[1] The winning recipe: Honey Gochujang Corn Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches (all photos © Trader Joe’s).

[2] The cookies are made from cornbread mix….

[3] Flour….

[4] Butter…

[5] And gochujang paste.

August 2nd is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day and we made this contest-winning recipe. As of today, the 18 ice cream sandwiches are gone (we invited neighbors).

For the second year in a row, Trader Joe’s has held a contest for the best recipe. It’s not a public contest for consumers; the contestants are Trader Joe’s stores. The recipes are created by TJ employees. Each store submits a recipe that uses no more than five ingredients.

“Freebie” ingredients include black pepper, butter, cooking oils, salt, sugar, and water.

After testing almost 400 entries, the winner of the 2025 Trader Joe’s Store Recipe Contest is TJ’s Store #426 in Houston, Texas with innovative recipe for ice cream sandwiches: Honey Gochujang Corn Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches.

The innovation is in the cookie portion: corn cookies made from cornbread mix and gochujang.

If you’re not familiar with gochujang, it’s a fermented chili paste from Korea that’s savory, sweet, and of course, spicy. Here’s more about it.

> The history of the ice cream sandwich.

> More creative ice cream sandwich recipes.
> The history of ice cream.

> The different types of frozen desserts: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 50+ ice cream holidays.

> The year’s 14 chile pepper holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: HONEY GOCHUGANG CORN COOKIE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

Thanks to Trader Joe’s for sharing the recipe.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WHISK the cornbread mix and flour together in a medium-sized bowl.

2. MELT 2 tablespoons of ice cream. In a separate bowl, use a whisk to cream together honey, butter, and melted ice cream.

3. ADD the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and use a spatula to mix until incorporated. Tip: Towards the end of mixing, when the dough begins sticking to the mixing utensil, use clean, wet hands to finish combining.

3. ROLL approximately 2 tablespoons of dough into balls. You should have 18 dough balls. Roll each ball in about a teaspoon of gochujang, until the exterior of each dough ball is fully covered.

4. SPACE the dough balls at least 2 inches apart on a baking sheet, then place baking sheet in the freezer for at least 15 minutes, until dough balls harden. While the dough balls are freezing,…

5. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Transfer the baking sheet from the freezer to the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are just golden brown.

6. REMOVE the cookies from the oven and let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Once cooled, flip cookies over.

7. ASSEMBLE the ice cream sandwiches: Place a heaping scoop of ice cream atop one cookie, then press another cookie on top of the ice cream to complete the sandwich. Repeat.

8. SERVE immediately or freeze.
 

[6] Don’t forget the ice cream! Here’s a thought: Make half of the sandwiches with vanilla and half with chocolate.
 

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