Oh. My. Goodness. I was recently informed that a grocery store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey carries Turkey Hill "Blitzburgh Crunch." Could it be true?? I hopped in my car and made a trip over the Ben Franklin Bridge to find out.
Ice cream sandwich time!
Maybe it's a stretch, but we're going to call this one a Sanders-wich. Having recently signed a hefty $2.5 million one-year contract extension, Emmanuel Sanders is about to enter into his fourth season with the Black and Gold. He was an AFC Champ his rookie season and made a trip home to Texas to play in Super Bowl XLV. Sanders is one of the talented, young receivers on the Steelers' roster, alongside Antonio Brown. Let's make him an Ice Cream Sandwich. I mean, Sanders-wich.
In an attempt to make the Sanders-wich Black and Gold, we're going to bake up some deep, dark, chocolatey cookies to compliment the golden-hued Blitzburgh Crunch ice cream. If you happen to live in an area where Blitzburgh Crunch is not readily available (like I thought I did), substitute with french vanilla or maple pecan!
P.S. This ice cream is incredible.
Ice Cream Emmanuel Sanders-wich
1 1/2 quart Turkey Hill "Blitzburgh Crunch," or ice cream of choice
For the cookies
Recipe adapted from Kitchen Treaty
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups dark cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and both sugars on medium speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add eggs one at-a-time, fully incorporating the first before adding the second. Mix in vanilla.
Sift dry ingredients together in medium mixing bowl. Add half of dry ingredients to wet, then milk, then remainder of dry ingredients while mixing on medium speed. Stir in chocolate chips.
Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Arrange 1-tbsp scoops of batter onto parchment, about 2 inches apart. Flatten batter a little with the back of your spoon/scoop so that it's more like a miniature pancake than a dollop of dough (this way the cookies will stack better when making the sandwiches). Bake for 12-14 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on baking sheet(s) for 3-5 minutes. Place cookies on cooling racks and allow to cool fully. While cooling, take ice cream out of freezer and allow to soften a little.
Place a scoop of ice cream onto the flat/bottom side of one cookie. Top ice cream with second cookie and gently press together to spread ice cream. Repeat with as many cookies and ice cream scoops as you like and serve.
If you don't want to eat an ungodly amount of ice cream sandwiches in one sitting (and these are RICH), refrigerate the cookies in an airtight container for up to a week and assemble the sandwiches a la carte. If you prefer, you can assemble and freeze all of the sandwiches in one batch, though the cookies won't be as chewy and gooey once frozen.
