Best Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Homemade ice cream sandwiches, made with store-bought or homemade cookies and your favorite ice cream flavor, is a chance to let your creativity shine during the summer when maybe you don't want to turn on an oven.

Why You'll Love Ice Cream Sandwiches

If you've never made ice cream sandwiches, promise me this is the summer you'll do it.

Think of how great a Chipwich is then mutiple that by 1,000 and you'll know how decadent a homemade ice cream sandwich can be.

Plus, are you more of an espresso person than a vanilla?

Me too! We should be besties.

Make your ice cream sandwiches with espresso ice cream--if it has coffee in it and dairy and protein from the ice cream then it's breakfast right?

Or use lemon ice cream or chocolate or strawberry or s'mores ice cream!

Ice cream sandwiches are excellent year-round but they are especially satisfying when the temperature rises.

If you're looking for more frozen recipes, try my Frozen Yogurt Bark or make How to Make Flower Ice Cubes.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love Ice Cream Sandwiches
• Ice Cream Sandwich Ingredients
• Instructions
• Recipe Notes
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• Recipe
• Comments

Ice Cream Sandwich Ingredients

• ice cream (no need to use vanilla unless you love it, get what you like)
• cookies, store-bought or homemade, if homemade try Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies or Toffee Doodle Cookies or Easy Chocolate Toffee Cookies.
• toppings in which to roll the exposed part of your homemade ice sandwich

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Meanwhile, gather your cookies, toppings and equipment. 

Place eight cookies on parchment lined cookie sheet.

Scoop one portion, about a third of a cup, of ice cream onto each cookie.

Then, top each scoop of ice cream with a cookie and press firmly so the ice squishes, that’s the official word, all over the base cookie. 

Working quickly, roll the sides of the ice cream sandwich (where the ice cream is showing) into the toppings of your choice.

You’ll probably have to push the toppings into the ice cream with your fingers to get the toppings to stick.

Put your tray of ice cream sandwiches into the freezer to solidify if they start getting melty.

Then individually wrap each cookie sandwich in plastic wrap or wax paper.

Put all the individually wrapped ice cream sandwiches into a freezer safe container or a Ziplock.

Put back in the freezer. 

Recipe Notes

Pull the ice cream out of your freezer five to ten minutes before you’re going to start making the sandwiches. 

It’s hard to scoop ice cream that’s frozen solid. 

Or, use a tip from Martha Stewart and put the ice cream in your refrigerator for 15 minutes before you make the ice cream sandwiches.

Another hack, put the ice cream in your stand mixer and beat it for a couple of minutes until the ice cream is a creamy consistency and much easier to spread on your cookies.

Do you have a decent ice cream scoop? This ice cream scoop is preferred by soda jerks everywhere and should last you your life time.

And, it will be easier to make the ice cream and the cookies form into nice little ice cream sandwiches if you’re dealing with slightly softened ice cream. 

A tip from The Martha Stewart is to put your ice cream in the fridge for 15 minutes before you start making ice cream sandwiches.

You could also put your ice cream in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat it for a minute or two until creamy for easier spreading on the cookies.

Substitutions

• Ice cream -substitute lactose-free ice cream or sorbet instead for lactose allergies.

Or, here's a low-carb and gluten-free ice cream sandwich recipe from my friend Annie.

Variations

There are so many ways to vary your ice cream sandwich.

• Ice Cream - instead of vanilla try chocolate, espresso, chocolate chip, raspberry, strawberry, banana or your personal favorite flavor.
• Cookies - use gingersnaps or confetti cookies or toasted waffles or graham crackers or those stroopwafel cookies, those would be amazing. Or, go the traditional route with Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers.
• Mix-ins - And by mix-ins, I mean the things you coat the sides of the ice cream sandwich with. Leave the ice cream sandwich plain. Or use anything you like really, crushed granola, toffee bits, miniature M&M candies, crushed Butterfinger candies, Reese's Pieces, your imagination is the limit.

Equipment

• You need a good ice cream scoop
• a knife for smoothing out the sides of the ice cream
• a cookie sheet or cutting board for transferring the freshly made ice cream sandwiches to your freezer for solidifying.
• Wax paper or parchment paper to hold whatever little candy or nuts you're going to press into the exposed sides of the ice cream sandwich. Use little bowls if you like, but wax paper might be simpler if you're just using one or two choices.
• Packaging for your ice cream sandwich--either plastic baggies or wax paper or plastic wrap to wrap them individually. I recommend putting the individually wrapped ice cream sandwiches into a larger resealable freezer-safe container to keep them extra fresh.

Storage

Store homemade ice cream sandwiches individually wrapped in a freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to three months.