Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Bars

These cookies & cream ice cream bars are peak summer. They have just four ingredients, no baking, and truly one of the easiest treats to pull together. The cookie crust has the perfect sweet crunch, while the vanilla ice cream filling is loaded with big bites of Oreos.

We made these for our fourth of july celebrations and not a single bar made it back to the freezer. They’re nostalgic and a little messy in the best way, and they taste just like those freezer aisle treats we begged for as kids, but even better .

Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Bars – Tips & Tricks

• Let the ice cream sit out for about 10–15 minutes so it’s easy to stir, but not melted.
• Press the crusts in firmly so they hold together when slicing.
• A large knife works best when cutting frozen bars—run it under hot water for extra clean slices.

Variations

• Use mint chip or another ice cream for a twist on the classic cookies and cream flavor.
• Drizzle with hot fudge or dip in magic shell before serving.
• Swap in gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies to make it GF.

Print

Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Bars

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cooling 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 9

Ingredients

• 13 oz Chocolate sandwich cookies about 33 cookies, for the crust
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• 7 oz Chocolate sandwich cookies roughly crushed into quarter-sized pieces
• 2 pints vanilla ice cream softened (but not melted)

Instructions

Prep the crust:

• Line an 8×8″ pan with parchment paper, leaving a bit of overhang so you can lift the bars out later.
• Make the Oreo crumb mixture:
• In a food processor, pulse 13 oz of chocolate sandwich cookies until finely ground. Add melted butter and pulse again until it looks like damp sand.
  

Press the bottom crust:

• Scoop half of the cookie mixture into the prepared pan and press it down firmly into an even layer—we use the bottom of a measuring cup to get it really compact.
  

Make the filling:

• In a large bowl, using a spatula, gently fold the 7 oz of roughly crushed Oreos into the softened vanilla ice cream. The Oreo pieces should be about the size of a quarter—we like a mix of sizes for texture.
  

Assemble the bars:

• Spread the ice cream mixture evenly over the crust, smoothing the top. Then sprinkle the remaining half of the cookie mixture over the top and gently press it down to form the second crust.

Freeze:

• Freeze the bars for at least 1 hour, or until firm enough to slice. Lift out using the parchment, slice into squares, and serve immediately (or store in an airtight container in the freezer).