Killer Buzzwiches
As I believe I’ve mentioned once or twice, I collect recipes. 😉 It is really amusing to me that sometimes a recipe will sit in a pile or folder for years before I make it. Other times, I will find a new recipe and make it the very same day. I guess all the stars just have to be in alignment (not to mention the ingredients need to be in my pantry).
As soon as I saw this recipe for “Killer Buzzwiches” in Bon Appétit (years ago), I knew I wouldn’t be wasting any time in making it—and I didn’t. Besides the “killer” description of the dessert, the recipe originated in a restaurant in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, an area near and dear to my heart since my two sisters live in the area and it’s where Roger and I hope to retire someday. Additionally, it had the Italian hazelnut thing going on. Gianduia, anyone? Boy, do I love that hazelnut-chocolate combination!
I can no longer find the recipe online, so I’m awfully glad I cut it out and saved it all those years ago. If I remember correctly, it was a Bon Appétit RSVP request for the ice cream sandwich dessert served at a restaurant in Buzzards Bay on the Cape. Evidently, it was just something that the cook came up with and would make all the time for the kitchen help. Everyone liked it so much that he put it on the menu. Even though the ingredients are all familiar, they come together in such a way that the cookie tastes different from any other white or chocolate chip cookie I’ve tasted.
The recipe makes only 6 Buzzwiches, but they are huge. Roger and I usually share one, and it’s plenty. Because of the hazelnuts and chips, eating a frozen Buzzwich is quite the gastronomical experience. Let’s just say you will be savoring every bite and leave it at that. Perhaps you, too, will rename the dessert, “Killer Som-b*tch,” as someone who shall remain nameless in our household has done!
Killer Buzzwiches
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 6 tbl. granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup plus 2 tbl. flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli)
- 1 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened
Directions
To toast hazelnuts, bake at 350o for 8 to 10 minutes. Rub hazelnuts with a dish towel to remove skins. (For convenience, Diamond sells a small 1/2-cup bag of hazelnuts which are the perfect size and will not require further chopping. Of course, you’ll need to buy two bags.)
Preheat oven to 350o. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment. Using electric mixer, beat first 3 ingredients in large bowl until blended. Add egg and vanilla and blend well. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Add to butter mixture and stir to combine. Mix in chocolate chips and hazelnuts.
Drop dough by scant 1/3 cupfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing evenly and forming 12 mounds total. Dip bottom of glass in sugar and press on 1 mound of dough to flatten to ½” thick round. Repeat with remaining dough mounds, dipping glass into sugar for each. Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 12 to 13 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.
Place cookies in freezer 10 minutes. Spoon 1/3 cup ice cream onto flat side of 1 cookie. Top with flat side of second cookie, pressing to push ice cream to cookie edge. Place in freezer. Repeat with remaining cookies and ice cream. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Wrap sandwiches tightly and freeze.)
Source: Bon Appétit