The filling in these ice cream sandwiches is seven frozen bananas and a food processor, which means no machine, no custard, no eggs and no cream anywhere in the recipe.
Frozen banana does something no other fruit does. Blitzed long enough in a processor it moves through gritty, then gluey, then suddenly turns over into a smooth, pale, genuinely scoopable frozen dessert with the texture of soft serve. Toasted sweetened coconut folded in at the end stops it tasting purely of banana. It gets pressed between old-fashioned fork-pressed peanut butter cookies, drizzled with chocolate and hit with flaky salt.
- No churning, no machine and no custard to temper
- The filling is two ingredients and takes about four minutes
- Makes twenty, which is a party rather than a dessert
- Dairy-free filling, so half the work is already allergy-friendly
- Uses up the black bananas nobody in the house will eat
- They keep for two months wrapped, so you can build them well ahead
The whole thing is unhurried rather than hard. Most of the time on the clock is bananas freezing, dough chilling and the finished stacks setting.
- What Makes These Ice Cream Sandwiches Different
- Ingredient Notes
- The Two-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream
- Peanut Butter Cookies That Stay Soft in the Freezer
- How To Make Ice Cream Sandwiches
- How To Tell When the Ice Cream Sandwiches Are Set
- Make It Ahead
- Storing Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Variations and Substitutions
- What to Serve with Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Ice Cream Sandwiches FAQ
What Makes These Ice Cream Sandwiches Different
Nearly every homemade version is a cookie recipe with a tub of store-bought vanilla in the middle. That is a perfectly good dessert and it is not really a recipe.
Here the frozen part is the point. Ripe banana is high in pectin and, once frozen and broken down, holds air the way a churned base does. You get the mouthfeel of soft serve out of fruit alone, with no stabilizers, no cream and no ice cream maker on a shelf somewhere.
The trade is honest: banana ice cream melts faster than dairy and it tastes unmistakably of banana. Toasted coconut is there to give it a second note, and the peanut butter cookies do the rest. Peanut butter and banana is a combination that needs no defending.
There is one more difference worth flagging. Because there is no dairy in the filling, these ice cream sandwiches refreeze cleanly after a soft moment on the counter, where a cream-based one would go icy.
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Ingredient Notes
Quantities are on the recipe card below. These are the choices that matter.
- Bananas: Seven, and properly ripe. Heavy freckling at minimum, black skins ideally. Underripe fruit tastes starchy and no amount of blending fixes it.
- Toasted sweetened coconut: A third of a cup, toasted until it smells nutty. Sweetened flakes toast faster and carry more flavor than unsweetened shreds here.
- Peanut butter: The stabilized supermarket kind, not natural. The National Peanut Board’s comparison of natural and regular peanut butter explains that regular jars carry hydrogenated oil to stop separation, and that consistency is exactly what a cookie dough needs. Natural peanut butter bleeds oil and gives you a flat, greasy cookie.
- Shortening: Butter-flavored vegetable shortening, as the original called for. It has a higher melting point than butter, so the cookies stay soft rather than snapping when frozen.
- Chocolate chips and espresso powder: A cup of semisweet with a quarter teaspoon of espresso powder, which deepens the chocolate without tasting of coffee.
- Flaky salt: Fleur de sel or Maldon. Fine salt dissolves on contact and disappears.
The Two-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream
This is the part people get wrong, and it is entirely about patience with the machine.
Peel the bananas before freezing, always. A frozen banana in its skin is a twenty-minute job to peel and you will lose half the fruit. Cut them into coins or chunks and freeze them in a single layer on a plate for one to two hours. Frozen much longer than that and they need fifteen minutes on the counter before the blades will touch them.
Then blitz. The mixture goes through three stages and most people stop at the second. First it looks like coarse rubble. Next it clumps into a gluey ball that rides around the bowl and seems wrong. Keep going, scraping the sides down every thirty seconds, and it breaks and turns pale, smooth and creamy. That whole process takes three to five minutes in a full-size processor.
Pulse the toasted coconut in at the very end so it stays in recognizable flecks. If your kitchen is warm the base will be soft, which is fine here, since it is going straight between cookies and back into the freezer.
Peanut Butter Cookies That Stay Soft in the Freezer
A cookie that is pleasant at room temperature can be inedible at zero degrees Fahrenheit, and this is the failure most homemade ice cream sandwiches share.
Three things keep these bitable. Shortening rather than butter, because its higher melting point means the cookie never sets rock hard. Brown sugar alongside white, since molasses is hygroscopic and holds moisture. And a short bake, ten to twelve minutes, pulled while the centers still look slightly underdone.
Chill the dough for at least three hours. It is a soft, oily dough and cold is what stops it spreading into thin crisp discs. Roll balls slightly larger than an inch and press them twice with a floured fork, the classic crosshatch, which both flattens them and gives the surface something to grip.
Bake them on ungreased sheets and let them cool completely on a rack. A warm cookie will melt the filling on contact and you will spend the rest of the afternoon chasing it.
How To Make Ice Cream Sandwiches
Work in stages across an afternoon rather than trying to do it all at once.
- First, peel and chunk the bananas and freeze them flat for 1 to 2 hours. Make the cookie dough at the same time and chill it for at least 3 hours.
- Next, bake the cookies at 375F for 10 to 12 minutes and cool them completely.
- Then process the frozen bananas until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down often, and pulse in the toasted coconut.
- After that, lay half the cookies face down on a lined sheet, add a generous spoonful of the banana base to each and cap with a second cookie, pressing until the filling reaches the edge.
- Freeze the tray for about 30 minutes so the stacks set firm before anything else touches them.
- Melt the chocolate in short bursts, stir in the espresso powder and transfer it to a plastic bag with a corner snipped off.
- Finally, drizzle a few at a time and salt each batch straight away, then freeze for another 30 minutes until the chocolate is hard.
The Chocolate Drizzle and the Flaky Salt
Melt only half the chips in the microwave, then stir the rest in off the heat. The residual warmth melts them and the mixture stays fluid and glossy without ever getting hot enough to seize or bloom.
How To Tell When the Ice Cream Sandwiches Are Set
There is no oven timer for the last stage, so go by feel.
After the first thirty-minute freeze, press the top cookie gently with a fingertip. It should not slide against the bottom one, and the filling should feel firm rather than tacky. If it shifts, it needs another fifteen minutes, and drizzling early means chocolate sliding off a moving target.
After the second freeze the chocolate should snap under a fingernail rather than smudge. That usually takes half an hour but depends on how cold your freezer runs.
They are best eaten straight from the freezer with about two minutes on the counter first. Fully frozen, the banana filling is harder than dairy ice cream and the first bite fights back. Left much longer than five minutes, it starts to slump out of the sides.
Make It Ahead
This recipe is built for being made in advance, which is the argument for it over a tub and a scoop.
The cookie dough keeps in the fridge for up to three days and freezes for three months, so you can bake to order. Frozen banana chunks keep for three months in a sealed bag, which means the filling is always about five minutes away.
Baked cookies hold in an airtight tin for three days. Beyond that they dry out and go crumbly, and a dry cookie shatters when you bite a frozen sandwich.
Assemble no more than a couple of weeks ahead for the best texture. Wrap each one individually in plastic wrap and pack them into a large freezer bag so they are not exposed to the freezer’s dry air.
Storing Ice Cream Sandwiches
Wrapping is the whole game with frozen desserts.
- Individually wrapped: plastic wrap around each one, then a zip-top bag, for up to 2 months.
- Unwrapped in a tub: a week at most before freezer burn dulls the chocolate and dries the cookies.
- Layering: parchment between layers so the drizzle does not weld them into a block.
- Refreezing: the dairy-free filling handles one soft spell and refreeze without going icy, though a second is pushing it.
Variations and Substitutions
The structure is a cookie, a frozen filling and a finish, so every layer is negotiable.
- Vegan: a flax egg in the dough and dairy-free chocolate chips. The filling is already there.
- Gluten-free: a cup-for-cup flour blend works, or go flourless with the three-ingredient peanut butter cookie of egg, sugar and peanut butter.
- Store-bought filling: a pint of vanilla, softened for ten minutes, if the bananas are not cooperating.
- Other cookies: chocolate chip, oatmeal or a thin brownie sheet cut into squares all work in place of peanut butter.
- Roll the edges: chopped peanuts, mini chips or toasted coconut pressed around the rim instead of the drizzle.
- Chocolate banana: two tablespoons of cocoa powder blitzed into the filling with the bananas.
What to Serve with Ice Cream Sandwiches
They are rich and cold, so anything alongside should be sharp or hot.
- Strong black coffee, which is the only thing that really cuts peanut butter and chocolate.
- A bowl of something tart to reset the palate, like strawberry cantaloupe sorbet.
- On a dessert table, alongside peanut butter and jelly brownies for people who want the same flavors warm.
- For a brunch spread, pumpkin banana muffins use up the other half of the overripe bunch.
Here is what readers ask most often about ice cream sandwiches.
Ice Cream Sandwiches FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make old fashioned ice cream sandwiches?
The classic rectangular kind uses a thin, soft chocolate wafer cake baked in a sheet pan, cut into rectangles, with softened vanilla spread between two layers and the whole slab frozen before slicing. The wafer is deliberately cakey rather than crisp so it stays soft at freezer temperature and grips your fingers. This recipe uses the round cookie format instead, but the same principle applies: the cookie has to stay soft when frozen.
What ice cream sandwiches are real ice cream?
Check the label. In the United States a product can only be called ice cream if it contains at least ten percent milkfat, so anything sold as a frozen dairy dessert falls below that. Many supermarket sandwiches are the latter. The filling here is neither, since it is just fruit, which is worth knowing if you are feeding anyone dairy-free.
Do I need an ice cream maker?
No, and that is the whole point of this version. A food processor does the work, because freezing the bananas solid and then breaking them down mechanically achieves the same aerated, smooth result that churning gives a custard. A high-powered blender works too, though you will need the tamper and a little patience.
More Questions About Freezing and Serving
Good to Know
Can I taste the banana?
Yes, clearly. That is the honest answer, and it is why the coconut and the peanut butter cookies are in the recipe rather than being optional. If you want the flavor pushed further back, add two tablespoons of cocoa powder or a spoonful of peanut butter to the filling as it blends.
Why is my banana filling gluey instead of smooth?
You stopped too early. There is a stage, usually around the ninety-second mark, where the mixture balls up and looks ruined. Keep the machine running and scrape the sides down, and it breaks within another minute or two. The other cause is fruit that was not ripe enough, which never gets past that stage.
How long do they last in the freezer?
Two months individually wrapped, and about a week loose in a tub. The limiting factor is not safety but freezer burn, which dries the cookies and dulls the chocolate. Wrap them the day you make them rather than promising yourself you will do it later.
Who has the best ice cream sandwiches?
If you mean commercially, taste tests tend to hand it to the small-batch brands built on real dairy and a soft chocolate wafer rather than the big supermarket names. If you mean at your table, the honest advantage of a homemade one is that the cookie is fresh and the filling has three ingredients you can name.
Make them once and the freezer bag becomes permanent. If you like this combination in a warmer form, my peanut butter honeycomb pie is the same idea with a crunch instead of a chill.
Peanut Butter & Banana Ice Cream Sandwiches
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Ingredients
Banana Coconut Ice Cream
- 7 medium bananas very ripe, peeled and frozen in chunks
- 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut toasted
- 1 pinch fine salt optional
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening butter flavored
- 1/2 cup peanut butter creamy, stabilized rather than natural
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Chocolate Drizzle
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips divided
- 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Food Processor
- Microwave
Instructions
Freeze and Chill
- First, peel the bananas, cut them into coins and freeze them in a single layer on a plate for 1 to 2 hours. If they have been in the freezer longer, let them sit out for 15 minutes before blending.
- Next, beat the shortening, peanut butter, egg, both sugars and the vanilla until smooth, then stir in the fine salt, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Bake the Cookies
- Then heat the oven to 375F. Roll the chilled dough into balls a little larger than 1 inch, set them on ungreased baking sheets and flatten each one in a crosshatch pattern with a fork dipped in flour.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, pulling them while the centers still look slightly underdone, then cool completely on a rack. A warm cookie will melt the filling on contact.
Blend the Banana Ice Cream
- After that, blitz the frozen banana in a food processor, scraping the sides down every 30 seconds. It will look like rubble, then ball up and seem ruined, then break smooth and creamy after 3 to 5 minutes. Pulse in the toasted coconut and the pinch of salt.
Assemble and Drizzle
- Lay half the cookies face down on a lined sheet, add a generous spoonful of the banana base to each, cap with a second cookie and press until the filling reaches the edge. Freeze the tray for about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, microwave half the chocolate chips in 30 second bursts until melted, then stir in the rest off the heat until smooth and add the espresso powder. Transfer to a plastic bag and snip a tiny corner.
- Finally, drizzle three or four at a time and sprinkle each batch with flaky salt straight away, before the chocolate sets. Freeze for another 30 minutes, then wrap each one individually for storage.