“A cookie must melt at the same rate as the ice cream,” an ice cream maker described early in my Ice Cream Travel Guide journey.
From that moment, I learned why I hesitated at the proliferation of ice cream sandwiches between cookies. I had loved ice cream and cookies as individual goodies (obviously ice cream more, sorry cookies). One would assume, quite naturally, that the combination would equal instant love. But when biting in cookies and ice cream, the differing temperatures between the two makes the experience unpleasant. Like eating a hard rock.
Also human factors problem. How might someone open their jaw enough (with enough bite!) to actually “tear” a piece of the sandwich that includes cookies and ice cream?
Cookies are not baked to melt with the ice cream. In fact, they are best warm and relatively still good when room temperature. When they’re cold, they’re just a frozen tasteless mess (perhaps this is the reason that cookie dough ice cream is better than cookie chunks in ice cream). Most ice cream between cookies often end up with rock hard ends. So I eat it slowly, trying to savor both the ice cream and the cookie. Soon, the ice cream leaves a soggy mess like the milk-laden cereal at the bottom of a bowl.
But I can never resist when I hear the call of a new ice cream shop, even if it’s an ice cream sandwich shop.
At Cookiebar, due to its namesake, I ordered the cookies and insisted they be warm. Which turned out to be a delicious combinations. But because of past experiences, although the ice cream was nicely packaged, I ate each part (the cookies and the ice cream) individually.
Cookiebar Creamery (in Oakland)
Website
A cookie bakery and ice cream shop, all goods made in-house
Address: 517 8th St, Oakland, CA 94607
Hours: Sun: 11 AM – 8 PM · Mon – Thurs: 11 AM – 9 PM · Fri – Sat: 11 AM – 10 PM