I’m the Grocery Editor at Kitchn and These Are, IMO, the Best Ice Cream and Cookie Pairings of All Time

Arguably the most classic combo of the lot, just thinking about these Chewy (gotta go for the chewy!) Chips Ahoy! Chocolate Chip Cookies paired with vanilla ice cream brings ice cream truck music to my ears. To turn up the volume, opt for a scoop filled with gobs of dough, like this one from Ben & Jerry’s, which is also available in a dairy-free version. And to keep things totally vegan, go with Fat Badger as your base.

Inspired by my conversation with Michelle Molier, an ACS Certified Cheese Professional, I took her suggestion of pairing the Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin cookies with a caramel fudge-like flavor. Turns out, the combo makes for a great ice cream sandwich. I suggest Van Leeuwen’s Salted Caramel, which is pure decadence.

These crispy chocolate wafers made by Nabisco are famous — it says so right on the box, so it must be true! And, when paired with the vibrant, earthy-yet-sweet flavors of Noona’s Matcha Green Tea, the sandwiches become stars. This is a power couple everyone should know.

Are there other options for this creamy, minty Haagen-Dazs studded with chocolate chips? I think not. Pairing this ice cream with two Soft Baked Dark Chocolate Cookies — with chocolate chunks — from Pepperidge Farm is an unbeatable combination. It’s sweet and refreshing, rich and chocolatey, with a variety of textures in every bite.

This flavor pairing is my personal favorite in life — and it does not disappoint in ice cream sandwich form. Tillamook’s creamy, rich, and ultra-chocolatey ice cream won our official taste test and is the ideal partner to these peanut-y discs, which conveniently come in packs of two. (Cosmic Bliss is a winning, dairy-free alternative as well.)  

An homage to some of my favorite summer produce, this sandwich is pure Memorial Day barbecue bliss. The corn cookies from Milk Bar are sold by the dozen, which means six lucky guests get to have one delightfully, corn-y sandwich filled with sweet strawberry ice cream. (I like the one from Haagen-Dazs.) You can cut them in half, or even quarters, and share (they’re definitely big enough!).

Launched earlier this year, these Soft Baked Lemon Cookies from Partake are chewy, zesty, sweet, and vegan. Their smaller size means they’re great as an afternoon snack or a member of a larger dessert spread. I fill them with Ben & Jerry’s Pistachio Ice Cream. The nutty flavor and pop of texture (there’s bits of lightly roasted pistachios studded throughout) is citrus’ best friend.

The shell shape alone makes these Trader Joe’s cake-like cookies ideal for summertime. Their rich butteriness calls for some brightness, and Magnolia’s Ube Ice Cream brings it times two: The deep purple color is pure joy in a scoop, as is the wonderfully earthy, almost nutty flavor.

The beauty of this pairing is that it combines all the tantalizing flavors of these 5-ingredient (no bake) cheesecake bars into a 2-ingredient ice cream sandwich! I recommend a thin layer of Breyer’s Strawberry New York Style Cheesecake ice cream between the crispy Lotus Biscoff cookies. The brown sugar goodness balances the sweetness of ice cream.

Birthday cake ice cream is already perfect for a celebration. But, if you’re feeling extra celebratory, put a scoop between two freshly baked sugar cookies from Immaculate Baking (the dough is pre-made and pre-portioned). If you like things extra sweet, try these frosted cookies, which are also covered in sprinkles … for good luck.