18 Ice Cream Sandwich Ideas That Go Beyond Plain Vanilla

There's a reason that calling something "so vanilla" has come to be a synonym for boring (or "basic," if you're one of the youngs). No shade to vanilla — we actually love it — but in the ice cream world, just plain vanilla or chocolate can be a sign that you didn't think very hard beyond the expected. Well, if you want to up your ice cream sandwich game, you've come to the right place. Here, we've got ways to make things interesting, some with a little more labor than just putting some store-bought ice cream between two store-bought cookies — and some not. But one thing they all have in common is just a little element of something extra. Pop a batch of these in your freezer, and you're ready for anything.

Ree starts with store-bought dough, here, but gives a little twist — pun intended — by using one chocolate chip, and one peanut butter, cookie for each sando. In addition, she gives you the hack that you will undoubtedly use again, to buy pints of ice cream so you can just slice right through the packaging into perfect rounds. Dip in a quickie ganache and some sprinkles, and these guys are dressed for a party.

Here we've got a moment for those salted caramel lovers. These chocolate chip cookies also add in some chopped caramels, for little gooey hits of that butterscotchy flavor. But they don't stop there — the sandwiches are rolled in chopped pretzel, to really amp up the salt.

Maybe you remember the first time you attended a movie with your genius friend who dumped all the M&Ms and Raisinets and Skittles right into the bucket of popcorn. (Maybe you are that genius friend.) In any case, these ice cream sandwiches channel that moment, combining all sorts of candies and actual buttered popcorn into a brown sugar almond butter cookie. Vanilla ice cream makes sense here, since there's so much going on!

Kardea Brown's ode to the lemon, in the form of these sunny sandwiches, is just so special. The lemony cookies get slicked with lemon curd (don't worry, store-bought is fine), then sandwiched with vanilla ice cream. Yellow sprinkles repeat the theme and just look like summer incarnate.

These take a page from flying saucers, the usually soft-serve sandwiches that use two deeply chocolate cookies for their shell. Here, the cookies are homemade, for a crisper texture that goes so well with ice cream (though they will soften up somewhat). Roll-ins are optional but also a fun touch.

We never met a taco we didn't like, and that might hold doubly true for an ice cream taco. Molly Yeh makes sweet pancakes and then wraps them around book spines to hold their shape (!). Finally, they're fully loaded with ice cream, fudge and sprinkles.

Sandies get their name from that crumbly texture that accompanies a good shortbread, but they're usually quite thin, which brings a new texture component to that profile. These sandies are slice-and-bake peanut butter cookies with a subtle butterscotchy underline. Put them together with any ice cream you like. Vanilla, butter pecan, peanut butter ripple, may all apply.

You could absolutely imagine a gorilla double-fisting these treats. You've got an easy homemade banana ice cream, cradled between two double-chocolate cookies that bring brownie vibes. The chopped pecans are so good, too. Do gorillas like pecans? We bet they would, if they encountered these.

These chocolate chip cookies have a little more depth than your average one — you get bittersweet notes from the instant coffee, as well as a nutty mixture of grains. Both milk and semisweet chips, too, give all those I can't decide-ers the best of both worlds. Roll some in chocolate chips and some in coated chocolate candies, and they really look like the good time that they are.

Let's not sleep on a really unexpected flavor idea — black raspberry chip ice cream, to satisfy a craving both for chocolate and for a really underrated summer berry. Here, lemon-infused biscuity cookies hold together a dollop. These are so simple, but so sophisticated.

We love Molly Yeh's salty-sweet peanut butter miso cookies enough to marry them. But then she pairs them with an easy no-churn caramel ice cream that really brings another layer of deliciousness. Mingling with the sprinkles on the edges are salted peanuts. Seriously, you need to make these.

These are so simple to assemble, but the flavors are anything but. Graham crackers are given an instant upgrade with a coating of chocolate ganache. The ice cream, dulce de leche, goes so well with the chocolate, as well as with the chopped candied walnuts lining the edges. I'll take two.

Guy Fieri brings ideal gingersnaps, redolent with molasses and almost spicy with that gingery heat. They get extra chewy once softened against ice cream, which is just how they should be, in our book. Vanilla ice cream works well, but so would ginger (natch) or dulce de leche.

Jeff Mauro comes correct with ice cream sandwiches inspired by the turtle, that combination of chocolate, caramel and pecan. You've got butter pecan ice cream — an underutilized VIP flavor, if ever there was any — plus ne plus ultra chocolate chip pecan cookies on the outside. These call for salted pecans, which can be a little harder to find than plain, but it's well worth the effort to really nail how incredible these can be.

Yes, you read that right. It's vanilla pudding mix that lends these chocolate chip cookies their cakey texture, which really takes to being ice cream sandwichified. We don't have to tell you that vanilla ice cream is classic, but just about any flavor would go great here.

There's so much interesting heat here, which really complements all the cold. The molasses-cardamom cookies have some black pepper baked into them, and the ice cream has some black pepper, cayenne and crystallized ginger folded in. They're edged in more black pepper and ginger, so you get little hits of heat in every bite.

If you haven't had chocolate-covered matzo yet, you're in for a treat. If you have had them, chances are you've thought, "What else can I do with these?" while you've crunched. Well here's our answer. Just sandwich with some vanilla ice cream and you'll want to eat them all day.