Easy Oreo Ice Cream Dessert
Ingredients
- 3 quarts cookies and cream ice cream (I use two 1.5-quart containers)
- 39 to 40 Oreo cookies
- 5 tablespoons melted salted butter
- 12-ounce jar hot fudge (see note)
Instructions
- Crush the Oreos into coarse crumbs (see note) using a food processor, blender, or by placing the Oreos in a bag and smashing with a rolling pin.
- Measure 3 cups of crumbs into a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and mix until the crumbs are evenly moistened.
- Press the buttered Oreo crumbs into the bottom of a 9X13-inch pan. This makes a very full pan of dessert, so make sure your pan is a legit 9X13-inch pan and not skimpy in dimensions.
- Freeze the crust for at least 20 to 30 minutes (this helps keep the crust in place while spreading the ice cream). While the crust freezes, take out the ice cream to soften.
- Scoop 1.5 quarts of the softened ice cream over the crust and spread into an even layer.
- Lightly warm the hot fudge until spreadable (but not piping hot). Drizzle or spoon the hot fudge over the ice cream and swirl and spread over the top. It's ok for this layer to look messy.
- Sprinkle about 3/4 cup of the remaining Oreo crumbs over the hot fudge (leave enough crumbs to sprinkle on the top of the dessert at the end).
- Scoop the remaining 1.5 quarts ice cream in spoonfuls evenly over the Oreos/hot fudge and spread into an even layer. The Oreos and hot fudge may shift and move around a bit as you spread the ice cream; that's ok.
- Top with the remaining crushed Oreos.
- Lightly cover the dessert with foil or plastic wrap and immediately freeze for at least two hours before serving. If the dessert has been frozen longer, take it out of the freezer 20 to 30 minutes before serving so it's easier to cut and serve.
- This dessert keeps well in the freezer for up to two months.
Notes
Hot Fudge: in place of store bought hot fudge, you can sub in about 1 1/4 cups homemade hot fudge sauce.
Oreos: I use three sleeves of Oreos for this recipe (that come in the big Costco box). A regular 13.29 ounce package of Oreos has about 33 cookies, which is a few cookies shy of what's needed for this recipe. Either use the smaller amount of cookies and cut down the amount of Oreo cookie crumbs in between layers OR buy two packages of cookies (or one larger party-size package) and enjoy the "problem" of having a few Oreos leftover. 😉
Crumbs: I prefer the Oreos in chunky, coarsely crushed pieces rather than in fine crumbs.
Flavor Variations: this dessert is very adaptable to other cookie/ice cream combinations like mint oreos + mint choc chip ice cream, Nutter Butter or other PB cookie + peanut butter or peanut butter chocolate ice cream, Oreos + Peppermint ice cream, etc.