Cookie Monstah is a small Massachusetts chain (6 stores1 and a rentable truck) that specializes in ice cream cookie sandwiches. While they do emphasize cookies2 you can get cups of just ice cream, or ice cream with a one cookie, the standard is a scoop of ice cream squished between two (same or different) thick cookies. They have at least two doezen flavors of ice cream, with some Gluten Free and Dairy Free options; their current (fall) menu includes "Banana PB Graham", "Apple Crisp", and "Blueberry Pie" but "Eggnog" and "Camp Fire Smores" are sold out. The menu lists Rainbow Sprinkles but no Jimmies at all.
They also have floats, shakes, a "Crusher" which is Sorbet in Iced Tea, and instead of the usual weather-themed soft-serve blended drink, they have a "Quake" - a cookie blended into hard ice cream. (Perhaps it's named after the noise the machine makes when constructing it?)
This particular shop is in a strip mall with plenty of parking, but only indoor service and seating.3
First Visit
It was getting near closing time so I had mine packed up to eat (and photograph) in the car. Turns out ice cream cookies are well suited for takeout, though they make an effort to wrap and box them carefully (possibly in support of their apparently extensive delivery-app sales.)
I went with Totally Turtle in between Double Chocolate and a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip4 cookies. I couldn't find a precise description of their Totally Turtle, though Breakers, Dandi-Lyons and Mac's Dairy Farm all have flavors with that name; this version was a vanilla base with peanut butter, caramel swirl, and chocolate (cookie? brownie?) chunks. Quite a rich and varied flavor by itself, but with the cookies it ended up being A Bit Much - one of these ends up being even more filling than just a double or triple scoop "large" cup, especially after dinner.
Future Visits
Other ice cream flavors that caught my eye were "Death by Chocolate" and "Eggnog"; since I'll probably also go with a cookie next time, their "Thin Mint combo" caught my eye - mint oreo ice cream between double chocolate cookies.5
Nostalgia: Giant Cookies
The Cookie Monstah catering menu includes a 13 inch "cookie cake". While this is not itself ice cream, it brought back memories of a Very Boston special from Crossroads (a legendary Irish Pub) called the JenJen6, which was basically a giant cookie sandwich - with half a gallon of ice cream between a pair of dinner-plate sized cookies, topped with vast amounts of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. (Traditionally delivered to a table of college students by dropping it on the table with a fistful of spoons and dodging back to avoid getting caught up in the carnage.) The dish inspired many amateur attempts to duplicate it... which typically failed, because it's hard to make a cookie that large and actually bake it consistently (usual failure mode is raw in the middle but still burnt around the edges.) Perhaps the Cookie Cake is a better starting point!
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Small, but bigger than Scoop'N'Scootery which is only 4 stores; Massachusetts seems to be a good place to incubate new ice cream shop concepts... ↩
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For a strip mall, it's actually in a surprisingly natural area - there's a stream and a bit of forest, and it's across the road from a large (but inaccessible) Vine Brook Wellfield protected wetlands - but no trails or picnic areas in walking distance. ↩
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It will be wrong - given the "Thin Mint" name, the cookies should be crispy and not cakey and they should be chocolate-covered - but perhaps it will surprise me and be evocative enough anyway. ↩
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The JenJen was supposedly named after one of the cooks; the only reference I can find is in How To Get Around MIT from Fall 1998 ↩