adds a big protein boost—a whopping 20 grams—as well as providing the “cream” in the cookies ’n cream for this milkshake.
As for the cookies part, I used chopped chocolate sandwich cookies with the cream centers removed. There’s already enough of a creamy taste from the Greek yogurt, so no need to add in those excess calories from the sugary filling! Regular Oreos work, as do gluten-free varieties like these and these if you’re sticking with a gluten-free diet.
You’ll want to add the Greek yogurt, milk, cocoa powder, sweetener, and ice to the blender first, and pulse until that’s thick and smooth. Wait to add the cookies! If you add them in the beginning, the cookies will be pulverized into itty bitty crumbs, and you won’t notice them at all. Just pulse them once or twice so the chunks are large enough to taste, but not quite big enough to clog your straw.
Bliss. Pure chocolaty, cookie crumbly bliss.
And milkshakes that are healthy enough for breakfast? Count me in!
| Cookies 'n Cream Protein Milkshake | Print |
- ¾ c (180g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ c (120mL) unsweetened cashew or vanilla almond milk
- 2 tbsp (10g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp (13g) Truvia (or other sweetener, to taste)
- 1 c (130g) ice cubes
- 2 chocolate sandwich cookies, cream filling removed (gluten-free if needed)
- Add all of the ingredients except the cookies to a blender in the order listed, and pulse until thick and creamy. Chop the cookies, add to the blender, and pulse twice. Serve immediately.
More protein shakes from other food bloggers…
♥ Blueberry Cheesecake Protein Shake by Dashing Dish
♥ Thin Mint Protein Shake by Kitchen Meets Girl
♥ Strawberry Protein Shake by A Sweet Pea Chef
♥ Pumpkin Protein Shake by Love Grows Wild
Oh my word, I just want to dive into my computer screen head first into this!! Just glorious! 🙂
Thanks Annie! Chocolate has that effect on me too. 😉
I like your 9yr old thoughts of stirring and slurping! HA. This looks ohhh sooo tasty!
Thanks Brittany! My love for ice cream has only intensified since then… 😉
oh how we love our cookies and cream! and healthy is even better
Thanks Heather! It’s hard to resist Oreos! 😉
I tried this this morning and it was a little off for me. I couldn’t taste much creaminess and sweetness- instead inmostly tasted the sour and tart from the plain Greek yogurt and unsweetened cocoa powder. Did yours turn out like this? I really want to be able to enjoy this milkshake, so do you have any suggestions on how to fix the flavor?
I’m sorry the milkshake didn’t turn out like you expected Ashley; that must have been disappointing. Everyone’s palates are slightly different, so like the ingredients list says, the sweetener may be adjusted to taste. I recommend adding more the next time you try it, and that should do the trick!
I am not a fan of sour tasting Greek yogurt either. I always substitute with vanilla Greek yogurt in these type of recipes. Yoplait makes a kind of Greek yogurt that is much sweeter tasting than traditional Greek yogurt also. I hope that helps!
Thanks for sharing Candy!
I find that cocoa powder needs to be heated up to bring out the flavor. I usually heat up the almond milk, stir in the cocoa powder and let it sit a few minutes. Then put it in the freezer for a few minutes if you want this to be like a shake/frappe.
Thanks for sharing your tip Tracy!
Had to go back up and read carefully. Was wondering how this could be in any way healthy/low cal with 2 entire oreos in it-those things are suprising very high calorie/high sugar for a seemingly small cookie. Skipping the frosting helps. Could also use chocolate Teddy grahams for slightly better ingredients. Try not to buy these anymore but just bought a box for my daughter for her birthday so may try this soon:)
Almost all of the calories are actually in the filling! The cookies come in around 20 calories. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the milkshake!