Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes

With a cookie crust, strawberry ice cream middle, and fudge and whipped cream topping, these little Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes are the best summer party treats!

It may be back to school time in some parts of the country, but I'm fully adamant in my belief that school shouldn't start until September. But even if it starts in August, can we please still try to remain in summer mode for as long as possible?

August is still a ridiculously hot month in much of the U.S. and summer is still very much in full swing. Summer produce is flourishing and the amount of ice cream you're consuming should be, too.

One more delicious way you can enjoy ice cream? Ice cream cupcakes. I love these little treats as a fun alternative to ice cream cake. They're a bit more manageable, easy to make, and totally appropriate for any occasion.

Even if that occasion is sitting on your couch in the AC watching Netflix. Hey, I think we all deserve a little something extra fun as summer winds down.

Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream Cupcakes Recipe

These ice cream cupcakes are pretty easy to make, but do require a few steps, including:

• Cookie crust: The cookie crust bottoms are super simple and just consist of Oreo cookies and butter
• Ice cream: I opted to use store-bought strawberry ice cream here, but you can certainly go a step further and make your own.
• Chocolate fudge sauce: I chose to make my own homemade chocolate fudge, but you can definitely buy it from the store if you want to make things easier.
• Whipped cream: I also chose to make my own whipped cream, but store-bought works, too!

How to Make Cookie Crust

I love a good simple Oreo cookie crust and this one couldn't be easier to make. Simply, put Oreo cookies in a food processor or blender process until fine crumbs are formed. Add butter and pulse a few more times to bring mixture together.

If you don't have a food processor or blender, you can always crush your cookies in a bag and then transfer to a bowl to mix in butter.

Divide cookie crumbs evenly between 12 cupcake papers and press down to tightly pack cookie crumbs. Place cupcake tin in freezer for about 15 minutes.

Adding Ice Cream to Ice Cream Cupcakes

While the cupcake tin is in the freezer, you should take your ice cream out of the freezer so it can soften a bit. You don't want it to be soupy/liquidy, but do want it to be soft enough to easily scoop and smooth out over the cookie crumbs.

Fill cupcake papers almost all the way to the top with the ice cream and smooth out the tops. Pop back in the freezer for another 30 minutes.

How to Make Homemade Chocolate Fudge

I love a good homemade chocolate fudge, but if you want to make these ice cream cupcakes even easier, you can completely skip this step and purchase a store-bought fudge sauce. However, I warn you that once you try this homemade version, you'll want to have a jar of it in your fridge at all times!

Add heavy cream, corn syrup, dark brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and half of the chopped chocolate to a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Lower heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the remaining chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla, until smooth. Let fudge sauce cool for about 20 minutes, so it can thicken more.

If you make your fudge sauce in advance and it cools so much that it gets hard, you might need to put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften it.

Then, spoon about 1 ½ Tbsp over the tops of the ice cream and smooth as best as you can. Place back in the freezer for another 30 minutes.

How to Make Homemade Whipped Cream

And the finishing touch? Homemade whipped cream! Again, I love homemade best, but another shortcut you can make is to simply use canned whipped cream.

If you're making your own, just beat together heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 4-5 minutes.

I like to pipe my whipped cream on right before serving these ice cream cupcakes, but it should also hold its shape when frozen. Just make sure you have enough room in your freezer to account for the height of the whipped cream.

Get yourself some fun sprinkles for these ice cream cupcakes! Because if anything deserves fun sprinkles, it's these little treats. I got these ones and pretty much all my sprinkles from Sweetapolita and can't recommend her sprinkles enough!

I also chose to top the ice cream cupcakes with little strawberries. I almost dipped them in chocolate, but decided to show off their vibrant red color instead.

Flavor Variations for Ice Cream Cupcakes

I love the chocolate strawberry flavor of these ice cream cupcakes, but there are obviously a million different flavor variations you could make. Here are a few fun ideas:

• Use Golden Oreo cookies or another flavor or cookie of your choice for the crust.
• Use whatever kind of ice cream your heart desires and vary toppings depending on choice, including coconut, nuts, fruit, cereal, etc.
• Instead of using chocolate fudge for topping, use caramel, butterscotch, or marshmallow.

I already have quite a few ideas for future ice cream cupcakes I want to make, including a few holiday versions!

These chocolate strawberry ice cream cupcakes are such a fun summer party dessert. I do love a good ice cream cake, but I absolutely hate cutting them into slices. You can't cut them right out of the freezer as they're too hard, but then if you wait too long they start melting all over the place.

These little desserts easily pop right out of the cupcake papers and can be enjoyed immediately. Plus, they're great for socially distanced summer gatherings where everyone wants to grab their own mini dessert instead of sharing from a communal cake.

But you certainly don't have to be attending a summer party to enjoy an ice cream cupcake. With store-bought ice cream, these are so easy to make that they're simply a fun dessert for a weeknight at home.

Once they have chilled in your freezer for a bit, you can remove them from the cupcake tin and store in a large plastic bag to cut down on how much space they take up in your freezer.

Though they probably won't last very long anyway... Once you try one of these chocolate strawberry ice cream cupcakes, you're going to want another one... And since they're mini, you're going to totally justify why it's OK to have more than one (seriously, one of these is smaller than a slice of ice cream cake!).

I believe your freezer should be fully stocked with ice cream and ice cream treats throughout the entire summer (and reminder that summer doesn't end until September 22). We can discuss my feelings on fall and holiday ice cream when the time comes.

Are you a fan of ice cream cake?

For other fun summer ice cream desserts, check out my S'mores Ice Cream and my White Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream. I also can't wait to make this Banana Split Ice Cream Cake from Lovely Little Kitchen!