These soft m&m cookie ice cream sandwiches are the perfect hurrah to end the summer season. My favorite m&m cookie recipe are the perfect thing for cookie ice cream sandwiches, as they’re so soft and chewy, and they pair perfectly with creamy vanilla ice cream.

Easy M&M Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

We’re unofficially at the end of summer, and while I’ve been silently crying that the summer season is leaving us (I’m a warm weather girl to my core), I know 99% of people are already pretending it’s fall. 😂

Before we move to all things pumpkin and spice, I’ve got one final summer ice cream dessert to end the season with a bang.

While I’m certainly not going to turn down ice cream during the fall and winter months, there’s nothing like having a cold and creamy dessert in the heat of the spring and summer months. It’s the perfect way to cool yourself down when it’s 90 degrees and sunny.

Cookie ice cream sandwiches are my absolute weakness, and this M&M version is such a classic ice cream sandwich. My favorite soft and chewy m&m cookies are filled with creamy vanilla ice cream for the perfect summer dessert.

What Makes These Vanilla M&M Ice Cream Sandwiches So Good!

Soft Cookies: I think the key to making homemade ice cream sandwiches with cookies as your outer layer is to make sure you are using a cookie recipe that’s going to leave you with soft m&m cookies. This way, when they freeze, they aren’t going to be so hard you can’t bite into them.
M&Ms: Obviously, because these are M&M cookies, they are going to have M&Ms and be amazing. I just forget sometimes how much I love cookies with m&ms. The milk chocolate candy is so sweet and perfect with a chocolate chip cookie base.
Easy: You can definitely use homemade vanilla ice cream, but my shortcut to these is to use my favorite store-bought vanilla ice cream. We’ve already made the cookies and there are so many great brands that make a really creamy vanilla ice cream.

If you are still craving all things summer and ice cream: Strawberry Ice Cream, Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, S’mores Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches, and Mocha Coconut Ice Cream Sandwiches.

And if you’re conflicted and want both the holidays and ice cream, I’ve got you covered: Peppermint Sugar Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter: I’m a big believer in unsalted butter for most baking recipe, because I’m going to salt my dough and add sea salt later.
Brown Sugar
Granulated Sugar
Egg
All Purpose Flour
Cornstarch
Baking Soda
Salt & Sea Salt: We use regular salt for the batter and then I like to add sea salt on top of the cookies after they’ve baked.
Espresso Powder: Unnecessary, but also very necessary. It enhances the flavor of the cookies without adding a coffee flavor.
Vanilla Extract
M&Ms: You can use any M&Ms here. I happened to have red, white, and blue M&Ms so that’s what I used. But in these M&M chocolate chip cookie bars, I used Valentine’s M&Ms (because I buy them in bulk since I’m obsessed with the pink and white colors).
Vanilla Ice Cream

How To Make These Vanilla Ice Cream M&M Cookie Sandwiches

This is a brief overview of how to make these m&m cookie ice cream sandwiches. There’s a full printable recipe below.

Cookie Dough: With a standing mixer or a hand mixer, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar, and continue to cream the mixture until light and fluffy. Next, add in the egg and mix. Add in baking soda, salt, espresso powder, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Then, add in the flour and cornstarch. Mix. Lastly, add in the M&Ms.

Bake: Scoop the cookie dough with a medium or large cookie scoop and bake on a parchment lined sheet pan until the centers look just done and they are beginning to lightly brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet (they will continue to cook, which is good since we take them out of the oven when they’re still a little underdone). Sprinkle with sea salt, if desired.

Ice Cream: I like to line a 1/2 cup dry measuring cup with saran wrap and then scoop my vanilla ice cream into it, pressing the ice cream down. Pull out the plastic wrap and wrap the ice cream; then freeze until hard. The vanilla ice cream is a perfect circle, which makes it so easy to sandwich (see how in the video of this Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwich post).

Assembly: Put each vanilla ice cream circle on the bottom of a cookie and top with another cookie. Gently press down. Then serve or put back into the freezer until you’re ready to eat.

Storage Tips:

It’s an ice cream cookie sandwich so we’re obviously going to be storing these in the freezer. I like to wrap each ice cream m&m cookie sandwich in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer, but you can store them in ziplock bags or an airtight container.

Variations:

M&Ms: Use any color M&M you want for the cookies! I love red, white, and blue m&ms, because they make the m&m cookies super summery, but use whatever color you want to, and you can even use a different flavor—peanut butter, peanut, dark chocolate (although did they discontinue this flavor? I haven’t seen a dark chocolate m&m in a hot minute and I sure could use some in my life).
Ice Cream: Not feeling the classic vanilla? Use whatever ice cream flavor you want in these ice cream cookie sandwiches. A classic chocolate (or chocolate chip) or coffee flavor is my personal fav if I’m not going vanilla.
Chocolate Dip: And, you can also dip the ice cream sandwiches in melted chocolate or melted magic shell. If you do this, you do have to work somewhat quickly so the ice cream doesn’t melt while you’re dipping.

Other Favorite Ice Cream Recipes:

Final Tips For Making These Summery M&M Ice Cream Sandwiches:

Cookies: Make sure you don’t over bake the cookies, otherwise they will be a little crunchy if you eat them straight out of the freezer.
Ice Cream: You can scoop the ice cream directly onto the cookies and call it a day, but I love to use a cylindrical measuring cup (1/2 cup size works great), lay a piece of plastic wrap in it, and press my ice cream into it. Then I pull the ice cream out with the plastic wrap edge, wrap, and freeze. I’ve got perfect ice cream circles.
M&Ms: You could also use mini m&ms and decorate the edges of the ice cream sandwiches. Hold the cookie ice cream sandwiches and roll the edges in a bowl of mini m&ms.