Ice cream sandwiches made with donuts 🤤 #shorts

Denver's dessert scene has gotten pretty creative over the last few years — Westword has written about the wild ice cream sandwich situation here more than once — so it takes something specific to actually get me to drive down to the south suburbs on a weekday. YoNutz did it. The concept is simple enough that it almost sounds like a joke: ice cream sandwiches where the "bread" is a donut. But they went viral on TikTok for a reason, won some awards along the way, and their first Colorado location just opened in Greenwood Village, so I figured it was worth checking out.

The shop is next to Pindustry, off Arapahoe near Fiddler's Green. If you've been to that area for a show or bowling, you know the general strip. The space itself is small — this is a dessert counter, not a sit-down experience. You walk up, you order, you find somewhere to eat it. That's the whole thing. I went on a Saturday afternoon and there was a short line but nothing unreasonable.

What They're Actually Making

The signature move is what they call Smash Donuts. You pick a donut, they stuff it with ice cream, smash it flat, and hot-press it so the outside gets a little crispy while the ice cream starts melting inside. The result is warm, slightly crunchy on the outside, cold and soft in the middle. It works better than it sounds. The contrast between the warm pressed donut and the cold ice cream is the whole point, and they've figured out the timing on it — nothing was soupy or falling apart when I got mine.

I went with a glazed donut and a vanilla cream filling, which probably sounds boring, but I wanted to taste the base before getting into anything more complicated. The donut itself had good flavor and wasn't oversaturated with grease the way some fresh donuts can be. A friend who came with me got something with a chocolate donut and a cookies-and-cream filling, and that combination held up well too. They have enough variety that it's worth looking at the full menu before you just default to the first thing that sounds good.

What Works and What Doesn't

The concept is solid and the execution is better than I expected for a shop that's still new to Colorado. The hot-press technique is the thing that separates this from just handing you a donut with a scoop inside — it actually changes the texture in a way that feels intentional rather than gimmicky. And the price point is reasonable for a specialty dessert item in 2024.

The downside is mostly logistical. Parking in that stretch can be annoying depending on when you go, and since the space is small, there's nowhere comfortable to sit and eat inside. If the weather is bad, that's a consideration. Also, this is a one-note menu by design — you're here for the donut sandwich, and that's it. If someone in your group doesn't eat sweets or is looking for something more substantial, this isn't the stop for them.

It's a good spot for sharing, since most people will want to try a couple of different combinations rather than commit to just one.

Worth the Drive South?

If you're already heading to Fiddler's Green for a show or meeting friends at Pindustry, stopping at YoNutz is a pretty easy add-on. I wouldn't make it a standalone trip from Capitol Hill or the Highlands on a random Tuesday unless you're really committed to the bit. But if you're in the area, the Smash Donut is legitimately good and different enough from anything else I've had around Denver that it's stuck with me a few days later.

Denver's ice cream sandwich scene was already doing interesting things before this showed up, but the hot-pressed donut angle is a specific enough twist that it earns its own category. Go once and see if it lands for you — I think it will.