Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches are chocolate cookies with a layer of creamy homemade vanilla ice cream in between for a delicious frozen treat! After you make my no-churn ice cream for this treat, you will want to immediately make another batch to enjoy on its own!
Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ice cream sandwiches are a perfect summertime treat. In fact, we are in the middle of July right now, the month in which most ice cream sandwiches are consumed. So, instead of going out and buying this frozen treat, make your own!
Ingredients
There are two parts to this treat–the vanilla ice cream and the chocolate cookies.
Ice Cream: You just need four ingredients and no special equipment for no-churn ice cream. Be sure to get sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) to use.
Room Temperature Ingredients: Using room temperature ingredients (specifically the butter and egg) will give you the best results when making these chocolate cookies.
Cocoa: I tested the sandwich cookies with both Dutch-processed and regular unsweetened cocoa powder. We all preferred the regular unsweetened cocoa powder over the Dutch-processed. However, you could use either.
Rolling and Chilling Cookie Dough
I am not going to lie, the process of making these ice cream sandwiches does take some time and patience. But, it is worth it! Once you have the cookie dough mixed together, get it rolled out onto a sheet of parchment paper into a 12×15-inch rectangle.
Place the sheet of rolled-out cookie dough into the refrigerator to chill for 25-30 minutes. Placing the dough in the refrigerator lets it firm up so it is easier to work with. You will need to do that for each sheet of cookie dough you roll.
Cutting the Cookie Dough
When ready to cut the dough into rectangles, you can use a 4×2-inch paper template to help or use a cookie cutter of that size. After cutting out the rectangles, roll out any excess dough and place it into the refrigerator to chill again, until ready to cut out more cookies. I was able to cut out 24 cookies for a total of 12 ice cream sandwiches.
And, of course, you could make the sandwiches in any shape you prefer! Grab your favorite cookie cutter or design your own shape for the ice cream sandwiches.
How to Store Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches
First, let the sandwiches freeze for a minimum of 8 hours, covered with plastic wrap. After that, I like to individually wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and store them in a freezer-safe container. They will last in the freezer for up to a month.
Can I Use Store-bought Ice Cream?
Sure! (Although I really hope you try my ice cream recipe, too; it really is THAT creamy and velvety…). Anyway, I digress. Yes, you can use store-bought ice cream. If you do, let it soften slightly before pressing it into a 9×13-inch baking dish.
Then, place the pan of ice cream in the freezer for about an hour to refreeze before cutting it into rectangles. You could also try other flavors of ice cream, too!
Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
Ice Cream
- 2 cups (476 g) heavy whipping cream
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
Sandwich Cookie
- 1¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (39 g) cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Ice Cream
- Line a 9×13-inch pan with parchment paper, including up the sides. Set aside.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the heavy cream. Start mixing at the lowest speed, and then gradually increase speed to medium until the cream starts to get thicker. (The gradual progression prevents you from spraying yourself with cream.)
- The cream will thicken and start to peak. Mix on high speed until the cream is thick and stiff. This happens quickly, so watch it closely!
- In a medium bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, salt, and 1 cup of whipped cream.
- Gently fold the sweetened condensed milk mixture back into the mixing bowl with the rest of the whipped cream.
- Pour the mixture into the lined 9×13-inch pan and freeze for at least 3 hours, or until fully set up.
Sandwich Cookies
- Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate large mixing bowl add butter and both sugars. Beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Add in the egg and vanilla and continue mixing until combined.
- Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture until combined. Do not over mix.
- On a large sheet of parchment paper, roll out the dough to a 12×15-inch rectangle, about ⅛-inch thick. Place it into the refrigerator to chill for 25-30 minutes, or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- When firm, cut out 4×2-inch rectangles and place them on the parchment paper-lined baking sheets. (Using a 4×2-inch paper template is helpful when cutting.) Use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the surface of the dough rectangles. With the excess dough, re-roll it and place it back into the refrigerator for another 25-30 minutes. Cut out another batch of 4×2-inch rectangles and poke a few holes. Repeat with the rest of the dough. You should be able to get a total of 24 rectangles cut.
- Bake 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are firm. The center will still be a little soft. Cool completely.
Assembly
- Cut the ice cream into 12, 4×2-inch rectangles.
- Set out one cookie, place a rectangular block of ice cream on top, and top with another cookie. Place on parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining cookies and ice cream.
- Cover the ice cream sandwiches with a sheet of plastic wrap. Freeze for 8 hours, up to overnight.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
Question…Being the cliff notes kinda gal could I just roll the dough out to fill the cookie sheet then bake the cookies let them cool, use a pizza cutter to first cut it in half add ice cream to one side top with the other and finally cut them into sandwiches? Or serve it like a giant ice cream sandwich “cake”.
You’re the best and love your posts
Yup! You can absolutely simplify.
Thank you for the recipe I’ve always wanted a recipe to make them will make them soon
You are after my own heart!!! I will be attempting to make these ice cream Sammy’s (sandwich) this weekend. Will give the yummy out come. Thank you for all your posted recipes.
Barbara
I just came here for the cookie recipe! I made them round shaped and man were they delicious! Also added a dash of pumpkin spice. My kids loved them. Will have to try with a low sugar icecream for the next time I make these. Thank you for sharing this 💟
Wow! I found this to be very challenging. First of all, I couldn’t “roll” my cookie dough because it just stuck to the rolling pin. I had to press it out with my hand – and I’ll be lucky if I get eight ice cream sandwiches. How in the world do you handle something that is only 1/8th of an inch thick? I would love to see a video of how you did this! Everything tastes so good and I’d love to master it, but it’s a booger to get it all together.
Do the cookies soften like the ones you get in store? I tried one recipe and the wafers remained crunchy which was a big disappointment.
Awesome recipe fr