Processed Foods Week Recipe #2: I ran across this in the Betsey Mills Club Cookbook, a spiral-bound community cookbook from my hometown of Marietta, Ohio. Bottled hot fudge sauce makes this a fairly easy dessert that impresses people nonetheless. Try it for a nice change of pace from birthday cake. After you prepare the nutty, buttery shortbread topping, the only thing left to do is assemble and freeze the dessert. Ice cream sundae squares are very rich, especially if you use premium vanilla ice cream.

Recipe

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats, quick or old-fashioned
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter, melted
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened
2 10-ounce jars hot fudge topping

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine sugar, oats, pecans, and flour in a large bowl. Drizzle in melted butter and stir to make a crumbly dough. Pat onto a cookie sheet in a thin, even layer (it does not need to be very neat) and bake until lightly browned, 15 minutes. Crumble into large pieces while still hot and set aside to cool.

Spread half of crumbs in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch pan; drizzle with one jar of the fudge. (If the fudge sauce is too thick to pour, heat it up a bit, but be sure to let the drizzled fudge sauce cool, or the ice cream will melt.) Spread ice cream over crumbs in an even layer. Top with remaining crumbs and drizzle with last jar of fudge sauce. Freeze until hardened, at least three hours. Cut into squares to serve. Serves 8 to 12. *Note:* Another yummy version is to use butter pecan ice cream with caramel sauce.