These Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches are made soft and chewy peanut butter cookies, rich chocolate ice cream, and finished with chocolate magic shell. These cookie ice cream sandwiches are the perfect summer dessert!
Where are my peanut butter and chocolate lovers at?? (Both hands are raised high in the air currently.)
Chocolate and peanut butter is a classic combination that’s rich and indulgent and practically perfect no matter how you spin it. Whether it’s heavy on the chocolate or heavy on the peanut butter, if both flavors are involved, it’s safe to say I’ll be coming back for seconds.
Now that we’re entering the triple digit heat of summer, I want a pint of ice cream in one hand and an iced coffee in the other pretty much at all times. If we’re getting really crazy, I want an ice cream sandwich with cookies and an iced lavender latte.
These Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches are first on the list.
Why This Recipe Works:
- Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies: These cookie ice cream sandwiches begin with my recipe for Chewy PB Cookies. They’re soft enough that they don’t get too hard in the freezer, therefore making them the perfect peanut butter cookies for ice cream sandwiches.
- Chocolate Magic Shell: You make a homemade magic shell for ice cream in this recipe. It’s a combination of coconut oil and chocolate chips, and it’s perfect for ice cream sandwiches because it hardens quickly, but is easy to bite through when frozen.
- Store Bought Ice Cream: If you’re feeling fancy, go ahead and make homemade ice cream (my homemade strawberry ice cream would be amazing on these cookies—kind of like a pb&j!), but I opted for store bought chocolate ice cream. It’s simple and it’s so creamy.
Need more chocolate and peanut butter in your life? These Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats, Peanut Butter Parfait Cake, this Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Pie, and these No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Bars are the perfect bite!
Ingredients:
Cookies:
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Unsalted Butter: Because there is already salt in the recipe, use unsalted butter. This allows you to control how much salt content is in the recipe.
- Creamy Peanut Butter: Use peanut butter like Skippy or Jif for this recipe. All natural, while awesome on PBJ’s, will create a very dry and crumbly cookie.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar has molasses in it, which makes for a very soft peanut butter cookie
- Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar in combination with brown sugar makes a perfectly chewy cookie.
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
Magic Shell:
- Chocolate Chips: I opted for dark chocolate chips, but you can use semi-sweet.
- Coconut Oil: This is what creates the hard shell in magic shell. It’s hardens quickly, but it’s still easy to bite through (unlike plain chocolate, which hardens and is hard to bite through when frozen)
Ice Cream:
- Chocolate Ice Cream: I used a creamy chocolate ice cream that I bought from the store, but if you have a favorite homemade chocolate ice cream recipe, you can use that!
How To Make Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches With Cookies:
Ice Cream:
- Using plastic wrap and 1/2 cup measuring cup (or something similar in size—see video for more details), shape ice cream into circular discs and place in the freezer until hard (you can do this ahead of time and leave them in the freezer until you’re ready to make the ice cream sandwiches).
Peanut Butter Cookies:
- Cream the butter and peanut butter together, until light and fluffy. Next, add brown sugar and granulated sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, and beat until combined. Mix in vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Lastly, add in flour. Roll into 1 Tbsp balls and roll in extra granulated sugar. Make a criss cross patter with a fork and bake. Allow to cool completely.
Chocolate Magic Shell:
- Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil together until smooth. You can do this in the microwave or over a double broiler. Allow to cool about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- **You will probably have extra magic shell. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature. This recipe calls for a large batch because you need a deep amount of chocolate in order to dunk the sandwiches properly.
Assembly:
- Unwrap the ice cream discs and place on the cookies. Top each with another cookie to form the sandwich. Dunk each ice cream sandwich about halfway into the magic shell and place on a parchment lined tray. If desired, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and mini chocolate chips.
Freeze:
- Allow to freeze 30 minute to 1 hour before serving (I put the parchment lined tray right into the freezer).
Storage Tips:
For obvious reasons, these peanut butter chocolate ice cream sandwiches should be stored in the freezer.
Even if you do not plan on serving them, after the sandwiches have been assembled, flash freeze them for 1 hour. Next, store them in an airtight freezer-safe container. Flash freezing them keeps them from sticking to each other so you can store them safely in an airtight container.
Or, you can individually wrap them in plastic wrap and store in the freezer.
Serving:
Let the cookie ice cream sandwiches sit a couple of minutes before eating to give them a little time to soften. You can eat them right away, but I think they taste richer and better after sitting for a couple of minutes.
Best Baking Tips:
- Peanut Butter Cookies: Make sure that you don’t over bake the cookies. If anything, I suggest slightly—just slightly—under baking the cookies. They will continue to bake on the sheet while they cool (so they won’t be underdone) making them the perfect texture for ice cream sandwiches.
- Ice Cream: As seen in the video and mentioned above, I like to form the ice cream into discs to put onto the cookies.
- Place plastic wrap in a 1/2 cup measuring cup, then spoon the ice cream into the measuring cup (you can fill all the way to the top, or you can fill it 2/3 of the way full—it’s up to you and your preference of how much ice cream you want in each sandwich). Cover with plastic wrap, remove from the measuring cup, and freeze.
- Make Ahead:
- One of the things I love about these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches is that you can make them ahead of time. You can make all or some of the parts of the recipe ahead of time too.
- You can make the ice cream discs ahead of time, leaving them in the freezer until you’re ready to assemble the sandwiches.
- You can also make the peanut butter cookies ahead of time, although I suggest only making them the night before. Cookies can dry out quickly.
- And, you can make the magic shell ahead of time, letting it sit in an airtight container at room temperature. If it solidifies, you can place it in the microwave to soften.
- One of the things I love about these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches is that you can make them ahead of time. You can make all or some of the parts of the recipe ahead of time too.
Final Tips for How To Make These Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches Successfully:
- Don’t Over Bake: Don’t over bake the peanut butter cookies, otherwise they will be too hard and crunchy, and they won’t make a great cookie ice cream sandwich.
- Pre-Scoop Ice Cream: While you can scoop ice cream directly onto the peanut butter cookies, I suggest using plastic wrap and a measuring cup to make disc-shaped ice cream that fits perfectly on each cookie.
- Freeze Ice Cream: Make sure the ice cream is frozen before you dunk the sandwiches in the magic shell. If the ice cream melts too much as you unwrap it, pop the sandwiches back into the freezer for 15-20 minutes, or until solid.
- Flash Freeze: Flash freeze the ice cream sandwiches before you store them in the freezer for later use. This keeps them from sticking to one another.
Other Recipes To Try Next:
- Mocha Coconut Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches
- S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Banana Split Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
- Buttermilk Strawberry Ice Cream
- Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (like Skippy or Jif)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, large
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
- 5-6 cups of chocolate ice cream**
- 2 cups dark chocolate chips (you can use semi-sweet as well)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- mini chocolate chips
- chopped peanuts
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking trays with parchment paper.
- With a standing mixer or a hand mixer, beat butter and peanut butter together, until light and fluffy.
- Add in the granulated sugar and the brown sugar, and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add in the egg, and beat until combined.
- Next, add in vanilla extract, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.
- Lastly, add in flour and mix until combined.
- Roll dough into 1 Tbsp sized balls, then roll in granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart (about 2” between each cookie).
- Use a fork to make the traditional ‘criss-cross’ pattern on each cookie.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies have just set on top (the cookies will continue to bake and set on the tray as they cool).
- Allow to cool completely before assembling ice cream sandwiches.
- Spread plastic wrap in a 1/2 cup circular measuring cup (or something circular that’s similar in size). Spoon ice cream into the measuring cup, pressing down to make sure it forms into a disc shape.**
- Fold the plastic wrap over to cover the ice cream. Remove from the measuring cup. Repeat until you have 12 discs.
- Freeze until ready to use. (I suggest freezing at least 30-1 hour, especially if the ice cream is soft.)
- Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil together until smooth. You can melt in the microwave, stirring after each hit in the microwave (I suggest doing 30 second increments at 50% power), or you can melt in a double broiler.
- Allow the magic shell to cool 10-15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.
- Place 12 cooled peanut butter cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Unwrap the ice cream, and place one ice cream disc on each cookie.
- Top each with the remaining 12 cookies to form a sandwich.
- *If the ice cream has melted at all during this process, place the sandwiches in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, or until the ice cream is frozen.
- Dunk each ice cream sandwich about halfway into the magic shell, and place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and mini chocolate chips, if desired.
- Freeze for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving (I put the baking tray directly into the freezer and freeze).***
**4-6 cups of ice cream is about 1 - 1 1/2 quarts of ice cream. The amount of ice cream you need will vary on how much ice cream you want in each sandwich. If you fill your 1/2 cup measuring cup to the top, you will need roughly 6 cups. If you fill those only 1/2-2/3 of the way full, you will need roughly 4-5 cups.
***If you don’t serve right away, do freeze for 1 hour after assembly a baking tray. Then store in an airtight container and freeze for later use. Flash freezing for 1 hour keeps the ice cream sandwiches from sticking to one another.
Here are some other chocolate peanut butter recipes to try next!
No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Bars
Marshmallow Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Bars
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