Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches
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Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches, with vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips, or butter pecan and English toffee bits, are the best dessert I’ve had in a long time.
And that’s saying something, since I am not a huge dessert person. I only make something sweet a couple times a month, and usually only for the website, or a special occasion. My 14 year old daughter, Sophie, on the other hand, loves to bake. She got the baking gene from my mom, who in turn got it from her grandmother. Sophie is the birthday cake baker for all of her friends as well.
She went onto the Internet and found Martha Stewart’s recipe for these soft, puffy cookies, and they are pretty darn good. There is no need to tweak the recipe at all. The cookies were various sizes, some rather big, and some regular cookie size. When I saw the big cookies, I couldn’t help but think that they looked just like the top of an ice cream sandwich.
Remember those chocolate ice cream sandwiches you had as a kid? These pumpkin cookies have the same soft texture. I always keep a 1/2 gallon of French vanilla ice cream on hand for “emergencies“, just like this! We thought butter pecan ice cream would be a tasty filling, as well.
Ingredients for pumpkin ice cream sandwiches
Soft pumpkin cookies
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3/4 cup 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin 14 ounces
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Icing ingredients
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar sifted
- 10 tablespoons 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
How to make soft pumpkin cookies
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.
Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla; mix until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture; mix until combined.
Transfer 1 1/2 cups batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.
Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until tops spring back, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.
How to make the icing
Put confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl; set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes.
Immediately add butter to confectioners’ sugar, scraping any browned bits from sides and bottom of pan. Add evaporated milk and vanilla; stir until smooth.
Spread about 1 teaspoon icing onto each cookie. If icing stiffens, stir in more evaporated milk, a little at a time.
Cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.
How to make pumpkin ice cream sandwiches
One batch of soft pumpkin cookies yields about 3 dozen cookies. Use two cookies for each ice cream sandwich. Make the cookies as large or small as you wish!
To assemble the pumpkin ice cream sandwiches, slightly soften ice cream, then scoop it onto the bottom of one cookie.
Top with second cookie, smoothing the sides of the ice cream, so that the cookies are even. For the butter pecan ice cream version, I purchased a pint container of ice cream. Then, I just sliced through the carton horizontally, leaving discs of ice cream, which perfectly fit the cookies.
Roll the cookies in chocolate chips, nuts or crushed English Toffee.
Love pumpkin desserts? Here are some of my favorites!
English Toffee with Pumpkin Spice
Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cookies
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 1/4 cups light-brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin 14 ounces
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Icing
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar sifted
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup evaporated milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla; mix until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture; mix until combined.
- Transfer 1 1/2 cups batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.
- Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until tops spring back, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.
- Scoop slightly softened ice cream in between two cookies. Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and freeze about 45 minutes. Roll sides in nuts, mini chocolate chips or English toffee bits. Keep frozen until ready to eat.
- (For cookies with icing) Make icing:
- Put confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl; set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Immediately add butter to confectioners’ sugar, scraping any browned bits from sides and bottom of pan. Add evaporated milk and vanilla; stir until smooth. Spread about 1 teaspoon icing onto each cookie. If icing stiffens, stir in more evaporated milk, a little at a time.
- Cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.
oh my god these look good! so much fun!
It’s great having a daughter who loves to bake. My 14-year old is the same way and I LOVE it. These cookies look so good and ideal for using as ice cream sandwiches. Great recipe, can’t wait to try them!
Dear Cynthia, These autumn ice cream sandwiches looks splendid…what a wonderful treat. I love ice cream sandwiches..especially when they are homemade. xo, Catherine
Wow, these look SO good!!
What a great idea to make them into ice cream sammies!
This is such a good idea. I love ice cream sandwiches!
So fun and creative and fall!
Cynthia, these pumpkin ice cream sandwiches are a sure winner. Satisfies the cooking craving and ice cream lovers sweet tooth! Nicely done!!
What a spectacular sweet treat! I’d have trouble sharing though because I adore pumpkin.
Mmmmmm, I make pumpkin whoopie pies and the cake portion looks similar to this. Love the idea of sandwiching ice cream in between!
These are a fabulous sweet bite for fall!
These cookies sound (and look) amazing, and I absolutely LOVE the added ice cream! Very nice treat, for sure! (Kudos to your daughter, too!)
I’m not much of a sweets person either, but I could easily eat a fr\ew of tehse
I can’t wait to try these out! Love the toffee bits!!
These look good!