Let me tell you, homemade ice cream sandwiches are SO much better than the soggy bland ones from the grocery store.
Plus you can get really creative with the shapes and decorations to make them the best part of any Fourth of July BBQ or party.
I’ll always remember something I learned years ago from Ina Garten about hosting and entertaining. She said something along the lines of the two most memorable moments of the night are often what you serve first and last. So dessert better be a show stopper!
These sandwiches are exactly that. Next to the fireworks they’ll be the best part of your Independence Day celebrations!
How to Make Red Velvet Ice Cream Sandwiches
The Ice Cream
For the ice cream, feel free to use store-bought ice cream to make this recipe easier.
If you want to make EASY homemade ice cream, check out my post on How to Make Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Machine! I actually have a flavor variation for “cheesecake” that would be perfect for these ice cream sandwiches.
The Cookies
These sandwiches use my from scratch Red Velvet Cookie recipe as the base. The cookies can be made and frozen weeks in advance.
I find this recipe works perfectly because the cookies are sturdy enough to hold their shape but not so crunchy that they nearly chip your teeth when you bite into them frozen.
How to Assemble Perfect Ice Cream Sandwiches
If you’ve just shaped your cookies into rounds then you can simply scoop out your ice cream and sandwich with abandon.
However, if you’re using a cookie cutter to get perfectly shaped sandwiches (as pictured) then pay attention here.
The first step is to allow the ice cream to soften then to spread it into a large rimmed baking dish. Then return it to the freezer. This will allow you to stamp out shapes of ice cream using the same cookie cutter you used for the cookie dough. What kind of baking dish should you use? Whatever you have that will allow you to stamp out 12 pieces of ice cream. Obviously the larger the dish, the thinner you ice cream layer will be.
As you assemble you’ll likely need to pop the fresh ice cream sandwiches in the freezer before they’re all assembled. Start with everything cold so you don’t have to fight against melting. But you can always return the ice cream to the freezer if it gets too warm as you assemble.
For extra perfect ice cream sandwiches, you can actually take the same cookie cutter you used to initially shape the cookie dough and use it again on the baked cookies. This will trim off any spread that occurred while baking so the edge of the ice cream and the edge of the cookies are perfectly aligned.
How to Decorate Ice Cream Sandwiches
If you’re making these for the Fourth of July or Memorial Day then red, white, and blue sprinkles are the perfect decoration!
If you’re making them for Valentine’s Day then you can cut the cookies into hearts and use pink sprinkles.
You can also drizzle these cookies with white chocolate for a fun and flavorful decoration.
Lastly, you can even make this recipe for St. Patrick’s Day. Just use green food coloring instead of red. Maybe even swap in Mint Chocolate Chip or Irish Cream ice cream for the filling!
How to Store Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches
To freeze the sandwiches for longer than a day, wrap them individually in plastic and and them pop them in an airtight container for a week. They may keep even longer than that depending on your freezer.
How to Serve Ice Cream Sandwiches
If your sandwiches have been in the freezer for an extended period of time, you may want to allow them to sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. This way they’re not rock solid.
If you want even more ice cream sandwich recipes, I published an entire cookbook on the subject! Check it out here.
These star ice cream sandwiches were the best 4th of July dessert ever!!!!! The presentation was beautiful and everyone loved them. Can’t wait to make them again!!!!!
Thank you for a great holiday treat!!!!
So awesome to hear this! I’m happy your ice cream sandwiches were such a hit, hooray!!
hi i was wondering how you got the little circles in the cookies! lmk thanks!!
Tessa’s recipes are easy to understand. with lots of delicious food.
I play Dota 2 and COD: WW2, both are awesome, they eat all my free time HELP ME 😀
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It looks fantastic thanks for the amazing tips.
Well done Tessa, really amazing recipe, my kids loved it.
I like the way it looks and judging from ingredients it must taste good as well, kids will love it!
Looks really awesome, I bet it tastes good as well, right?
I will make it on my next birthdya party 🙂
Oh my kids will love it, thank you forsharing
LOL When I saw it the first time I thought it was made from material.
The kids are going to love this recipe, it looks so good.
hey girl- this looks so yummy!