Review: Shake Shack's 2024 Holiday Shakes Are Full Of Sugar, Spice, And Everything Nice

Time and time again, Shake Shack has proven itself to be one of America's best burger chains. Not to be overlooked is the work it does with the first part of its name — shakes. Flavors like chocolate (and even a non-dairy version), vanilla, strawberry, and cookies and cream have forever been standard bearer shakes on its menu. However, throughout the year, seasonal flavors join the Shake Shack menu fun (and there are even special collaborations, like this one intended to burn your tongue off, metaphorically). Daniel Meyer's burger joint usually saves the most festive and fun flavors to ring out at the end of the year. In 2024, three shakes are there for the taking, with returning favorites duking it out with new flavors — the Christmas Cookie Shake, Chocolate Yule Log Shake, and Apple Cider Donut Shake.

So, between these three hand-spun shakes, which one is worthy of your holiday cheer, and dollars, and which one should perhaps cross off your list? The Takeout headed to our nearest Shake Shack to see is they were worthy of thick applause, or thin. This chew and review is based on pure yumminess, holiday-cheeriness, and overall lovability.

The three holiday shakes — Christmas Cookie Shake, Chocolate Yule Log Shake, and Apple Cider Donut Shake — are available to order at participating U.S. locations or Shake Shack, for a limited time only. They come in a singular "regular size," and can be ordered with or without whipped cream. The suggested retail price is $6.49, but at the New York location in Hudson Yards, mine cost $6.99 each. If you order a shake between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., you get a second shake absolutely free. Restrictions do apply, and this offer is valid between now until the end of 2024.

The shakes can usually be ordered anytime Shake Shack is open, while supplies last. They can be ordered in-store, at the register, an ordering kiosk, or drive-thru where available. Advancing ordering for pick-up, dine-in, and even delivery are available through Shake Shack's app and website.

While some holiday products only hint at being Christmasy, Shake Shack's Christmas Cookie Shake not only touts it within its name, but wears it proudly on its sleeve with its spirited appearance. If you've ever munched on a Christmas sugar cookie, you'll find an instant sense of warmth and comfort when you take one look at this shake. While the whipped cream is whiter than a standard lightly tanned Christmas cookie, the red and evergreen jimmies, interspersed with white snowflake sprinkles will teleport your brain and taste buds right to December 25th.

The sprinkles are nice and crunchy, and surely sugary. The texture gets even more fun and tasty when a straw starts pulling in bits of the crumbled shortbread that hidden within the shake. That stark white shake was rich and creamy, and almost tasted like drinking a Yankee Candle to match the season (that's a great thing).

While the saccharine-city of this shake may prove to be a bit hard to swallow after a while, it easily accomplished its goal of tasting like a Christmas cookie, and most importantly, being delicious. A Christmas Cookie Shake nets 880 calories, 44 grams of fat, 27 grams of saturated fat, 260 grams of cholesterol, 840 grams of sodium, 95 grams of total carbohydrates, 97 grams of sugars, and 20 grams of sugar.

The French are masters of baking and it's no surprise the bûche de noël, a rolled sponge frosted to resemble a freshly cut yule log, has become a holiday treat cherished on this side of the pond. So how could such a beloved holiday cake translate into a shake? Shake Shack delivers on its bona fides by dumping a clump of actual cake on top of the whipped cream. It kind of looks like fresh soil, with trickles of the red and evergreen jimmies peeking through. I started with a spoonful of the cake, which was densely moist, and lovely to take in.

When I turned to my straw, and started my first sip, I was flushed with more of those cake pieces, which ended up clogging up the straw a bit. It was also working double-dose of chocolatey duty with the heavily-bodied shake. Together, as a whole, it was almost like tasting a frozen hot chocolate, if a Dunkin Hines chocolate cake drowned in it. It's pretty much a chocolate lover's dream, but for some, it may prove to be a bit much. What's missing is some additional white creaminess within the shake to break things up a bit. A Chocolate Yule Log Shake nets 1,090 calories, 61 grams of fat, 32 grams of saturated fat, 290 grams of cholesterol, 530 grams of sodium, 113 grams of total carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 97 grams of sugars, and 21 grams of sugar.

While the other two shakes lean heavily on the spirit of winter holidays, the Apple Cider Donut one wants diners to hold onto the thought of autumn, for just a little while longer. By appearance, it doesn't seem very fall-like. The whipped cream houses a dusting of cinnamon, and an array of what looks like either tiny pieces of dried apple or oblong, toasted Rice Krispies.

Those mystery crunchies are actually a "cinnamon donut crunch." They have a nice crumbly crunch to them that the teeth will enjoy grinding down on. Combined with the cinnamon spice, and it's almost like you're eating little nibbles of apple crisp pie. This crunch is alone worth the price of admission to this shake. Things only get better once one reaches the actual shake. Less like a donut, and flavored to be more like a cinnamon bun, this shake is purely a sweet dream come true. An Apple Cider Donut Shake nets 840 calories, 43 grams of fat, 26 grams of saturated fat, 260 grams of cholesterol, 480 grams of sodium, 95 grams of total carbohydrates, 90 grams of sugars, and 20 grams of sugar.

Before settling on a final ranking of these holiday shakes, I dipped several of Shake Shack's signature crinkle-cut fries into each. The Christmas Cookie one is so super sugary, it basically neutralized the saltiness of the fries. When these ridged spuds met the Chocolate Yule Log one, it almost ceased to be a fry at all. When it came to dipping it in the Apple Cider Donut, it turned out to be a perfect marriage. The fry's potato taste shined through at first, and quickly followed by the shake's comely sweetness.

Judging a shake's greatness should not be tied to how it meshes with a fry, but regardless, those results were telling. The Chocolate Yule Log is a tidal wave of chocolate, and some slurpers may end up drowning too much in its richness to enjoy it. The Christmas Cookie cake is a much more approachable shake. It leans closer to a typical vanilla shake, but kicks things up a notch to match the taste of an actual sugar cookie. Again, the Apple Cider Donut one feels a bit out of place in this trio of holiday shakes, but there is no doubt that you will fall for it as much as I did.