11 Ways to Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast

Vanilla-Almond Ice Cream with Cherries and Pistachios
Photo: John Kernick

When it comes to national food holidays, it's not often that we're moved to celebrate. But we saw Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, which falls on the first Saturday of February, as a call to action. We're officially proclaiming that you can enjoy a morning scoop of ice cream any day of the year. So we've gathered our most breakfast-centric ice cream recipes — from coffee ice cream to peaches and mint — for whenever you exercise this freedom. Rise and shine.

01 of 11

Earl Grey Ice Cream with Chocolate Toffee and Shortbread Crumble

Earl Grey Ice Cream with Chocolate Toffee
Photo by Fred Hardy II / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Christina Brockman

This fantastic Earl Grey-infused recipe is laced with crushed shortbread cookies, which are really not too far a cry from cereal.

02 of 11

Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee Ice Cream
Abby Hocking

What do many of us drink to function every morning? Coffee. What conveniently often comes in coffee flavor? Ice cream. Creamy, cold, and caffeinated, this ice cream is everything your morning iced coffee should be. Thus, it is more than appropriate to make for breakfast. For those so inclined, decaffeinated coffee beans work well here, too.

03 of 11

Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone Ice Cream

Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone Ice Cream
© James Merrell

Fruit is definitely acceptable for breakfast and adding a side of ice cream never hurt anyone. Chef Daniel Humm was inspired by his native Switzerland when creating this recipe. "Every house has an herb garden," says Humm of Ticino, the southern region of Switzerland. Accordingly, he infuses roasted peaches with honey-rosemary syrup. The mascarpone in the ice cream reveals the strong Italian influence on Ticino's cuisine.

04 of 11

Coconut Mochi Ice Cream Sandwiches

Coconut Mochi Ice Cream Sandwiches
© John Kernick

Pastry chef Jen Yee makes these fun and pretty sandwiches with a simple Japanese dough that combines sweet glutinous rice flour, sugar, water, and coconut milk. They're not too sweet, though, which makes them ideal for your morning ice cream consumption.

05 of 11

Vanilla Ice Cream Bread Pudding with Whiskey Caramel

Vanilla Ice Cream Bread Pudding with Whiskey Caramel

© John Kernick

If you're looking for a way to indulge in a scoop at breakfast, this recipe is not that. But if you want to celebrate National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day without actually licking some cold stuff, you can have this bread pudding instead. It's ingeniously made with melted vanilla ice cream, eliminating the need to prepare a custard.

06 of 11

Mint Ice Cream

Mint Ice Cream
© Frances Janisch

For a cool, refreshing wake-up, look to this tasty mint ice cream from Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. This exceptionally creamy ice cream relies on cream cheese to make it scoopable.

07 of 11

Apple-Caramel Sundaes

Apple Caramel Sundaes
John Kernick

Who needs eggs when fruit and ice cream make for a delicious breakfast? For this sumptuous sundae, F&W culinary director at large Justin Chapple chops up the best apples he can find and mixes them into a buttery brown sugar caramel. It's perfect over vanilla ice cream and some fresh apple slices.

08 of 11

Melted Ice Cream Hot Chocolate

Melted Ice Cream Hot Chocolate
© Justin Walker

Though we don’t like to admit it, there are days that are just too cold for ice cream. But creamy, rich, and uber-thick melted ice cream hot chocolate does the trick. The addition of marshmallows is optional (but not actually).

09 of 11

Vanilla-Almond Ice Cream with Cherries and Pistachios

Vanilla-Almond Ice Cream with Cherries and Pistachios
John Kernick

Vanilla, almonds, pistachios, and cherries could very well be ingredients in a granola you'd eat at breakfast. Here, they make up a stellar ice cream that tastes fresh and bright for the morning. Plus, an ice cream maker isn't needed for this sweet and creamy custard-based treat.

10 of 11

Peach-Buttermilk Ice Cream

Peach Buttermilk Ice Cream
John Kernick

This creamy, fruity ice cream is made with just eight pure ingredients and takes only 40 active minutes to prepare. Be sure to use the best buttermilk you can get for this recipe: The ice cream is just as much about the rich, tangy buttermilk as it is the fragrant peaches.

11 of 11

Mochi Ice Cream

Mochi Ice Cream
Abby Hocking / Food & Wine

Green tea and matcha are practically the definition of morning flavors. Once you source the sweet glutinous rice flour, making mochi, the chewy Japanese rice cake, couldn’t be simpler. Here, we use a microwave to make mochi flavored with matcha (a powdered green tea). We then wrap the matcha around scoops of green tea ice cream.

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