This past weekend my in laws came from Georgia to visit with us over the holiday weekend. The kids had a great time with their grandparents as they always do. My mother in law brought me several recipes she’d printed out for old fashioned fountain style drinks and I couldn’t resist playing around with them! My son and I instantly fell in love with a wonderful concoction known as the Egg Cream.
Until this past weekend, I’d never had an Egg Cream before. As I’m writing this I can honestly say I’ve lost count of how many I’ve had!
What does an Egg Cream taste like?
Many of you may be wondering “What is an egg cream?” so I’ma gonna tell ya! Tastewise, it is kind of like a milkshake, only not as thick and it actually quenches your thirst rather than induces it. Egg Creams can easily be made to light in terms of sugar content, and has just a small bit of milk in it, although it tastes much milkier than it is. When you taste it and see the ingredeints you’ll be surprised there isn’t more involved – or that egg or cream aren’t in it, because of the light richness.
Why is it called an Egg Cream if it doesn’t have Eggs or Cream?
Many people have speculated over the title and the reason that makes the most sense to me is that during the height of soda fountains, it was popular to add a raw egg and cream to drinks for flavor, thickness, and richness, but during the onset of World War II they became cost prohibitive (kinda like many groceries are becoming for us now!). Since this miraculously tastes like it may indeed have an egg and cream in it, the name was sort of a marketing ploy to help sell an inexpensive drink.
And I’m drinking one right now as I type this
Ingredients for the basic Egg Cream are simple: Chocolate syrup, Club Soda (or seltzer water), and whole milk.
It is important for your ingredients to be cold so put your club soda and syrup in the fridge for a while before making these. You can always add ice later if you like, too.
Club Soda is something I’d never bought before making Egg Creams. If this is the case for you, I’ll make your life easier by telling you that you can find it in the alcohol section as it is commonly used for mixed drinks although it has no alcohol in it. It also doesn’t have any flavor or sugar, which makes it a fun ingredient to add to things because it just adds bubbly refreshment to whatever you put it in!
While the ingredients above are the basic ones, you can get all kinds of creative with this. Use Almond milk or soy milk if your diet requires it, and also have fun with different syrups such as:
Strawberry Syrup, Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup, or even some of those fun flavored syrups like they use in coffee – pictured is my Sugar Free Caramel Syrup.
To begin with, pour about two tablespoons of syrup into a glass.
I’m using pretty little soda fountain glasses here but most times I make these in a plastic generic solo cup – I live large like that.
Now add 1/3 a cup of milk.
I am using exact measurements to get you started here but once you play with this recipe you may find you prefer more or less milk. I like less milk, my son likes more.
There is no right or wrong way to make an egg cream written in the constitution of the Unted States of America so don’t let anyone try to convince you there is.
Stir that up really well.
Like this!
Pictured are the bases for : Chocolate Egg Cream, Strawberry Egg Cream, and Sugar Free Caramel Egg Cream
But we’re not done yet!
Fill each glass the rest of the way with cold club soda or seltzer water.
Enjoy your Soda Fountain Treat!
P.S. this photo was taken in my little “diner”. It’s very exclusive, I’m the only member of the staff and I serve two to three meals a day but only to people I’ve either married or mothered .
If you’d like to read more about it, click here.
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