<Li> Blue Bell Creameries claim they first mass - produced the flavor two years earlier in 1980 after an employee tasted it at a Houston ice cream parlour the year before; however, they do state "Blue Bell makes no claim to have invented it but certainly pioneered the flavor ." Blue Bell Creameries applied to register the trademark "Cookies' n Cream" in 1981 . </Li> <Li> South Dakota State University claims the flavor was invented at the university's Dairy Plant . </Li> <Li> Another claimant is Steve Herrell of Massachusetts' Herrell's Ice Cream . </Li> <P> In 1983, Cookies' n Cream became one of the top five best - selling flavors of ice cream . </P>

When was cookies and cream ice cream invented