1950’s “Landslide” Milkshake from The Iron Giant

What’s Up, Hungry People

Come with me back to the year 1957. Sputnik I has just been launched into orbit. The space race is officially on. And something…HUGE just crash landed on Earth.

I’m talking about, of course, the premise of the 1999 movie called The Iron Giant. One of my favorite movies as a kid, this cinematic masterpiece enapsulates all things cool about finding a giant robot in the forest.

The movie follows young Hogarth Hughes as he discovers a literal giant made from iron in the woods near his house. With a large bump on it’s head, the giant appears to have lost his memory and is wandering around in confusion and hunger.

Instead of fearing the creature, Hogarth befriends the Iron Giant and sets out on a quest with his new best friend to twart government agents, avoid a possible Soviet invasion and get the Iron Giant back to his rightful home.

“Landslide. It’s new. Veryyyy new.”

Throughout the movie, Hogarth is trying to outsmart federal agent Kent Mansley and prevent him from finding the Iron Giant. Despite Agent Masley literally moving into the spare room in his mother’s house, Hogarth is successful in evading Mansley – for the most part.

One scene in the movie shows Hogarth and Mansley going out for milkshakes together. In order to slip away, Hogarth needs to create a distraction. Any distraction.

Hogarth shows Mansley how to make a milkshake that he calls a “Landslide” and says that it is VERY new on the menu. All you have to do is crumble up some chocolate bar – any chocolate bar will do – then stir it into the whipped cream and ice cream milkshake.

What Hogarth neglects to mention is that the chocolate bar he’s added to Mansley’s drink also just so happens to be a laxative.

Authentic 1950’s Style Milkshakes

Don’t worry, there won’t be any laxatives in this recipe (unless you want to, I guess?)

Instead, we’ll be making a milkshake recipe that would have been found at any soda shoppe in the late fifties: a malted shake!

Here’s What You’ll Need

• old fashioned vanilla bean ice cream – real vanilla ice cream will have the best taste and texture to make the milkshake
• whole milk – aids in blending the ice cream to make a smooth shake
• chocolate bar of choice – any chocolate bar that is pure chocolate (think, only chocolate, no filling) will work!
• malted milk powder – for adding the malt flavor
• whipped cream – for adding a swirl on top of the milkshake
• cherry – on top!

Let’s Get To It

For this recipe, I used an authentic milkshake blender (affiliate link). However, it’s not necessary for you to go out and buy a milkshake machine just for this recipe.

A regular blender or even a food processor will work.

Just combine all of the ingredients except for the toppings in a blender and blend until a smooth drinkable milkshake comes together. Finish with a swirl of whipped cream, your favorite chocolate and a cherry to top it off!

As a kid, there was nothing I wanted to drink more than a Landslide. I didn’t even put together the pieces that Hogarth had added laxatives to the drink in order to get rid of Mansley. It wasn’t until I rewatched for this recipe that I put the two and two together!

Regardless, a Landslide is the way to go when it comes to making an authentic 1950’s style shake that’s inspired by The Iron Giant.

After dozens of requests to make Landslides recipe over on Tiktok, I knew what I had to do! What fictional feasts should I make next? Let me know in the comments – or head over to Tiktok and leave your suggestion there!