12 Girl Scout Cookie and Ice Cream Pairings to Try Before Those Boxes Disappear

One of the more modern Girl Scout cookies on the scene, Adventurefuls are a brownie-brittle-adjacent cookie featuring a pool of salty caramel I’d love to backstroke through. When I first bit into these cookies, as a lifelong representative of the Salt Tooth team, I immediately thought: Could use a sprinkle more salt. By that I mean salted caramel ice cream to go for Maximalist Brownie Sundae Vibes. The chocolate cookie is the real star here (it reminds me of the crunchy corners of the brownie pan, my favorite), so sandwiching these cookies around a salty caramel ice cream is the way to go.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, a good chunk of Girl Scout Cookies are very much about the many permutations of chocolate + caramel. While they could all be paired with the same ice cream, I urge you to dream a bit bigger. How do you do this? Pair these gluten-free Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies with your favorite coffee or mocha-chip ice cream at your earliest convenience. I like to alternate bites of coffee ice cream with a bite of these chewy caramel-laced chocolate chip cookies to usher in daydreams of a Java Chip Frappuccino (a high compliment, in my book).

While coconut definitely has a supporting role in Samoas (also known as Caramel deLites), I think it deserves leading lady status. Pairing a coconut-flaky gelato (I like Talenti’s Caribbean Coconut) with this classic cookie is simply the only way to go. Think about it: You’ve got a crisp, light creaminess from the gelato that becomes a textural masterpiece when it collides with the crunch of the caramelized chocolate-coated cookie. It’s especially good when you chop a few cookies up and stir into your slightly melted gelato. Try to find a better pairing! I’ll wait.

Do-Si Dos (aka Peanut Butter Sandwiches) already look like a shrunken version of the namesake sandwich, and I see no reason not to go down that flavor route with a strawberry-speckled scoop of ice cream. No surprise, it’s a hit, with the not-too-sweet oatmeal cookies allowing the creamy peanut butter filling and jammy strawberry to really get to mingle with each other. I love to twist these cookies open and add a tiny dollop of ice cream to each side (open-faced) or smooshed together (true sandwich-style) to get the full experience.

Another instance of more just simply being more (or, rather, S’more), adding the Girl Scout S’mores cookies to a bowl of Original Rocky Road ice cream leaves nothing up to chance: You’re going to get a mix of marshmallow textures from the cookie filling and mini marshmallows and chocolates at varying temperatures (ice cream and filling). Plus, there’s even more crunch factor, thanks to the almond pieces (on top of those graham cracker cookies). Not to get too sentimental, as is my nature, but this combination really does taste like a dessert I used to make during my Girl Scout camping days.

These crackly, buttery shortbread cookies with a sweet lemony filling basically scream out, “PLEASE PUT ME WITH RASPBERRY GELATO,” with haste. So I followed directions, topping a cone with these cookie-equivalents of a sunny day, where the cookies, filling, and gelato (like Talenti’s Raspberry Sorbetto) merged together to be a bright-tart-creamy winner. From there, I dreamt up what I hope is Big Girl Scouts’ next idea: Lemonade Cookie Cones. Can you imagine? I can, and I needed them yesterday.

The other flavor the Girl Scouts do particularly well? Lemon. I appreciate how the flavor of these Lemon-Ups are distinct from the Lemonades (the Lemon-Ups are the more tart and fruit-forward of the two), making it my top pick for taking a dive into something sweet and creamy, like Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream. These two, they’re going places. Specifically they’re taking me right back to one of the best cupcake flavors at the cupcake shop I worked at in college: strawberry lemonade (a lemonade cupcake complete with a strawberry cream cheese frosting topped with its own cute straw). I’d go so far as to say these Lemon-Ups would make for an incredible crust for a cheesecake itself.

I’ve always thought Tagalongs (aka Peanut Butter Patties) were the most well-named of the Girl Scout Cookies. The layered crispy cookies are maybe even more peanut-buttery than Peanut Butter Sandwiches. That said, I very much want just a tad more chocolate to hit me from that chocolaty coating, so why not get it in the form of dark chocolate ice cream? Sometimes you have to do the job yourself, but it will be delicious.

Please don’t come for me! Not at least until you try Thin Mints and matcha ice cream. Mint chip and Thin Mints is just so very … duh? Pairing something creamy, mellow, and vegetal like matcha with the punch of mint and chocolate becomes nothing short of magic. These freezer besties, when combined, will bring to mind minty-matcha lattes from your favorite bubble tea spot, and that’s just always a good idea.

For another installment of Girl Scouts Making Food Taste/Look Like Other Food, these icing-topped, maple-cinnamon cookies look reminiscent of a Shrinky-Dink’d slice of French toast. They also remind me of another fried sweet confection: funnel cake, especially the ones topped with whipped cream, ice cream, and cherries (or, ideally, all three). So it makes sense to combine these with Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream (especially one that’s loaded with cherries like Haagen Dazs). The bits of candied cherries and vanilla bean make these toasty cookies feel like an event.

One bite of these cookies had me saying, “Uh … Sandies, how did you get in here?” — Toffee-Tastics are just as crumbly and buttery as the classic cookie, but punctuated with crisp toffee bits. I’m not sure about you, but where there is toffee, I feel there should always be something crunchy and nutty, like a butter pecan ice cream. When swirled together, this combo delivers Big English Toffee Energy, which I think we could all use more of.

When considering all the major cookies of the world, alfajores are very much up at the top for me. A dulce de leche-filled butter cookie you can find in many parts of South America (or in your oven, should you desire it), alfajores are the inspiration for this Trefoils and dulce de leche ice cream duo. Trefoils — those classic buttery, not-too-sweet shortbread cookies — have always seemed like they need a job anyways, and I’ve graciously made them a deliciously vital vehicle by housing a dulce de leche ice cream filling.