I make a lot of ice cream, but I rarely make shakes. I’m not sure why – it’s just a drinkable form of ice cream. Many shakes include milk, so there’s an extra bump in calcium and protein as well (I’ve even been known to eat ice cream for breakfast!).

I decided to make this terrific Blackberry-Lavender Shake for The Great Shake 2012. Oh – you haven’t heard of The Great Shake 2012? It’s today.

At 8 PM Eastern/5 PM Pacific, Adam Ried (the same Adam Ried that’s the equipment expert on America’s Test Kitchen!) will be on Twitter (@modernmilkshake) talking shakes and his book, Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes. You’ll have a chance to chat with Adam and fellow partygoers about your shakes using the hashtag #GreatShakes. And there will be door prizes!

I picked this shake because I have a lavender compulsion – my neighbor has hundreds of plants and when it’s in bloom, I go crazy over it. I’ve paired it with blueberries (in a lavender-blueberry sorbet), but never with blackberries. It’s a great combination, though.

There isn’t any milk in this shake, besides what’s in the vanilla ice cream. Instead, the added liquid is in the form of lemon juice and a lavender-blackberry coulis, which is delicious. The coulis is fantastic on its own, especially before adding the lavender. The lavender is pretty strong in the coulis, but it results in a lovely muted floral flavor when mixed with the ice cream.

The last component of the shake is blackberry sorbet. I actually bought ice cream for this (and when I did, I felt a little dirty – I can’t remember the last time I bought ice cream instead of making it!). The only blackberry sorbet I could find was Haagen-Dazs Blackberry Cabernet.

This is a really thick shake, so I ate mine with a spoon. A good blender is a big help (I love my Breville Hemisphere). I put part of it into a container to save for later, but it never made it into the freezer. Whoops!

• Blackberry-Lavender Shake (Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes, p. 105)