Will the real inventor of cookies & cream ice cream please stand up?

I always find the origin stories of iconic foods fascinating, especially when they are shrouded in mystery and intrigue. These days, it's almost too easy to know where a viral food originated, thanks to everything being posted online. Even then, there can be competing claims about who did it first. When more than one person or entity says they invented a product or flavor combination, things get interesting. That's the case with cookies & cream (aka cookies 'n cream) ice cream, as Tasting Table reports.

Cookies 'n cream ice cream from Serious Eats by Stella Parks

There are four claims that have some merit, with the most compelling claim held by an entity you would never guess: the Department of Dairy and Food Science at South Dakota State University. The department has made ice cream for over 100 years, and in 1979 Shirley Seas, the manager of the dairy plant, decided to make ice cream with cookies inside instead of just sprinkled on the top. The cookies of choice were obviously Oreos. Unfortunately for Mr. Seas he neglected to get a patent for it, making easier for others to say they invented it.

Steve Herrell of Steve's Ice Cream in Somerville, Massachusetts, had lots of "mix-ins" that customers could request in their ice cream. One of those was Oreos. Since Steve opened his shop in 1973, it's possible he was the first to think of the combination, although there is no definitive proof. Another contender, Malcolm Stogo, the so-called "Godfather of Ice Cream", claims to have invented the flavor in 1978. Again, there is nothing documented to support his claim other than his say-so.

A company that you might expect to see claiming an invention like cookies & cream is Blue Bell Creameries. They were the first company to commercially offer Cookies 'N Cream, as they titled it, debuting the flavor in 1980. Unlike South Dakota State University, Blue Bell did apply for a patent, but it was not granted for unspecified reasons. SDSU seems like the most plausible candidate, but without documentary evidence, we are just left to speculate—and enjoy the ice cream, of course.

3 comments

FuzzyChefJuly 29, 2026

Those are surprisingly mundane and plausible origin stories.

DarcieJuly 29, 2026

In reply to an earlier comment

The origin story of salted caramel is even blander.

ZephyrnessAugust 3, 2026

Possibly more than one is true. It's a good combination and could easily occur to more than one person. I, for instance, invented egg drop soup a little over 50 years ago, as a way to get some food into a sick parent. I had never heard of it, but with the exception of it having mediterranean flavor, I made it the same way I now make the chinese version. My husband has invented several cocktails that we have later found in books. Some ideas are good enough to occur over and over.