A few years ago we realized that our kitchen was missing a very important appliance… an ice cream maker! After doing some research, Adam surprised Ryan with one for his birthday, plus a cookbook to go with it called Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones. The very first recipe we made was the vanilla—made with real vanilla beans—and it was the creamiest and smoothest ice cream we had ever tasted. We immediately looked into the ice cream shop listed on the cover of the book: Bi-Rite Creamery. Well, as anyone in San Francisco could tell you, it is a popular place with almost 8500 rave reviews and a 4 1/2 star rating on Yelp. The point is: these people know their ice cream. So when we decided to make cookies and cream ice cream bars for this Labor Day weekend, the obvious choice was to begin with this book. We used their classic cookies and cream recipe as the base to get that silky rich texture that they are so well-known for, and we added more cookies to give it a more chocolatey flavor and a delicious crunch. And when we were experimenting with ways to keep the prep time under five minutes, we discovered an ingredient that makes these decadent bars even creamier, turning this simple and refreshing treat into one of our new favorite desserts.