If you’re anything like me and have a bit of a sweet tooth, when someone mentions warm cookies with ice cream, you’re all in. That’s why I was thrilled to find out that The Baked Bear was opening on The Loop—a place where I could fulfill all of my ice cream sandwich dreams. I had the opportunity to visit, try it out for myself, and chat with co-owner Steve Lemley, and I was definitely not disappointed.
About The Baked Bear
Since its 2013 debut in Pacific Beach, CA, The Baked Bear has expanded rapidly across the country and luckily just made its way to Missouri. Business partners Steve Lemley and Collin Tillman brought The Baked Bear to St. Louis after hearing about the business model a couple of years ago. Situated by local favorites like Pi Pizza and the Pageant, and not far from Washington University, The Loop made for the perfect location for this make-your-own ice cream sandwiches dream.
Menu
The Baked Bear offers a wide range of cookies, ice cream, and toppings, offering everything you could possibly need to create your perfect ice cream sandwich. The cookies are baked in house every morning (which makes them super soft and chewy) and come in a variety of flavors like classic chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and red velvet. They also have a rotating extra flavor every month. Currently, the flavor of the month is pumpkin spice (just in time for the season of PSL lovers).
If cookies aren’t your thing, they also make decadent brownies with Ghirardelli chocolate and fluffy beignet-like donuts to serve as the base for your creation. Other non-sandwich options include warm chocolate chip or brownie bowls, or a classic waffle cone. The ice cream is rGBH-free (hormone-free) and made especially for The Baked Bear, with flavors like Salted Caramel Fudge and PB&J (one of my personal favorites). With a hard-to-miss bright blue color, the signature flavor is Bear Batter, which is a cake batter base mixed with fudge and brownie bits.
Toppings range from M&Ms to chocolate sauce to crushed Oreo pieces and can be added to any ice cream creation. To help accommodate dietary restrictions, there are vegan soy ice creams and gluten free chocolate chip cookie options, both of which are kept separate to avoid contamination.
After making your sandwich, you can opt to hot press the creation (which I highly recommend), making the cookies warm and gooey without melting the ice cream.
Taste
Since there’s an endless variety of options, Lemley suggested we try some of his favorite combinations. The most popular sandwich is a combo of half brownie half cookie, with the signature Bear Batter ice cream, topped with M&Ms, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. With the bright blue color, this sandwich screams Insta-worthy, and I can confirm that it tastes as good as it looks. With a decadent brownie base and a chewy cookie top, this sandwich was every dessert-lovers dream.
Next, we tried a sandwich with two pumpkin spice cookies, espresso bean ice cream, and chocolate drizzle. This is the perfect combination for fall, and this creation tastes just like a PSL—hints of pumpkin pie and a strong coffee kick. The chocolate drizzle was a perfect complement to the cozy fall flavors, melting in your mouth with every bite.
If you are craving a more light and refreshing combination, this next sandwich is for you. Lemley recommended the blackberry crumble ice cream sandwiched between a macadamia white chocolate cookie and a snickerdoodle cookie. This sandwich tasted almost like a cobbler, with hints of cinnamon and blackberry working in harmony with the shortcake pieces in the ice cream.
We ended our ice cream sandwich-tasting extravaganza with cookie dough ice cream on a fluffy donut, topped with blue glaze drizzle and sprinkles. These donuts don’t have holes, making them more like a beignet, and are super light, making them the perfect complement to the cookie dough ice cream. This is a great option if you’re looking to try something different or happen to be a dedicated donut-lover.
The Baked Bear is open every day of the week and open extra late on weekends, making it the perfect treat. Now head to The Loop and make your own one of a kind ice cream sandwich creation—find a personal favorite, or test out endless combinations. No matter what you do, you can’t go wrong.