Anything molded into a heart shape automatically becomes appropriate for a Valentine's Day dessert. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! It actually makes it much easier to come up with an appropriately thematic treat to end the evening. Nicole, from Pinch My Salt, made up this batch of wickedly delicious looking Naughty Ice Cream Sandwiches, which not only incorporate heart shapes, but lots of rich flavors to get you in the right mindset for celebration. The filling is made of Irish Cream-spiked vanilla ice cream, frozen in a thin layer until firm enough to cut with a cookie cutter. The hearts are made of very thin brownies that have been enhanced with some Kahlua, instant espresso and dark chocolate baked in a jelly-roll pan, then cut with the same heart-shaped cookie cutter. The results are stunning and, aside from the repetition of the cutting, very easy to pull off. Make them in advance and store them in the freezer for a late-night snack, or a great summer treat when it is hot out!

An ice cream sandwich is a great summer treat. Not only is it cool and tasty, but it has a little bit of nostalgia attached to it because you probably ate them as a kid, with the ice cream squishing out from between the cookies and making a mess of things. Somehow, that seemed to make it taste even better at the time.

Substituting pound cake for the cookies usually found on ice cream sandwiches is a great way to reinvent the classic dessert into something a little bit more elegant for summer entertaining. Just thinly slice up a store-bought (or homemade) pound cake and spread some softened ice cream between two slices. Wrap each serving up with plastic wrap and, when you're ready to serve, just place one on each plate and garnish with whipped cream and berries.

There is no reason that you have to use these sandwiches when entertaining, of course. You can simply stock them in your freezer and have them yourself when the mood strikes you.

Have you ever had an IT'S IT ice cream sandwich? The all-caps treat has been a San Francisco favorite for almost 80 years. It sandwiches a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two soft oatmeal cookies, and the whole thing is dipped in chocolate, making one of the finest ice cream sandwiches you can buy.

The version that you can't buy is even better, though.

Google had their chef, Nate Keller, work with IT'S IT to make a trans-fat free version that is all natural and made with locally sourced ingredients. This Google version went on sale is free in the employee cafeteria, complete with Google logo on the wrapper.

Perhaps we'll all get to sample this new version in the future, but for now we'll have to content ourselves with the classic. You can order them online from the factory, and get overnight delivery anywhere in the US. If you can get ahold of them and you ask nicely, maybe the Google cafeteria would be willing to ship their version, too.

It must be a sign of inflation.

For the first time since they opened in Westwood in 1983, Diddy Riese's ice cream cookie sandwiches have gone up in price. The store, which sells ice cream sandwiched between two cookies to UCLA students, put up signs warning customers of the price increase about two weeks ago. The cookie sandwiches went up by a whopping 25%. Okay, so they went from $1 to $1.25, and that's still pretty cheap for an ice cream sandiwch.

According to the Daily Bruin, students were disappointed by the price hike, but understand that it had to be done. Besides, a quarter is not a big deal. It probably won't affect how often a student goes in for a late-night snack. The owner believes customers are more concerned because it was so easy to simply lay down a dollar bill. Now it's a dollar bill and a quarter.

The way I see it, customers can now put down two dollar bills and get back three quarters - perfect change for doing laundry!

With the endearing name of Chocolate Cherry Chip Bada Bing!, the hit HBO show, the Sopranos, has its own ice cream flavor. The ice cream sandwiches are made up of two large chocolate chip cookies with a cherry flavored ice cream in between. The sides of the sandwich are rolled in chocolate chips.

Strangely, CoolBrands International, which released the ice cream, trademarked the name several years ago. When HBO began to hint around that they were looking to expand the Soprano's brand, the coincidence of the frozen novelty sharing the name of Tony Soprano's strip club was too great to overlook and HBO signed up. Product placement and a small percent of the profits are rumored to be part of the deal.

Currently, the sandwiches only seem to be available in the New York tri-state area. where they retail for $$4.29-$4.89

Revamping frozen novelties, like ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches, into more health-conscious variations seems like a natural thing to do with summer coming up in just a few short months. After all, it is the time of year that people start to remember that they are going to have to put on a bathing suit at some point. Yoplait is releasing a line of Frozen Yogurt & Cereal Bars and Sandwiches. Though the name sounds like it might be breakfast food, the bar is actually an ice cream-like frozen yogurt rolled in a crushed cereal coating. This gives the bar a tasty crunch to contrast with the cool, creamy yogurt. For those people who can't help indulging at breakfast time, it is refreshing to know that the bars are low fat and contain as much calcium as a glass of milk, have the same live-active culture as yogurt and all the vitamins and minerals that dry cereals are typically fortified with, including vitamins A, C, D, B6 and B12, as well as zinc and iron. The bars come in three flavors: Strawberry, Vanilla & Wildberry, and Vanilla & Raspberry. Look for them in your local supermarket this month!

From now until the end of August, one of my absolute favorite candies is having a contest. Jelly Belly's Taste the Mystery contest has put one of five mystery flavors into bags of Jelly Belly's and, by identifying the flavor in your bag and typing your secret code in on the contest website you have a chance to win the grand prize of $250,000 among other things. Admittedly, the odds of winning are slim, but I am mostly interested in the new flavors and not the grand prize. The question-marked jelly beans come in Apple Pie, Maple Syrup, Raisin, Ice Cream Sandwich and Papaya. This particular package of mine had the Ice Cream Sandwich beans and I can assure you that they are excellent. I hope they add at least a few of the new flavors to the famous 49-flavor mix when the contest ends.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]