Better together

I'm officially a second semester senior! As a treat I decided to remake a dessert that I had a few weekends ago at a place in Ann Arbor, Rod's. Rod's makes a blended ice cream treat, similar to a blizzard or flurry, but they have one mix in that I have never seen at any other ice cream place: pretzels. I made a creation of twist ice cream, coffee grounds, Oreo, peanuts and the loveable pretzels. It was the perfect combination of salty and sweet. I love all of those ingredients alone, so they are obviously only better together. Today, I used those same ingredients, only I switched the twist ice cream for coffee ice cream. The result: absolutely delightful.

 Start with about ten Oreos, crushed, mixed with about 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Press the mixture into a pan (I chose a festive heart shaped one). Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees, or until it looks a little crispy.

 Once the crust is out of the oven and cooled, sprinkle in about 2 teaspoons of coffee grounds (I used hazelnut, my absolute favorite flavor of coffee).

 Use a spoon to scoop thin chunks of ice cream onto the crust. Make sure the crust is completely cool before you do this or the ice cream will melt fast!

 

 Smooth with a spatula to fill in the empty spaces. Freeze until firm.

 Flip carefully over onto a plate and place back in the freezer.

 Meanwhile, roughly chop about 3/4 of a cup of peanuts, or you can use pre-chopped nuts. I prefer mine to not be totally chopped with some nice chunks.

 Sprinkle the peanuts over the top

 Break apart pretzels over top.

 Layers of sweet, salty, crunchy, and smooth wonderfulness.

Okay, so I obviously had to sample a little bit before it could get cold enough in the freezer, so the ice cream is a little melty here. I am quite the impatient one, so I couldn't wait any longer, whoops. It was so delicious, and a perfect end of semester, or anytime, treat.