PEANUT BUTTER OREO ICE CREAM BARS
This no-bake recipe has five ingredients, four of which can be found in the title. The last is salt, so that's hardly even a fifth. Aside from being super easy, these are addictively good, and the thick, buttery Oreo crust is a perfect accompaniment to peanut butter ice cream.
Total time: 4 hours
Active time: 25 minutes
Makes about 12 bars
Ingredients:
30 oreos
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Pinch of salt
3 cups vanilla ice cream, soft but not melted
1/2 cup of peanut butter
Instructions:
1.) Add the Oreos to a ziploc bag and press out the air. Use your hands, a rolling pin, or the bottom of a measuring cup to smash the Oreos into small crumbs. This is going to form the crust, so the smaller the crumbs, the better it will hold together.
2.) To the bag, add the melted butter and pinch of salt. Use your hands to work the mixture, squeezing the butter into the crumbs until there are no more dry crumbs, and the mixture resembles wet sand. If you squeeze a handful of the crumbs, they should hold together.
3.) Line a 9x9 baking pan with a strip of parchment paper a bit thinner than the base of the pan, but long enough to hang over the sides; we'll use the hanging ends as handles to remove the bars. Pour the crumbs into the pan and use your hands to firmly press them into an even layer on the bottom of the pan, edge-to-edge. Put the pan in the freezer to firm up.
4.) In the meantime, make the topping. To do this, put the soft vanilla ice cream and peanut butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat for 20 seconds, scraping down the sides of the bowl once, until the peanut butter is fully incorporated into the ice cream.
4.) Pull the crust out and pour the ice cream mixture on top. Use a spatula or spoon to spread it into an even layer. Be somewhat gentle to avoid breaking up the crust. Freeze for about 3+1/2 hours, or until the ice cream is fully set.
6.) When they're set and you're ready to eat them, pull them out and let them sit for about 5 minutes; they're best when they've softened just slightly. Use the parchment handles to pull the whole thing out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Use a knife to cut into big squares, and enjoy!