The McDonald's Ice Cream Coffee Hack That's Taking Over TikTok
If you've never heard of menu hacks, they're essentially tricks to get "secret menu items," mainly at fast-food places. While some places such as In-N-Out and Five Guys encourage ordering from their "secret menus" (via Spoon University and Wide Open Eats), those who are "in the know" can usually attest to how good they are and recommend you try it for yourself the next time you go out to eat.
One of the most popular places to try out menu hacks is McDonald's, surrounding its variety of burgers, chicken, and fries. In fact, McDonald's tried to cash in on these earlier, releasing their own fan-inspired menu hacks to appeal to a public eager for innovative products. Unfortunately, the public wasn't as thrilled about the hacks as McDonald's was led to believe. The Washington Post described the new menu items as "better left unmashed." At the same time, employees on Reddit called the promotion "lazy" and a trick to get people to spend more money on something they'd have to put together themselves.
While McDonald's "hacks" didn't take off in popularity, that still hasn't stopped other innovative minds from trying to create new hacks for people to try. One hack, in particular, combines McDonald's soft-serve ice cream and McDonald's coffee.
Dip the ice cream into your coffee
According to a TikTok video uploaded by @nataliesoutlet, this hack involves dunking your vanilla soft serve into your iced coffee and letting some of it melt. This will, in turn, give the coffee a creamy texture alongside a smooth vanilla flavor. Some commenters claimed that the hack is similar to affogato, an Italian-based treat that combines vanilla-flavored gelato with a shot of espresso. Others noted that the hack also had similarities to another fast-food ice cream and coffee drink: Wendy's Frosty-ccino. Brand Eating describes the drink as an iced coffee mixed with the iconic Vanilla Frosty, noting that while it was a fine coffee all on its own, it could have used more ice cream.
This isn't the first time a menu hack involving McDonald's iced coffee was invented. Another TikTok from @sarahmargaretsandlin shows the process for making "Snickers-flavored iced coffee," which can be done by ordering at the counter in-restaurant or on the app. You must first select an iced hazelnut-flavored coffee and request a pump of chocolate caramel syrup, a pump of chocolate syrup, and then top it off with whipped cream and two drizzles of caramel. The result, if followed correctly, should create a drink that tastes uncannily similar to a Snickers bar.