This peppermint Oreo ice cream cake is so easy to make and only uses 4 ingredients

The icy-sweet flavor of peppermint usually brings winter holidays to mind. But with temperatures beginning to soar this summer, maybe we need a little more mint in our lives. I can’t think of anything more cooling than peppermint ice cream — better yet, in cake form!

This easy peppermint-Oreo ice cream cake from the blog Baking With Mom uses Oreo cookies as a base for a heap of peppermint ice cream. Put the Oreos in a plastic baggie and smash them up with a rolling pin — a great technique if you’re in a foul mood — and mix with melted butter. Or use your food processor to crunch the Oreos and mix in the butter at the same time.

Then, the cookie-and-butter mixture goes in a springform or 9-by-13 sheet pan for a quick bake in the oven. Once cooled, spread a blend of softened peppermint ice cream and whipped cream on top of the Oreo “crust.” Freeze, then decorate with extra cookie crumbles and bits of peppermint candy.

Now you’ve made yourself a super-chill summertime treat.

There is one caveat: Store-bought peppermint ice cream is usually a seasonal treat. Never fear — with an ice cream maker, you can just make your own.

The peppermint candy-cane ice cream recipe at Simply Scratch is just your basic vanilla ice cream, but with the crucial addition of crushed candy canes for that rush of mint. Since candy canes may be in short supply around your house (unless you’re me, where ancient candy canes are unearthed year-round), regular old Starlight Mints would surely be a fine substitute.

Simply Scratch blogger Laurie McNamara blew my mind with another suggestion for her homemade peppermint ice cream: Top a warm brownie with it.

Now, that may be a bit hearty for a summertime snack, but if you’ve got some leftover ice cream, why not? Peppermint and chocolate always go together — no matter the season.