Summer is winding down to a close and I am not ready to admit that! I know we all say it every year how fast summer time goes and that we cannot believe the kids are going back to school again, but seriously! This year more than ever summer went by in a flash and I CANNOT believe it is already back-to-school time again!!

So in order to keep my summer vibes going and continue trying to live in denial that it’s almost over, I’m going to think about all things summer, including my favorite summer treat: ice cream! I think it’s safe to say there is nothing better in the whole wide world on a hot summer day to having ice cream, one way or another! It is the best, most refreshing treat. We try to go to the beach almost every chance we get and our favorite beach is Manhattan Beach. Part of the reason this is our favorite beach is because of our favorite after-beach tradition of going to this little ice cream shop nearby and getting a freshly made chocolate-dipped ice cream sandwich. It tastes so unbelievably good after you’ve been in the salty ocean all day.

Well, with ice cream on the brain, I did a little digging and little did I know there are some cool hacks out there to make the ice cream experience so much MORE enjoyable (is that even possible?!) Check out these cool tricks to take your ice cream charades to the next level.

Cut Ice Cream with a Knife

Soft Ice Cream Hack

Apparently if you put your container of ice cream in to a gallon-size freezer bag it will stay soft and you won’t have any trouble scooping hard ice cream.

Make Ice Cream Sandwich Making Easier

Cut 1 inch thick slices of a pint size container of ice cream for fast ice cream sandwich making. Place on cookie, peel off ice cream container and top with other cookie. Voila!

Finish off a Jar of Nutella with Ice Cream

Got a little jar of Nutella sitting in your cupboard that is almost empty? Scoop a couple scoops of ice cream right into the jar for a delightful, no-mess treat!

Keep Ice Cream Drips off of Your Hand

You can stick a marshmallow in the bottom of an ice cream cone to prevent any drips from spilling out.

Create on Oreo Topping

Want some Oreos to sprinkle on your ice cream? Put small chunks of Oreo in a spice grinder for a fun way to do this.

Oreo Ice Cream Combo

Add one scoop of ice cream to the middle of an Oreo then roll in sprinkles.

The final thing I will leave you with is this simple recipe for……chocolate dipped doughnut ice cream sandwiches! That’s right, you heard me! I know that’s not really a hack but it is a fun, sinly take on one of my favorite ice cream treats.

Ice Cream Glazed Doughnut Sandwiches

It is best to assemble these doughnut sandwiches, dip them in chocolate, and eat them right away while the ice cream is frozen, the doughnuts are fresh, and chocolate is still a little melty.

You could make them in advance, chocolate and all, then freeze them to eat later (we did for a few too many), but the chocolate gets really hard (as do the doughnuts) and actually, we recommend that you NOT freeze-for-later at all. So never mind. Just make them and eat them.

Ingredients

for each sandwich, you will need:
1 doughnut, any kind you like
1 generous scoop of ice cream (we used Dreyer’s/Edy’s Slow Churned Coffee!)
melted chocolate (we poured a bag of chocolate chips into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and melted it over extremely low heat)

Directions

Remove ice cream from freezer and let sit on countertop to soften ever so slightly while you prepare the doughnuts.

Slice each doughnut in half around the middle. Our tool recommendation: a long, serrated bread knife.

Place a generous scoop of ice cream on a small plate. Using a spatula, flatten the scoop of ice cream to the same diameter as your doughnuts. Place the flattened scoop of ice cream on half the doughnut. “Close” the sandwich with the other half of the doughnut.

Place prepared doughnut sandwiches in freezer temporarily.

Melt your chocolate.

Remove sandwiches from freezer. Dip each sandwich into melted chocolate.

Serve immediately, with lots of napkins. It’s very messy. Sticky glaze, melting ice cream, oozing chocolate…

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