The History of Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Cookies and Cream ice cream, often stylized as “Cookies ‘N Cream,” is one of the most popular ice cream flavors, but it’s unclear who exactly invented the sweet treat. The most convincing claim comes from South Dakota State University's Department of Dairy and Food Science, which has been commercially producing ice cream since 1910. According to the story, in 1979, the university’s dairy plant manager, Shirley Seas, had begun serving ice cream with various crumbled cookies on top. He then decided to try mixing the cookie crumbles into the ice cream itself and sent two students, Joe Leedom and Joe Van Treek, out to buy Oreos from the local market. Seas then directed them to break the Oreo cookies up in a fruit feeder, then mixed them into vanilla ice cream. Seas originally wanted to name the new flavor “Oreo ice cream,” but was advised against it for legal reasons and instead went with the name “Cookies ‘N Cream.” Neither Seas nor SDSU ever filed a patent, however. It’s also worth noting that in 1973, Steve Herrell opened Steve's Ice Cream in Somerville, Massachusetts. His shop was famous for mix-ins, including Oreo cookies. The shop eventually closed, but he later opened a new store called Herrell’s Ice Cream in Northampton, Massachusetts that is still in operation today. In 1978, Malcolm Stogo, the "Godfather of Ice Cream” and founder of Ice Cream University, claimed to have invented the flavor, but there’s little evidence to support his claim. Ice cream producers Edy's and Dryer's have both claimed that their ice cream flavor developer, John Harrison, invented Cookies and Cream ice cream in 1982, but again, there’s little proof of this and several more convincing stories predate it. Blue Bell Creameries was the first company to mass-produce the Cookies ‘N Cream flavor starting in 1980. Although the company applied for a patent for Cookies and Cream ice cream, it was invalidated. The company has gone back and forth on claims of inventing or simply popularizing the flavor. While we may not know for certain exactly how Cookies and Cream ice cream got its start, one thing is clear — it is now one of America’s most beloved flavors.