Forget boring popsicles — the only frozen summer treat I want is an ice cream cookie sandwich. How can you go wrong with creamy vanilla ice cream in between two chocolate chip cookies? Turns out, lots, from disintegrating cookies to ice cream that somehow never melts.
I bought seven popular brands of chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches from my local grocery stores, and some were thrown out after this tasting. A few brands, however, were a perfect summer snack. Here are the ones you should (and shouldn’t) stock your freezer with, ranked from first to worst. Related: Irresistible Ice Cream Flavors You Can Get at the Grocery Store
1. Trader Joe’s
Price per sandwich: $1.25
Sublime really is an appropriate name for these Trader Joe’s ice cream sandwiches because they’re the best of the bunch. Each bite is the perfect ratio of cookie to ice cream. They’re fat, substantial, and rolled in mini chocolate chips that lend a wonderful crunchy snap. The cookies are thick, craggy, and chewy with a flavor that’s not quite homemade but definitely high quality. And considering the price is only a little higher than some other less delicious ice cream sandwiches in this list, they’re a solid winner.
Related: The Only Ice Cream Drumsticks You’ll Ever Need
2. Thelma’s
Price per sandwich: $2.86
Cookie lovers, Thelma’s is for you. This one’s all about the chocolate chip cookie, which looks and tastes like grandma made it. It’s soft and chewy but still sturdy and solid enough to stand up to the ice cream, which tastes high quality and not pumped up with air. It’s the largest of the bunch at 6 ounces, and it feels very substantial. I only wish that there were more chocolate chips in the cookie, and more ice cream between the cookies, especially for the price. (And for what it’s worth, I much prefer other flavors of this ice cream sandwich brand to the chocolate chip.)
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3. Dean’s
Price per sandwich: $1.07
This is the only other ice cream sandwich with chocolate chips stuck on the ice cream, which adds big chocolate flavor. The chips aren’t as satisfyingly crunchy as the Trader Joe’s one, however, and the chocolate is more waxy. There are lots of mini chips in the cookies too, which are soft and match the texture of the ice cream when it’s fresh from the freezer. It’s a little artificial tasting, but in that “tastes like childhood” nostalgic kind of way — plus it’s hard to beat the price.
4. Brother’s
Price per sandwich: $1.55
Fudge in the middle of the ice cream on these sandwiches feels downright exotic compared to the rest. This one is all about the ice cream: it’s bulging out the sides of the sandwich, it’s dense and super vanilla-y around that soft fudge, and there’s way more of it than any other sandwich on this list. Unfortunately, the cookie is totally lame. It disintegrates when you look at it wrong and annoyingly sticks to your fingers. That makes breaking it in half, like to split among hungry kids, practically impossible.
5. Nestle Toll House
Price per sandwich: 97 cents
These taste like the platonic ideal of a Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie, right down to that sort of tangy chocolate aftertaste that lingers for a while. They’re much more disappointing than the larger, ice cream truck version though, with flat cookies and very haphazard construction. Both the flavor and texture of the vanilla ice cream can best be described as “soft.”
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6. Kemps
Price per sandwich: $1.22
Cookie integrity is not great on these Kempswiches straight out of the package. The edges of the cookies are already crumbling off, but you’re not missing out on much flavor if you lose part of it. The ice cream must be magic because it completely disappears in your mouth, save for the mini chocolate chips scattered throughout it. I am left wholly unsatisfied after eating this.
7. M&M’s
Price per sandwich: $1.17
These ice cream sandwiches are offensive. I thought they would be like the ones you get at convenience stores and ice cream trucks, but they’re completely different in all the worst ways. The cookies are sugar cookies with a few mini M&M’s stuck on them, and the candy coating flakes off immediately and leaves a rainbow of stains on everything it touches. The ice cream — if you can call it that, since the texture and flavor is more like cake frosting that’s been out in the sun for 8 hours — doesn’t even line up with the cookies. You kids will hate you if you give them this crap.
Related: The Absolute Best Popsicles To Buy From the Grocery Store (and the Ones To Skip)
