Cookies and cream ice cream
Cookies and cream is vanilla ice cream packed with crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies, creamy and flecked gray and black throughout.
Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere. What the badge means
Cookies and cream ice cream is a plain vanilla base studded with chocolate sandwich cookie pieces. It is a classic, easy to find in almost any grocery freezer case.
This page covers how it tastes, where it comes from, how to make it at home, what to serve with it, how common it is and what the nutrition figures show.
What cookies and cream tastes like
Cookies and cream starts with vanilla ice cream. Crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies are its main mix-in. The ice cream is creamy, with soft pieces of cookie that give a little as you bite.
The color tells you what it is. The pale base is flecked with gray and black. Fine crumbs tint the ice cream gray, and larger chunks stay dark. The taste is simple: you get mild vanilla cream first, then the darker chocolate taste of the cookies. The cookies soften in the cold base, so the texture stays smooth rather than crunchy.
Where cookies and cream comes from
The story goes that cookies and cream began in 1979 at South Dakota State University. Dairy Herd reports the university’s claim: its dairy plant manager, Shirley Seas, had two students crush chocolate sandwich cookies into ice cream. The flavor was first named after a cookie brand. It was renamed cookies ‘n cream after a lawyer warned that the first name could infringe a trademark. SDSU never patented it.
The university is not the only claimant. Dairy Herd notes that companies including Dreyer’s, Edy’s, Blue Bell and Herrell’s also say they invented the flavor. Who made it first is disputed.
The flavor sells well. In IDFA’s 2022 survey of 132 makers and scoop shops, 83% named cookies and cream among their ten best-selling flavors. That was the highest share of any flavor.
How to make cookies and cream at home
No-churn is the base style we suggest for cookies and cream. It uses sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream, so you need no machine. The Base Builder sets that style up for you. If you own a machine, a Philadelphia base (no eggs) works too. Either way, keep the base plain vanilla, because the cookies carry the flavor.
Break chocolate sandwich cookies into pieces and add them last. With a machine, fold them in at the end of churning. In factories, cookies and other pieces go in as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when it is about as soft as soft serve. The end of churning is the home version of that moment. Fine crumbs tint the base gray, so keep some larger pieces if you want clear dark flecks.
The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe. If you already have a recipe you like, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.
Base formula
Open the Base Builder: No-churn (condensed milk and whipped cream)
Other styles that suit it: Philadelphia (no eggs)
The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.
What to serve with cookies and cream
Cookies and cream is rich and sweet, so it pairs well with a few strong flavors. Hot fudge is the natural topping, and it doubles down on the chocolate in the cookies. A scoop of mint alongside adds a cool flavor that cuts through the cream. Peanut butter, as a sauce or as a scoop next to it, brings a nutty note that plays well against the cookie pieces.
- hot fudge
- mint
- peanut butter
How common cookies and cream is
Our badge for cookies and cream is a full moon, 5 of 5, labeled Classic: a classic you can buy almost anywhere. The badge shows how easy the flavor is to find, not how much people like it.
In IDFA's April 2026 survey of 2,205 U.S. adults, it ranked 4th of 40. In that survey, 23% picked it as one of up to five favorites, and 6% named it their single favorite. Instacart's 2025 order data put it at No. 4 in its top 10, at about 5.8% of ice cream orders. In Talker Research's June 2025 survey of 5,000 Americans, 9% named it their favorite.
How it ranks in surveys and order data
| Survey | Result |
|---|---|
| IDFA survey, April 20262,205 U.S. adults, online, April 7-9, 2026, margin of error +/-2 points | Ranked 4th of 40: 23% picked it as one of up to five favoritesThe survey's line: Cookies and Cream/Oreo |
| IDFA survey, April 20262,205 U.S. adults, online, April 7-9, 2026, margin of error +/-2 points | 6% named it their single favorite |
| IDFA survey, April 20242,203 U.S. adults, online, April 16-18, 2024, margin of error +/-2 points | Ranked 5th of 40: 21% picked it as one of up to five favoritesThe survey's line: Cookies and Cream/Oreo |
| Instacart orders, 2025Instacart ice cream orders during 2025 | No. 4 in the top 10: about 5.8% of ice cream orders |
| Talker Research survey, 20255,000 Americans, 100 per state, June 23-30, 2025 | 9% named it their favorite |
| YouGov poll, 20221,000 U.S. adult citizens, July 13-18, 2022, 21 flavors offered | 7% named it their favorite |
| YouGov poll, 2020nearly 20,000 U.S. adults, published July 14, 2020 | 6% named it their favorite |
- Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
- Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
- Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
- Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
- Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.
Nutrition, roughly
FoodData Central has no record for cookies and cream itself. These figures are for a plain vanilla base, not for this flavor. Regular vanilla ice cream has 207 kcal per 100 grams, or about 137 kcal per 1/2 cup (66 g). Rich vanilla has 249 kcal per 100 grams. The cookies and the sweeteners you use change the numbers.
Nutrition per 100 grams
| FoodData Central record | Calories | Fat | Saturated fat | Sugars | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice creams, vanilla FDC 167575 1/2 cup (66 g): about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat | 207 kcal | 11 g | 6.79 g | 21.2 g | 3.5 g |
| Ice creams, vanilla, rich FDC 167573 | 249 kcal | 16.2 g | 10.30 g | 20.6 g | 3.5 g |
FoodData Central has no record for cookies and cream itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.
Questions people ask
Who invented cookies and cream ice cream?
Nobody knows for sure, because the answer is disputed. South Dakota State University says its dairy plant made it in 1979. Several ice cream companies also say they invented the flavor.
When do I add the cookies to cookies and cream?
Add them at the end of churning. Break chocolate sandwich cookies into pieces and fold them in when the ice cream is about as soft as soft serve. That is also the point when factories add cookie pieces.
Why does my cookies and cream turn gray?
Fine cookie crumbs tint the vanilla base gray. That is normal and part of the flavor's look. For a paler base with clear dark flecks, break the cookies into larger pieces and add them last.
Can I add raw cookie dough or flour as a mix-in?
The FDA says no. It calls flour a raw food and says home cooks should not eat raw dough or try to heat-treat flour at home. The chocolate sandwich cookies used here are baked.
More flavors to try
-
Bakery and dessert
Cookie dough ice cream
Vanilla ice cream with soft chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough
-
Bakery and dessert
Birthday cake ice cream
Sweet vanilla tasting of cake batter, with colorful sprinkles
-
Bakery and dessert
Brownie fudge ice cream
Chocolate or vanilla ice cream with brownie pieces and fudge ripple
-
Bakery and dessert
Red velvet ice cream
Red-tinted chocolate ice cream with cake pieces and cream cheese swirl
Plan and make it with these
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Recipe Scaler and Converter
Ice cream recipe converter: cups to grams
Scale an ice cream recipe by a factor, a batch volume or your machine, and see every line in grams and cups.
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Scoop size chart
Ice cream scoop sizes and the disher number chart
The number stamped on an ice cream scoop tells you how many level scoopfuls fill one quart, so a #8 holds 4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) and a #16 holds 2.
Sources
- The Great Debate: Who Invented Cookies 'N Cream Ice Cream? Dairy Herd (Farm Journal)
- Ice Cream and Frozen Novelty Trends 2022 report (132 makers and scoop shops, 1,002 consumers) International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
- Ice cream preferences of U.S. adults, topline results (Morning Consult for IDFA, April 7 to 9, 2026) International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
- Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice cream survey of U.S. adults, topline results (Morning Consult for IDFA, April 16 to 18, 2024) International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)
- Pint-Sized Obsessions: Instacart Maps America's Favorite Ice Cream (2025 orders, July 2026) Instacart
- New Mexico, New Jersey are America's top ice cream connoisseurs (5,000 adults, June 23 to 30, 2025) Talker Research
- America's favorite ice cream flavors (poll of July 13 to 18, 2022) YouGov
- Most popular ice cream flavors (July 14, 2020) YouGov
- Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
- Ice creams, vanilla, rich (FDC 167573) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.