Hostess with the Mostess®

Buttery chocolate cookie crust + gooey hot fudge + wonderfully refreshing peppermint ice cream + creamy whipped topping = HEAVEN! Honestly, this chocolate-meets-peppermint dessert is so good you won’t know what hit you!

Added bonus: it’s easy too, and the steps are pretty quick… but it does require quite few hours of freezer time between the steps, so it’s best made the day before your party (or you can be an early riser and start it super-early the day-of). Either way… the end result is worth the wait!

Read on for the full recipe & step-by-step tutorial…

Ingredients:
• 1/2 gallon Peppermint Ice Cream, softened
• 2 cups Frozen Whipped Topping, thawed (+ extra for serving)
• 2 lbs Creme-filled Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, crushed
• 1/2 cup Butter, melted
• 2 cups Hot Fudge (+ extra for serving)
• Peppermint Candies or Candy Canes, crushed

Directions:
Mix melted butter and crushed cookies, then press the mixture firmly into the bottom of an ungreased cake pan (9″ springform round or 13×9″ rectangular pan).

In a separate bowl, combine the softened ice cream and whipped topping. Mix well.

Add the ice cream mixture to the pan and spread evenly across the cookie crust.

Freeze for 3 hours or until firm.

Next, pour 2 cups of hot fudge sauce on top of the frozen ice cream. Warm the hot fudge slightly to make spreading easier, and completely cover the top of the ice cream.

Sprinkle crushed candy canes over the top of the fudge, then return the cake to the freezer. Freeze at least 8 hours.

Remove the cake from the freezer when ready to serve. If you’re using a round springform pan, remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a plate or cake stand. You should end up with something like this:

The ice cream cake is good on its own and can easily be served as-is, BUT…

…it’s even BETTER with: a generous drizzle of gooey hot fudge sauce, a dollop of whipped topping, and a few more crushed candy sprinkles. YUM!

Serve immediately and prepare for loads of compliments. We’re not kidding… it’s really THAT good! Sonny & I couldn’t resist either… here’s what happened right after we finished shooting the tutorial:

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Additional Tips:

• Feel free to use Light Peppermint Ice Cream and Light Whipped Topping. That’s what we used for this version and it still tasted fantastic!

• Even if they start out white, most peppermint ice creams will turn pink once you mix them with the whipped topping, due to the food coloring “ribbon swirls” that are usually in the ice cream. If you want to avoid pink, look for a version of peppermint ice cream that ONLY has hard candy cane pieces in it and not ribbon swirls. (The pink color really doesn’t bother us though – and it actually makes this a great dessert option for Valentine’s Day too!)

• Not a huge peppermint fan? Try a chocolate-meets-cherry version instead: Swap out the peppermint ice cream for Cherry Garcia, sprinkle the cake with crushed cherry-flavored candies instead of candy canes, and drizzle white dessert plates with cherry dessert sauce for an ambitious presentation. (And don’t forget to add the cherry on top!)