9 Store-Bought Ice Cream Sandwiches, Ranked Worst To Best

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "simple pleasure?" Is it the feeling of holding a cup of hot coffee on a cold morning, the smell after rain, or the comfort of sitting around for Sunday dinner with loved ones and friends? In my eyes, one of life's best and simplest pleasures is, unequivocally, eating an ice cream sandwich on a sweltering summer night. It's not that the ice cream inside the sandwich is particularly good — seeing as I could get better from a pint of Ben & Jerry's or a scoop at my local creamery. And the wafer or chocolate chip cookies are nothing like the ones I would make myself, but rather the tactile and sensory experience of pulling off the waxy wrapper, deciding how I'm going to make my approach (usually licking just the ice cream and saving the "bread" for last), and shamelessly licking my fingers clean after I finish it. 

I usually keep a box of ice cream sandwiches in my freezer for when the mood strikes, but I wondered (after buying the same box for the past few years) if there was another brand that made the ice cream sandwich better than the ones I had become accustomed to. To decide, I took a trip to a few local stores and picked up several different ice cream sandwich brands. I included both classic sandwiches with wafers and ones with "real" cookies, then tasted and ranked them from worst to best based on their overall flavor, texture, and enjoyability. 

Great Value's ice cream sandwiches are a staple in my freezer for one reason and one reason only: They're cheap. Before this review, I had purchased its reduced-fat version. I got through a couple of them before saying to myself, "These taste like overly sweetened fro-yo shoved between chocolate-flavored cardboard — why am I eating them?" and decided not to buy them again. I figured that the regular-fat ice cream sandwiches would taste a little better, since the fat would make the ice cream much creamier and more decadent. But it quickly became clear to me that if I was looking for that rich ice cream flavor, I should be looking elsewhere.

The only time I might buy these is to make a cheap ice cream cake by layering the sandwiches, whipped topping, and a sauce of some kind. Kids probably wouldn't mind them either, but as someone who has a reasonably developed palate, I can confidently say that you're better off spending your money elsewhere. The cookies almost taste burnt, both in a freezer-burnt way and an oh-shoot-I-left-the-oven-on way. They're crispier than any of the wafer sandwiches that I sampled for this ranking, and I could even hear an audible "crunch" when I took a bite. Even after letting these sandwiches sit out on the counter for 10 minutes, I didn't find that the cookies softened — the peach-colored ice cream inside just turned into a puddle. This is one product I'm adding to the never-buy-from-Great-Value list and leaving out of my cart for good. 

I'm not a big fan of M&M's on ice cream, mainly because the temperature contrast between the cold candies and the ice cream just ruins the experience for me. Unfortunately, the same issue occurs when the candies are studded in the cookie part of an ice cream sandwich. I'm appreciative that there aren't a ton of candies in these cookies, as the experience of biting into a slightly freezer-burnt cookie with rock-hard M&M's was not one I would like to relive any time soon. However, if M&M's is marketing these cookies with candy in mind, it needs to be less stingy with them. 

I honestly laughed when I saw the very systematic and seemingly intentional placing of the M&M's on this sandwich. It's like the company only budgeted 18 M&M's per sandwich, and would fire anyone for adding even half an M&M more. And that's not the only place where Mars (the parent company) cut corners. The sugar cookie base on these sandwiches is so sweet and gritty — reminiscent of the cookie bins you buy from the supermarket bakery section when you forget to make something for a potluck ahead of time. The mouthfeel is cloying and saccharine, and doesn't get less overwhelming as you eat. The ice cream doesn't help; the only note I could pull out from it was sweet, and it lacked the high-quality mouthfeel that the other higher-ranked brands offered. If I were desperate and this was my only option in an ice cream vending machine, I might buy it, but I wouldn't buy a 12-pack at the store. 

Klondike is often associated with frozen novelties, including these ice cream sandwich squares. Each one is generously filled with ice cream, and it tastes just like I remember Klondike's signature ice cream squares tasting: not particularly creamy, strongly vanilla-flavored, or otherwise toothsome. The flavor of the wafer cookies wasn't particularly memorable, and I don't think I could distinguish it from some of the other brands I sampled if I ate it blindfolded. When I let this sandwich sit out and melt, I noticed that the chocolate cookie portion of the sandwich did not soften at all. The contrast of rock-hard cookies and melty ice cream was even more unpleasant when I took a bite of them straight from the freezer. Honestly, I think these sandwiches are only really good when eaten while they're still frozen solid. Otherwise, they're destined for the trash. 

Klondike's ice cream sandwiches were neck-and-neck with those in the No. 6 slot. The only reason Klondike was placed below it was because of its higher price tag. It's priced like a premium ice cream, though it lacks the quality and flavor of a premium brand. I don't think anyone would complain about eating one of these sandwiches if they needed to get their fix, but there's no reason to buy a box of them when there are far better options available — some of which cost less. 

Hood, for the uninitiated, is a very Northeastern brand. If you grew up in New England, chances are that you remember eating Hoodsie cups at birthday parties and bowling alley celebrations. The brand not only makes ice cream cups but also offers ice cream sandwiches in mini and full sizes. I assumed (partly because I didn't want to eat nine whole ice cream sandwiches in a single sitting) that the mini and the full-sized sandwiches were the same, so I opted for the smaller squares instead of the normal-sized ones. 

The cookie component of these mini Hood ice cream sandwiches was very hard. Despite letting all the sandwiches sit in my freezer for the same amount of time to harden back up after my trip to the store, I couldn't help but notice that these were more like snappy biscuits than soft wafers. When I took a bite, the ice cream immediately spilled out of the side of the cookies rather than staying intact for the bite. This leads me to believe that eating one on a sweltering summer day would leave a sticky mess behind. Aside from the hardness, the cookies were fairly average — chocolatey enough to be passable for an ice cream sandwich, but nothing revolutionary. The ice cream was just as mediocre. It wasn't particularly creamy, and it honestly tasted like the Hoodsie cups of my youth — enough to pacify an angry seven-year-old, but probably not a good fit for those with developed palates or for folks who consider themselves ice cream sandwich snobs (like myself). 

Nestlé Toll House ice cream cookie sandwiches are unique. While many other brands on this list, like Blue Bunny and Hood, are rooted in ice cream and frozen desserts, Toll House's primary business is cookies. So, I expected the cookies to be the star of this ice cream sandwich. 

However, these ice cream sandwiches are on-brand for Toll House. Like the brand's chocolate chips and store-bought cookie dough, they taste very cheap and sugary and lack any sort of redeeming qualities (at least, in my opinion). I wouldn't buy any of Toll House's products of my own volition, which includes these frozen treats. 

The ice cream in these sandwiches was very airy and light, which makes me think that Toll House pushed the overrun button one too many times in an effort to make its product cheaper. And sure, compared to other premium cookie sandwich brands in this ranking, it's priced much more affordably. But that doesn't make it worth buying. The fluffy ice cream (or should I call it "frozen dessert" at this point?) hides between two cheap chocolate chip cookies, which, thankfully, have more than two chips in the entire cookie. While the lower-ranked M&M's cookies were hard and gritty, these were soft and easy to eat. I can appreciate that texture in an ice cream sandwich, and it's one of the reasons I ranked it toward the middle of this list. If you're after a truly great cookie sandwich, this is not it. But if you need a late-night munchie, it'll surely fit the bill. 

I will be the first person to admit that light ice cream is not all it's cracked up to be. For example, I find Halo Top ice cream to be absolutely disgusting because it both tastes artificial and lacks the decadence of "real" ice cream (it's almost like that's the entire point...). But, I can say that when I devoured this Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich, I didn't once think that it was a "light" ice cream. The mouthfeel of the center filling, which is quite generous, is very much like overly-aerated, cheap ice cream. It's definitely sweet, but it has a yummy, fro-yo-like mouthfeel that makes it very pleasant and easy to eat. It's not as rich as hard ice cream, and I would definitely say it's closer to soft serve than anything else. 

The cookie part of this sandwich is admittedly underwhelming, though. The cookies are not as soft and easily breakable as I remember the ice cream sandwiches of my youth, and they really lack any sort of strong, chocolatey flavor. When I took a bite of one of the chocolate wafers on its own, it tasted like a more bitter version of an Oreo cookie — just without the creamy icing in the middle. 

Considering these are 150 calories a pop, I'm very impressed with Skinny Cow's offering. I wouldn't mind stocking them in my freezer for when the mood strikes, but I don't think they really hit the indulgent note that I was looking for here. 

The Chipwich brand makes a lot of big and bold claims about its product, so I was admittedly a little skeptical about it. "The original ice cream cookie sandwich" is a big title — the brand even claims to have invented the dessert in the '80s.

This ice cream sandwich is a showstopper, there's no doubt about it. When I opened the box to see three cookie ice cream sandwiches nestled inside, I was shocked, surprised, and in awe. The cookies looked homemade, the ice cream looked creamy, and the chocolate chips on the outside were absolutely tantalizing. If this were a beauty pageant, Chipwich would walk away with a sash and a crown. But don't be fooled; this sandwich is more than just a pretty face. The ice cream inside is high quality and has a much creamier mouthfeel than many of the other lower-ranked brands on this list. Chipwich nailed the ratio of cookie to ice cream with impeccable accuracy. 

However, the mini chips on the outside of the sandwich are a problem. When I got a bite of the exterior of the sandwich, all I could taste was chocolate. Sure, it wasn't gritty or unpleasant, but that chocolate flavor dominated every bite, which took away from the tasty (and not overly sweet) cookies and premium ice cream. A bite in the middle is much better, but I felt like I had to eat around the chips, which was not ideal. I would have preferred this sandwich chip-less. 

FatBoy is to the chocolate wafer ice cream sandwich what Chipwich is to the cookie ice cream sandwich. It's flashy, name-branded, and has an almost dominating presence in the grocery store freezer aisle. Despite seeing it every time I grab a box of cheap ice cream sandwiches, I had not tried one of its sandwiches until this review — and I really wish that I had known about it sooner. 

While it is priced higher than many of the other ice cream sandwiches in this ranking, I can assure you that its flavor and overall quality are worth the occasional splurge. The ice cream in this sandwich tastes like butter (in the best way). It's creamy, decadent, and hangs on your taste buds like a hot summer haze. It deftly toes the line between being a rich and creamy hard ice cream and a soft-serve frozen dessert — the perfect composition for an ice cream sandwich. If you prefer a softer texture, take my advice and let it sit out to melt for a little while — just be prepared for the sides to be a bit messy to eat.

Fatboy surged ahead of brands like Klondike and Hood thanks to the texture of its cookies. They're not particularly hard, nor soft. Unlike the crunchy Great Value ice cream sandwich, this one was soft enough to meld with the ice cream, but still hard enough to set itself apart from the ice cream layer in between. Despite being a perfectly engineered food product, its high price tag earned it the silver medal in this ranking. 

I'm going to be honest here: Blue Bunny is not a brand that I associate with being very high quality, at least on the ice cream front. It placed relatively low on our ranking of popular vanilla ice cream brands. But after trying its vanilla ice cream sandwiches, I think I can consider myself a Blue Bunny convert.

These sandwiches look very uniform — almost unnervingly so. Each one is perfectly filled with ice cream and features perfectly rounded edges, along with an ample ratio of ice cream to chocolate wafer cookie. I honestly felt a little short-changed by some of the lowest-ranked brands (cough, cough, Great Value), and I can happily report that this Blue Bunny offering is leaps and bounds above it. The amount of ice cream in these sandwiches isn't the only thing impressive about them; they also taste great. The ice cream has a buttery flavor, though it has a lighter mouthfeel than FatBoy's offering. The bite also has the perfect pull: the cookies are soft, but not so much so that they disintegrate and break when you take a bite. The cookies themselves are not too sweet (as was the case with Toll House and the M&M's sandwiches), and I wasn't distracted by any errant mini chips like I was with Chipwich's sandwich. 

While the chocolate flavor in these cookies isn't cosmic, it complements the sweetness of the ice cream portion well and makes for a satisfying bite. It's an all-around good and super affordable sandwich, and it definitely deserves a spot in every freezer. 

An ice cream sandwich is both complex and simple; it's composed of an ice cream layer between two cookies — which can be anything from classic chocolate wafers to massive cookies. Since comparing a chocolate wafer-based treat to one made with cookies can seem a little like comparing apples to oranges, I objectively examined the quality of the "bread" and ice cream independently, then looked at the overall enjoyability of each sandwich I sampled. Regardless of the type of base, it had to be soft enough to bite into, supportive enough for the ice cream, and flavorful enough to complement the frozen dessert filling. The ice cream shouldn't taste cheap, and even though I didn't expect its quality to be as high as what I'd find in a premium pint, I still wanted something creamy, decadent, and indulgent. The highest-ranked sandwich brands had a great synergy between the cookie and the ice cream, and a solid bite that would make me want to buy it again — and perhaps even choose it over a scoop of ice cream. 

I tried to select brands that were available nationwide for this review, though I did include Hood — a New England favorite. Besides grocery stores, like the local Walmart I purchased these from, you may be able to find similar products at gas stations or convenience stores, or, if you're lucky, an ice cream truck.