I’m feeling a little nostalgic today.
Remembering the past got me hunting for the Hope Floats soundtrack on iTunes yesterday — a soundtrack I used to blast the summer between ninth and tenth grade. I paired it with Waiting to Exhale back then, completely convinced I was the world’s biggest hopeless romantic. Those were the summers of dramatic movie marathons: Beaches, Steel Magnolias, Jerry Maguire. Guilty pleasures, yes, but they felt right at the time.
I never did find the soundtrack online, but I’m sure the original CD is somewhere in a bin in the basement with Eddie’s collection of CDs and his framed wrestling photos. Marriage is a charming mixture of shared spaces and compromise, apparently.
But let’s talk cookies and ice cream. These black and white cookie ice cream sandwiches were part of our Memorial Day weekend spread — alongside burgers, hot dogs, and plenty of donuts. They quickly became favorites.
Think of these as cake and ice cream mashed together. Black and white cookies are cakey, not chewy, so if you’re craving that dense, soft cookie texture, these are perfect. Fill them with ice cream and you get an almost-cake-and-ice-cream experience — rich, satisfying, and a little nostalgic.
Fun fact: black and white cookies were the first cookies I iced the night before starting this blog many years ago. It wasn’t the reason I started blogging, but frosting those cookies made me think, “Maybe I should embarrass myself and try this blog thing.” So I did — and here we are.
I make these cookies a couple times a year when we crave that cakey texture. If you’ve had a true black and white cookie, you know it’s a specific craving: cakey, tender, and topped with two contrasting icings. If you prefer chewy cookies, these will disappoint. But if you love cake-like cookies, these are everything.
Please don’t judge my uneven icing lines — they’re handmade, and they taste the same no matter how straight the line is.
For these sandwiches, I used the classic black-and-white frosting: a white glaze on one half and a chocolate glaze on the other. I filled them with vanilla and a fun pink dark chocolate ice cream for contrast. You can roll the sandwiches in sprinkles if you like, or freeze them for firmer, grab-and-go treats.
Black and White Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Pin Recipe
Leave a Review »
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened (about 11 tablespoons)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
- 1 pink dark chocolate ice cream (or other favorite flavor)
Icing
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 4 tablespoons water, plus more for chocolate frosting
- 1.3 cup unsweetened dutch-process/dark cocoa powder
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla and set aside.
-
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs and beat 2–3 more minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add half the dry ingredients, then pour in the vanilla-buttermilk. Once combined, add the remaining dry ingredients.
-
Use a tablespoon measure to scoop about 2 tablespoons of batter per cookie and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Gently spread each mound into a circle with the back of a spoon. Bake 12–13 minutes, until edges are just golden. Cool on the sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. When cool, gently scrape crumbs from the flat sides to create clean surfaces for sandwiches.
Icing
-
Place powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water, whisking until smooth and white. If needed, add another tablespoon of water so the glaze is spreadable but not runny.
-
Transfer half the glaze to another bowl and whisk in the cocoa powder, adding up to 2 more tablespoons of water until the chocolate glaze matches the white glaze in consistency. Frost each cookie: start with the white glaze, drizzle a line down the center, and spread to the edge; then frost the chocolate side. Let the cookies set an hour or two so the glaze firms. Chilling in the fridge or freezer helps the glaze hold up before adding ice cream.
-
To serve, set up an ice cream sandwich station so guests can scoop ice cream between cookies and press them together. You can prepare some ahead and freeze them, but note that the frosted side may become a bit sticky against a tray or plate.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to follow @howsweeteats on Instagram and tag #howsweeteats. Share a photo of your creation and I appreciate every single one!
Oh, hello perfection.