33 Richest & Tastiest Ice Cream Desserts For You To Make

It’s summertime again, and you’re looking for the perfect sweet treat that will both tingle your taste buds, while also cooling you down at the same time.

There’s only one kind of dessert that can scratch that food itch, and that’s ice cream. When it comes to getting a cold sweet bite of smooth frozen goodness, outside of its gelato and sorbet equivalents, nothing else even comes close.

However, having the same bowl of ice cream every hot day of summer, while maybe a 10-year-old’s idea of paradise, can start to feel a little samey after a while (see also ‘28 Amazing Icebox Cake Recipes You Have To Try‘).

Plus, some people just don’t like ice cream on its own as a dessert for a full meal, shocking as that might seem to some.

However, ice cream is nothing if not a malleable ingredient, so many people have taken it upon themselves to craft the ideal summer dessert that uses ice cream, but also brings something else to the dessert table.

This is why we have put together this list of the greatest and tastiest desserts that use ice cream as one of their ingredients for you here today!

1. Peanut Butter Parfait Ice Cream Pie With Nutter Butter Crust

Starting off this list of ice-cold dessert recipes right, we have an amazing parfait recipe that will keep you cool and satisfied in the summer heat.

As you will find in this list, chocolate and peanut butter go together like jelly…. Well, peanut butter!

Just about the only thing that can be added to make these two ingredients better is, as this recipe shows, a big helping of ice cream to the mix!

2. Ice Cream Cookie Dessert

Once again, it is often the most simple combinations that make the best desserts! You know how in a lasagna, you’ll have different layers of meat and pasta that are also covered in tons of sources?

Think that, but instead of minced meat, you have crushed Oreo cookies, and instead of pasta, you have ice cream! Doesn’t that sound amazing?

And that lasagna sauce? Yeah, it’s a delicious chocolate sauce this time around! Make the perfect family dessert for the summer with this recipe!

3. Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Roll

Pumpkin pie is one of those desserts that seems like it should be less sweet than it is, and yet somehow it works. The only thing that can make it better?

Well, have you tried throwing a ton of ice cream in there?

That’s right, instead of a custard filling as you’d find in a jelly roll, this one uses deliciously creamy ice cream as its filling. Top it with a little caramel or chocolate drizzle, and you’re all set!

4. Fried Ice Cream Dessert Bars

Fried ice cream feels like it shouldn’t work as a concept, and yet it works so well! However, when it comes to serving it in a portion, rather than just scooping it out of a bowl, it can get a little tricky.

This is a problem that this recipe solves masterfully, by combining the ice cream with a crunchy breakfast bar that holds it all in place.

5. Ice Cream S’mores 

Who doesn’t love a good s’more? That combination of the chocolate, crunchy wafer, or cracker, combined with that gooey marshmallow center, is the stuff of campfire legends.

So, why not improve that smooth center with a little ice cream to make it even smoother?

By having a selection of cooled frozen s’mores made of both marshmallow fluff and ice cream, you have options for how you eat your sugar with this recipe!

6. Hot Fudge Ice Cream Pie

Ice cream pies have to be one of the best ways to enjoy this frozen dessert.

The only thing that seems to put people away from trying to make these pie recipes for themselves, is that they often seem daunting to make, especially for newcomers to baking and cooking.

However, with just six ingredients used in this recipe, this is the perfect entry-level pie recipe for pretty much anyone to take a crack at for themselves!

7. Chocolate Peanut Butter Shakes

When it comes to desserts, you’ll find that peanut butter and ice cream have a lot of versatility to them, especially when it comes to the forms that you can present and show them in.

Like, as this recipe shows, in a delicious milkshake!

With a recipe that creates a smooth, thick shake that is perfect for sipping through a straw, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better way at staying cool in the summer heat, especially when this milkshake is properly refrigerated!

8. Mexican ‘Fried’ Ice Cream

Okay, this may sound crazy for a moment, but just here is out on this one. Have you ever wanted a sweet version of fried mozzarella sticks?

By rolling your scoop of ice cream in panko bread with extra flavorings (cinnamon, sugar, etc.), rather than frying it, you have the best of both worlds, combining a frozen, cool inside, with the sweet fried and crunchiness outside!

It’s incredibly easy to make and tastes great. Especially when drizzled with a little extra honey too!

9. Frosty Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie

What can we say? We just can’t get enough of ice cream when it’s mixed with a good pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin pie is the perfect dessert to serve at pretty much any and every time of year, although it’s probably at its most seasonally appropriate in late fall.

However, once you add ice cream to the mix (quite literally in this case), you have the perfect cooling dessert to present during the summer as well!

10. Spumoni Baked Alaska

If you’re looking to host or go to a party in the summertime, and you know there’s going to be quite a lot of people, it is time to bring out the big guns. Well, the culinary guns, at least!

Baked Alaska is a favorite dessert dish across the world and is quite similar to the way that ice cream used to be served and presented to people before the invention of mechanical refrigeration.

So, it’s nice to see old and new forms of ice cream come together in this incredible recipe!

11. PB&J Ice Cream Sandwiches

Is there anything that screams summer more than a good ice cream sandwich? Well, we certainly associate these tasty treats with the summers of our childhood, that’s for sure!

So we’re very happy to find a recipe that allows us to recreate our childhoods in the comfort of our kitchen! Feel the taste of nostalgia with this amazing bite-sized recipe!

12. Purple Cow Shake

Okay, the name does make it seem a little odd.

However, this isn’t some off-brand colored milk like you’d find in Star Wars, this is a bona fide delicious delight of a milkshake that you can make in your own home with ease!

This combination of ice cream, milk, and grapefruit juice is a very simple recipe for anyone with a blender, or even a good whisk, to make.

And only using three ingredients means that it won’t be an expensive recipe to make, and stays easy for both kids and adults to make for themselves!

13. All-American Banana Split

You’ve got to love a good banana split.

For a fruit (well, technically a berry, but you get the point) like bananas, with their smooth and soft texture when properly ripened, plus a mellow, yet consistent sweetness, they’re a match made in heaven for ice cream!

This classic American dessert is perfectly crafted in this particular recipe, you’ll have a healthy helping of fruit alongside your ice cream of choice here!

14. Ice Cream Cake

A cake, slathered in ice cream, and filled with fluffy sponge cake. What more could you ask for from a recipe like this?

This is a great recipe to add your spin to, whether it’s choosing your fillings, or switching up what flavor of ice cream you have on the outside. Don’t be afraid to flex your creative muscles with this one.

15. Frozen Banana Split Dessert

You can never have too much banana split dessert!

… Is what we would like to be true, even if our stomachs wouldn’t thank us for thinking that!

Still, with this next recipe for a classic banana split here, you’ll have a great ice cream dessert recipe that requires no baking, and can be loaded with as many toppings as you want from nuts to other fruits, to whipped cream, to chocolate.

The sky (and your stomach) are the limit with this recipe!

16. Gluten-Free Ice Cream Sandwiches

Not everyone can freely enjoy the pleasures of many desserts that we are discussing with here, unfortunately.

The bugbear that is gluten intolerance is a tricky one to get around for many food lovers, but we have the perfect recipes to help deal with that problem here!

Perfect for enjoying throughout summer!

17. Berry & Ice Cream Shortcakes

A shortcake and ice cream dessert is the perfect answer to the question ‘How do I find the best way of shoving the tastiest shortcake biscuit I can make, whilst also enjoying a scoop of ice cream and berries?’

It’s a pretty specific question, but this recipe answers it amazingly well!

18. Butter Pecan Ice Cream Cake

Pecan is a favorite ingredient in many dessert recipes, and the same is true for this ice cream and butter cake recipe too!

With a thick gingersnap base, topped with ice cream, pecans, salted caramel, and whipped cream, this is a calorie fanatic’s paradise!

You can use either store-bought ice cream, or even try your hand at making it yourself with a simple recipe (this recipe even links to one for you to use!)

Make a great last course for your summer meals!

19. Butter Pecan Pumpkin Pie

Pecan’s back with a vengeance, this time being used as the perfect flavor of ice cream for this delicious pumpkin pie recipe.

Although this is a great recipe to cool down with in the summer, this is a recipe that is just at home being eaten in fall and winter too!

20. Easy Ice Cream Cake

Look, we get it.

Sometimes, you don’t have the time to craft an incredibly ornate recipe with an ingredient list the length of your arm.

So, this is the perfect recipe for those people that are on a tight schedule, but want to still make an amazing dessert that everyone will adore!

21. Confetti Ice Cream Fudge Pie With M&M’s

A summer dessert shouldn’t just taste great, but it should be a feast for the eyes too.

After all, it’s the summer, the height of flower season! It’s time to bring that rainbow to the food we eat, too!

So we adore this ice cream fudge pie!

The use of M&Ms as an ingredient and a garnish helps brings that extra color to desserts that can often need that little extra flare to them.

22. Grilled Peach Sundaes

Who doesn’t love a sundae?

When combined with a little grilled peach, as well as being served in a miniature ice cream cone bowl, you have the perfect bite-sized dessert to share!

23. Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Add a little spin on a classic summer staple with an iconic ice cream sandwich recipe, this time with added strawberries!

24. Strawberry Crunch Ice Cream Cake

Looking for the perfect way to shake up a classic strawberry cake? Well, why not add ice cream to the mix?

25. Nutty Caramel Ice Cream Cake

Caramel and nuts are a great pairing of ingredients, no matter what you cook them in, or how you prepare them. However, when it comes to potential favorites, this recipe is pretty high on the list!

26. Ice Cream Truffles

Truffles are another staple dessert recipe that comes in a ton of varieties, from the classic chocolate version to every kind of cake being used too.

Now, we even have an ice cream truffle on that list too!

27. Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

There are never enough ice cream sandwiches in the world, so we’ll gladly take any excuse to share another recipe for this summer staple!

28. Margarita Floats

If you’re looking for an ice cream treat with a little alcoholic taste thrown into the mix, this is the perfect place for those grown-ups who still love ice cream!

29. Vanilla Orange Freeze

If you’re looking for a frozen dessert that has plenty of fruit in it (and isn’t a banana split, for whatever reason), then this tropical ice cream smoothie will be perfect to cool down with!

30. Irish Coffee Ice Cream Pie With Whiskey Ganache

While we still have ice cream and a little alcoholic spirit on our minds, we would recommend trying this Irish coffee ganache recipe.

Irish coffee can often feel like it is already halfway to being an ice cream dish, so this recipe simply seals the deal!

The smooth whiskey-infused ganache topping is exactly the kind of dessert that you can make to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

31. Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwich Minis

Snickerdoodles are an often underappreciated cookie, and that’s a shame. After all, who doesn’t love a good cinnamon cookie?

So, we think that combining a batch of fresh snickerdoodles with ice cream to create an iconic dessert sandwich is a great way to sure this cookie some much-needed love!

32. Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Okay, we promise, this is our last peanut butter recipe on this list.

That being said, this is a hell of a recipe to go out on, with a simple-to-follow recipe that lets you create some stellar peanut butter cookies to boot, this is giving you two amazing recipes for the price (or effort, at least) of one!

33. Homemade Oreo Ice Cream Cake

For our final recipe, we wanted something strong to finish on.

So, when it comes to a dessert recipe that will be universally loved and appreciated, we can’t think of a better recipe than this easy-to-make Oreo ice cream.

The perfect final course, or the centerpiece to a birthday celebration, it works for both!

Frequently Asked Questions

What Temperature Does An Ice Cream Dessert Need To Be Stored At?

This will depend largely on what kind of dessert you are looking to preserve for later.

Generally speaking, however, ice cream-based products need to be kept at 0 degrees Celsius or below to avoid melting, so you will not be able to keep your finished recipes in your refrigerator for very long before it begins to fall about. 

How Old Is Ice Cream?

Whilst frozen desserts made from flavored ice or snow have been around for thousands of years, ice cream as we know likely recognize it was first documented in the 17th century in Europe.

The famous Italian merchant, writer, and traveler Marco Polo’s journey to East Asia would bring back a recipe for what we now recognize as a type of sherbet.

Over centuries, this would eventually evolve into the first recipes for ice cream in the 1600s, with Francesco Procopio blending milk, eggs, cream, and butter into a recipe that would resemble modern ice cream in the late 1680s.

Without proper freezing and refrigerators, ice cream would remain a recipe for the elite of society, until the development of mechanical refrigeration in the 19th century allowed more people to store this amazing treat for longer without it melting and expiring.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it! A spectacular list of ice cream dessert recipes that are all more than the sum of their parts. The only issue now is picking one, and finding the patience to let the ice cream set!