Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: The Legendary Invention of Our Most Popular Flavor

May 21, 2018

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Inspired by an Anonymous Fan in 1984

Way back in the early days of our first Scoop Shop in Burlington, Vermont, we had a bulletin board where people could suggest new flavors for Jerry and Ben to make. As the ideas flowed in, an anonymous flavor idea stood out.

It seems like such a no-brainer now, but back then it was revolutionary. What if you put big chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough into vanilla ice cream?

One of the everlasting temptations of baking cookies is sneaking a bite or two of the dough. Sometimes it’s hard for the baker to get the dough onto the pan, since cookie dough is really tasty before it even hits the oven.

The folks at the Scoop Shop went to work mixing up a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. It was an instant hit.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Was an Overwhelming Success in Our Scoop Shop

The flavor was initially available only at the Burlington, Vermont Scoop Shop and fans began coming from all over to get their hands on it. One of our employees remembers seeing a group of students from the University of Vermont visit the Burlington Scoop Shop, only to find that they were out of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. The students ended up going to the grocery store across the street and purchasing a roll of slice-and-bake cookie dough. They brought it back, ordered vanilla ice cream, cut up the roll and stirred it in.

The Long Journey to the World’s Most Popular Pint

Ben & Jerry’s has always believed that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. In the case of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, that meant figuring out how to get that familiar cookie dough taste, consistency and texture at ice cream temperatures. Our "Primal Ice Cream Therapist" Peter Lind teamed up with another values-led business, Rhino Foods, and over an incredible six-year journey we perfected the cookie dough found in our pints today.

Rhino Foods spent a lot of time in our kitchen, and we spent a lot of time in theirs. We mixed, we stirred, we built contraptions, and we ate a massive amount of cookie dough together. This was the first of many journeys blending art and science in the cause of ice cream innovation.

In 1991, we introduced Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in a pint and boy, are we glad we did. It has remained one of our most popular and most beloved flavors ever since!