19 Ways to Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast

What do you need to 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 eat it for breakfast. For those so inclined, decaffeinated coffee beans work well here, too.

Fact: people eat parfaits for breakfast. It doesn't really matter that they're usually made with yogurt because this ice cream version is so superior. Fresh strawberry sauce and refreshing lemon sorbet make these giant sundaes a delightful morning treat that you can whip up in just 30 minutes before work.

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.

These whimsical ice cream sandwiches are just what you need in the morning. Polenta cookies make for a delicious crunch factor and the huckleberry sorbet between them is fruity and refreshing. Any tart store-bought sorbet (like raspberry, blood orange, boysenberry or lemon) would pair well with these cookies as well.

Corn cakes, often referred to as hoe cakes or johnnycakes, are basically cornmeal pancakes. They can be savory or sweet, and both make for a fluffy, flavorful breakfast. Bobby Flay tops his sweet blackberry version with big scoops of homemade Georgia-peach ice cream. This meal is bound to keep you full until at least lunch.

Oatmeal is undoubtedly a breakfast food. This oatmeal just happens to be in cookie form accompanied by vanilla ice cream. Plus, this recipe requires you to make one giant ice cream sandwich that you cut into 24 pieces once it's frozen. There is not a more fun recipe out there to make or devour.

This creamy, fruity ice cream is made with just eight pure ingredients and takes just 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.

Pastry chef Jen Yee of Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery in New York 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.

This elegant riff on the classic sundae has espresso, so it's perfect for breakfast. Making a quick caramel to pour over the bananas creates a delicious crunchy coating that shatters as you dig into the sundae. The espresso in the hot fudge highlights the bittersweet notes in the cocoa, making this one grown-up dessert.

Jeni Britton Bauer, of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, puts a twist on the classic peach melba with a salted graham cracker and toasted seed topping. For an even faster dish (mornings can get a bit rushed), skip the homemade gravel and just add your favorite salted, toasted seeds for that irresistible crunch.

Valerie Bertinelli loves making these Neapolitan Tacos on a warm summer night, but we think they make a good ice cream breakfast on-the-go. She says, “The end result here are crispy, chocolaty, crunchy cookie shells that make the perfect host for creamy vanilla ice cream and minty macerated strawberries.” Sounds like the most important meal of the day to us.

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.

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 two unexpected ingredients: corn starch (to help thicken it) and cream cheese (to make it scoopable). Note: cream cheese is also a breakfast ingredient.

Oatmeal is undoubtedly a breakfast food. This oatmeal just happens to be in cookie form accompanied by vanilla ice cream. Plus, this recipe requires you to make one giant ice cream sandwich that you cut into 24 pieces once it's frozen. There is not a more fun recipe out there to make or devour.

Along with ice cream, we think cake is also a good idea for breakfast. In a riff on traditional ice cream cake, the Food & Wine Test Kitchen team spreads the tender cake layers with ice cream, then uses even more ice cream (instead of actual frosting) to frost the cake.

For a fun yet elegant sundae (that we are now deeming a breakfast sundae), chef Daniel Boulud tops an easy, creamy ginger-mascarpone mousse with chopped mangoes and pineapple, raspberries and generous scoops of vanilla ice cream. It's surprisingly light for the morning, but we would honestly eat it any time of day.

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. This genius bread pudding is made with melted vanilla ice cream, eliminating the need to make a custard.

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

Though we don’t like to admit it, there are days that are just too cold for ice cream. But then how do you celebrate National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day? With creamy, rich and uber thick melted ice cream hot chocolate, of course. The addition of marshmallows is optional (but not actually).

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, F&W’s Justin Chapple doesn’t use an ice cream maker for this sweet and creamy custard-based ice cream.