Mint-Oreo fudge for book club

It's a new month, and so it was time for another book club! This time around we read The Gum Thief, by Douglas Coupland, which was a fantastic choice by the lovely and fabulous Tiny E. Tiny E, aside from making a great book choice, also cooked up a storm, feeding us a fantastic pasta with homemade bolognese, roasted asparagus and a tasty panzanella salad. It was a feast!

I brought along some dessert, a Mint-Oreo fudge that I adapted from a cookies-and-cream fudge recipe I found on Very Best Baking. I wanted to make it mint because I had these Guittard mint chips that have been haunting my pantry for a while. My good friend Liz S. makes fabulous dark chocolate cookies and puts the mint chips in those -- that's what I'd probably do next time (and believe it or not, I think I still have another bag of those chips lying in wait!). The fudge was a bit on the sweet side for me -- TinyE compared it to a mint icing with Oreos in it, so if that sounds good, you'll like this. More Oreos would also help (I mean, more Oreos are usually a good thing in any situation, right?). Also, I made it in a 9-inch square pan, and it was super thick for fudge. I'd recommend using a 9-by-13-inch pan instead.

Anyway -- hope you enjoy these!

Mint-Oreo Fudge
Makes 36-48 pieces

2 1/4 cups sugar
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
5-oz. can evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. salt
12-oz. package (2 cups) Guittard mint chips (or white chocolate chips)
7-oz. jar marshmallow crème
1/2 cup finely crushed Oreos (I used Newman-Os)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup crumbled Oreos

1. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil. (Use a 9-by-13-inch pan instead -- the 9-inch made the fudge really thick.)

2. In a large pan, mix sugar, butter, evaporated milk and salt, and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a full boil, whisking constantly. Allow to boil, whisking constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Whisk in mint chips, marshmallow crème, crushed cookies and vanilla. Pour into lined pan. Sprinkle crumbled cookies on top, and gently swirl into fudge with a knife, taking care not to touch bottom of pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.