The Baked Bear: Heaven in the form of ice cream sandwiches

 

The Baked Bear 

The Baked Bear was a great find! They served me the type of dessert that left me hungering for more. One bite of my cookie and ice cream sandwich already had me falling in love. I've been here more than once because I find the desserts here so irresistible. 

The Baked Bear is a dessert shop that sells ten delicious flavors of sweet, ice-cold ice cream ready to be scooped to order. But The Baked Bear isn’t just a regular ice cream stand; it also specializes in fresh-baked, delectable cookies (they have at least as many cookie flavors as ice cream flavors) and brownies. The cookies are on display, so you can see how pretty they are. You can order any of these items solo or as a combination; they sell ice cream with cookies, ice cream with brownies, but most notably, they sell ice cream sandwiches with a healthy amount of their signature creamy ice cream stacked between two cookies.

Examining the great wealth of cookie type options, I was particularly drawn to the Funfetti, chocolate chip, and Cookie Monster cookies. The Cookie Monster cookies are fun because they are dyed blue and incorporate chips of other cookies like Oreos; the chocolate chip cookies appear to be classic and old fashioned, and the Funfetti sugar cookies are a nice festive touch. The cookies are soft but chewy and buttery. I find them extremely delightful with or without ice cream, especially when served warm. 

That said, the ice cream is not to be overlooked; it is as impressive as the perfectly baked cookies. It’s perfectly sweet, smooth, and creamy, and although it is cold, it isn’t too cold; instead, it’s the perfect temperature if you want something cold but not completely freezing. It won’t give you a head rush, but it also is far from melting on you. They have lots of good options in the way of flavors, but my favorite is the cookie dough ice cream, followed by the vanilla as a close second. 

The cookies are delectable, so  they pair nicely with the purely sweet and soft ice cream. Although it’s quite a handful, eating one of these massive ice cream sandwiches is a satisfying experience that will remind you of childhood innocence and looking forward to summer vacation. Bite after bite, you get that chewy, warm cookie and that smooth, cold ice cream all in one mouthful. 

The idea of making a business out of just ice cream, cookies, brownies, and toppings that can be combined into sandwiches was strangely ingenious in this case; they've cracked the code on making a unique product with broad appeal. It’s not just an ice cream stand—it’s more than that, because the baked goods add to the possibilities considerably.