As most of you know, I am an Ambassador for Allrecipes.com and supporting member of their community. A couple of months ago, I was chosen with a group of 7 other Awesome Ambassadors to represent RITZ® Crackers and Allrecipes together for #GameDay celebrations #RITZNYBLITZ with recipes inspired and involving New York. And this was right up my alley with having visited New York City a few years back. And what an awesome trip that was. As the creative juices started flowing from my eating memories there, I found out that 4 restaurants from New York were also asked to be involved in creating recipes and each one of us was paired with one recipe from a restaurant. I’ll be adding the link at the bottom of this blog and in the next coming week post more about the recipe in an UPDATE. But in the meantime check out all 12 recipes created for this promotion at: Allrecipes Ritz Recipes
Now, New York has an amazing vast variety of eateries from many different cultures and mash-up food styles, that just overloaded my senses. It was totally hard to come up with one solid idea for RITZ, so I came up with 4. However I’m sharing the recipe I created for RITZ that they liked and how my trip inspired that recipe.
I had been to NY when I was a small small child, so I don’t remember much of it at all. My sister, Mendi, BIL Joe, my oldest daughter Emily (at the time was 13 1/2 yrs old) and I set out on an adventure that was just a BLAST. The trip to NYC was a lot of “1st times” for my daughter. 1st cab ride, 1st time to Central Park, 1st time riding a train down in the subway, 1st time eating Push-Cart food…So it was fun just seeing how Emily would react as well as gawk at all the cool sites. So here’s some of a glimpse of what we experienced. I can’t add all of the photos but at least here’s a taste of what we enjoyed seeing.
Venders everywhere
Famous Billboards, can’t wait to actually see The Phantom of the Opera!
Awesome eats & Treats in Time Square
Oh BOY!! Even though he’s a wax figure….he’s smokin’ HOT!! And looks sooo REAL!
And this is where my RITZ inspiration came from as we stumbled upon it next to Madame Tussaud’s. Screme Gelato Bar the best place I’ve ever tried Gelato…and boy was it good. Can’t tell you how fascinated I was about the weird combinations and what unique flavors they had. The people were super friendly and let you sample just about everything. I fell in love and I mean in LOVE with this place, that we went back the very next day and I got another serving. My favorites were the Rocher, the Cornbread & Peanut Butter Cup Gelatos.
BEST Gelato EVER!!!! Nummy Nummy!!
So in honor of Screme, I played around with making a sweet and salty type of treat. And I introduce my RITZ inspired creation.
RITZ Hazelnut Gelato Sandwiches
INGREDIENTS:
1 (14 ounce) container Vanilla Bean Gelato OR Sea Salted Caramel Gelato
50 RITZ Crackers
6 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
3 ounces chopped hazelnuts
****Now I’ll note this here, instead of below. You can use almost any flavor of Gelato that happens to be your favorite. While I like Vanilla Bean, Sea Salted Caramel Gelato is my family’s favorite flavor for this recipe. It may not be available in some areas, but my recipe is very flexible.
Lay out 3 or 4 RITZ Crackers, salted side down, on a parchment-line baking sheet. Quickly scoop 1 tablespoon gelato onto each cracker. Top each with a RITZ cracker. Press down lightly to flatten gelato to extend to cracker edges; wipe off excess and immediately place in the freezer until frozen solid, about 3 hours. Repeat with remaining crackers and gelato to make 25 sandwiches.
When the sandwiches are frozen, melt chocolate on top of a double boiler.
In small batches and working quickly, dip sandwiches halfway into melted chocolate. Immediately dip chocolate half into chopped nuts. Place sandwiches back into the freezer. Freeze 2 to 3 hours to set.
And here you have the salty-sweet result! This recipe should be done the day before your big #GameDay festivities, only because of the time that is needed to freeze these treats.
Now if you love my recipe for RITZ you will totally love the creations my fellow Allstars have made and let me be the 1st to tell you, they are wonderful and I’m NOT just saying that. I have made everyone of their recipes. SO they are truly T&T (tried and true) made recipes. All very creative, simple and delicious. I want y’all to take the time and give them some blog love, as I have linked all their recipes and blogs below. You won’t be sorry at all. Check out my update coming on the 27th for my restaurant created recipe by Carnegie Deli in the meantime called RITZ Pastrami and Corned Beef Mini Sandwich.
Renee Pajestka’s – RITZ Cuban Minis & her blog at Renee’s Kitchen Adventures
Michele Feuerborn’s - RITZ Fried Ravioli & her blog at Flavor Mosaic
Debbie Hendrix’s – RITZ “Everything” Bites with Lox and Schmear & her blog at Country Girl Gourmet
Shelby Law Ruttan’s – RITZ New York-style Mini Crumb Cheesecakes & her blog at The Life & Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybrunch
Lillian Russo’s – RITZ Push-Cart Hot Dog Bites & her blog at My Recipe Journey
Marion Meyers’ – RITZ Spicy Asian Wings & her blog at Life Tastes Good
Doug Mathews’ – RITZ Steakhouse Bites & his blog at Behind The Shades
I participated in a campaign on behalf of RITZ Crackers. I received a 9 boxes of product to help with developing my #GameDay inspired recipe as well as a promotional item as a thank-you for participating in the #RITZNYBLITZ event.
I am an Allrecipes Allstar brand ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com. Products received from advertiser are only used for experienced-based reviews on The 7up Experience. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are purely the sole opinions of [email protected].
http://allrecipes.com/howto/allrecipes-allstars/detail.aspx
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RITZ® Hazelnut Gelato Sandwich
- Made with gelato, sandwiched between RITZ Crackers. These mini sandwiches are dipped in chocolate and chopped hazelnuts, then frozen for a perfect sweet treat with game day festivities. This RITZ recipe is inspired by a trip to Screme Gelato Bar in NYC (with the best gelato!) with my daughter, sister & brother-in-law.
| Servings | Prep Time | Cook Time |
| 25 1 per person | 60 minutes | 0 minutes |
Ingredients
- 1 (14 oz) container Vanilla Bean or Salted Caramel Gelato
- 50 RITZ® Crackers
- 6 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
- 3 oz hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Lay out 3 or 4 RITZ Crackers, salted side down, on a parchment-line baking sheet.
- Quickly scoop 1 tablespoon gelato onto each cracker. Top each with a RITZ cracker. Press down lightly to flatten gelato to extend to cracker edges; wipe off excess and immediately place in the freezer until frozen solid, about 3 hours.
- Repeat with remaining crackers and gelato to make 25 sandwiches.
- When the sandwiches are frozen, melt chocolate on top of a double boiler. In small batches and working quickly, dip sandwiches halfway into melted chocolate. Immediately dip chocolate half into chopped nuts. Place sandwiches back into the freezer. Freeze 2 to 3 hours to set.
Recipe notes
My house loves, LOVES the Salted Caramel Gelato in this prednisone recipe. SO if you have it available to you in your local grocery store freezer....make the immediate purchase to try it in this recipe. If it's not available, vanilla is a perfect alternative. Hope your family enjoys this delicious treat. You do need to make this a day in advance for your #GameDay event. Thank you #RITZ for letting me participate in #RITZNYBLITZ with the #AllstarRitz program. It was may honor.
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