It's easy to make a copycat version of McDonald's newest treat! With lots of cereal and cookies, a Homemade Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is so peanut buttery good.
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When I heard the news that McDonald's was releasing another new McFlurry flavor this month, and that the flavor would be something called Peanut Butter Crunch, I was immediately intrigued! One of the best pairings ever has got to be peanut butter and ice cream.
(Why McDonald's discontinued their fan-favorite Reese's peanut butter cup McFlurry, I'll never understand.)
In their July press release, McDonald's shared that the newest 2023 McFlurry would have "crispy cereal mix and chocolately peanut butter cookie pieces" blended into their soft serve ice cream. How dang good does that sound??
Since this new flavor is only available for a limited time (unless McFlurry fans love it so bad that they demand it stays available forever) and since it will only be rolled out to certain McDonald's locations, I figured the responsible thing to do was to create a homemade version—so that you and I can satisfy a Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry fix any time of the year we need it!
What is a Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry?
McDonald's makes their new peanut butter crunch McFlurry with crispy cereal and chocolate-peanut butter cookies. They're swirled into vanilla soft serve ice cream, the same ice cream used to make their milkshakes, and the same method for all McFlurries whether Oreo, M&M, or Rolo.
In my copycat take on this McFlurry, I turned to the best peanut butter cereal ever: Reese's Puffs! This cereal is lightly crispy and LOADED with chocolate and peanut butter flavor. Perfect! And better yet, I discovered that there's a Reese's Puffs Minis cereal that's ideal for these McFlurries. (But the larger Puffs will also work if that's all that's available.)
As for the cookies, I use classic Nutter Butter sandwich cookies for some crunch and extra peanut butter flavor.
Why you'll love this recipe
Here are three reasons to make this Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry recipe:
- It's really easy.
- The McFlurries are ready fast.
- They're so delicious.
- You can have them whenever you want!
Since soft serve isn't easy to churn up at home, this recipe uses regular, rich vanilla ice cream. Use a stand mixer or even just a spoon to blend the peanut butter and chocolate ingredients into the ice cream—they're ready to eat in 5 minutes.
This is a fun and oh-so-satisfying cool treat to make for the family or for your friends. And even though McDonald's will only offer their Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurries for a limited time, with this recipe you can make them at home whenever you want.
They're made with hard vanilla ice cream instead of airier soft serve, so these homemade McFlurries are very filling! The recipe makes three large servings, or you can divvy them into six smaller servings.
And for the best crunch, eat these McFlurries right away.
🔪 How to make a McDonald's Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry at home
Ingredients:
- Vanilla Ice Cream: Choose a good quality brand of vanilla bean hard ice cream
- Reese's Puffs Cereal: Look for the Mini version of this cereal, and if it's not available to you grab the regular Puffs.
- Nutter Butter Cookies: These are peanut-shaped sandwich cookies with peanut butter filling.
- Mini Chocolate Chips: They add a little extra chocolate to the McFlurry.
- Milk: Just a splash, to help everything get blended.
Step 1: Put everything in a bowl
Put the ice cream, cookies, cereal, chocolate chips, and milk into a big bowl.
Step 2: Blend
Gently mix it all together with a stand mixer or a spoon.
Step 3: Devour
That's it! Your homemade Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurries are ready to eat.
FAQs
McDonald's adds the toppings—whether Oreos, M&M's, or peanut butter crunch ingredients, to their famous vanilla soft serve, and then blends the sweets into the ice cream. At one time all locations had a big machine to do this, with a square, plastic spoon that served as both the mixing paddle and the thing you ate them with. However, many locations ditched the space-taking machine and now just mix them by hand.
The chain uses soft serve ice cream, which is a blend of cream, sugar, stabilizers, and lots of air. Soft serve is a delicious variety of real ice cream that varies depending on where you get it, and the quality of the ingredients used. (In Vermont, the best ones are called creemees, and are creamier and more dense than fast food soft serve.)
Well, that depends on the location. However, when you make your own at home, like this copycat Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry, you can have one anytime—whether the sun is up or not.
The homemade Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is best served immediately because the cereal and cookies get very soft if they're made too far ahead of time.
Tips:
- If your vanilla ice cream is rock-hard, let it sit out for a few minutes to soften, so that it's just soft enough to be able to mix in the ingredients.
- Since they're made with hard vanilla ice cream instead of airier soft serve, these homemade McFlurries are very filling! The recipe makes three large servings, or you can divvy them into six smaller servings.
The recipe for a Homemade McDonald's Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is below! And here are more cool and frozen treats to try:
💬 How do you like it? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry Recipe (McDonald's Copycat)
Ingredients
- 3 cups vanilla bean ice cream, softened slightly (Use half of a 1.5 quart container)
- 1½ cups Reese's Puffs Minis cereal (Or about 1 cup of the larger-sized, regular Reese's Puffs cereal)
- 6 Nutter Butter peanut butter sandwich cookies, broken into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons mini semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
Get everything into the bowl:
- The ice cream should be just soft enough to be able to mix the ingredients in. If it's too hard, let it sit on the counter for several minutes to soften.
- Add the softened ice cream, cereal, broken cookies, mini chocolate chips, and milk into the bowl of a stand mixer. (Or in a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer or stirring by hand.)
Blend:
- Pulse the mixer several times to gently mix the ingredients into the ice cream. Break up any large chunks of ice cream with a wooden spoon to help them blend.
- You want the ingredients to be just mixed in: don't overmix, or the ice cream will start to get melted and soupy.
Serve!
- Spoon the mixture into serving dishes. For the best crunch, serve them immediately.
Notes
Tips:
- If your vanilla ice cream is rock-hard, let it sit out for a few minutes to soften, so that it's just soft enough to be able to mix in the ingredients.
- Since they're made with hard vanilla ice cream instead of airier soft serve, these homemade McFlurries are very filling! The recipe makes three large servings, or you can divvy them into six smaller servings.
Christian
My favorite part of this is the ability to change the chocolate chip level to suit one’s taste!
Nicely done!
Nancy Mock
So glad you like it!!!