At Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop in Brooklyn, customers can order any of the donuts served cut in half, with a scoop of ice cream in the middle. Chow.com Contributing Editor Liza de Guia filed the following report.

Donut ice cream sandwiches — yes, you heard right — a donut, cut in half, with ice cream smooshed in the middle. It’s a startlingly simple idea with infinite possibilities.

Donna Siafakas, the wizard behind this monstrous sugar rush, loves donuts. She took over Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop over 20 years ago from its original owners, and has preserved this well-loved Greenpoint institution, from their wrap-around '70s counter tops, to the cute, young girls hand tying boxes in nostalgic mint green uniforms, to even, and most importantly, their 60-year-old donut recipes.

Donut-maker Mohammed Saleh starts his day at 3 a.m., whipping up batches, almost effortlessly, for over 20 styles of hand-cut, hand-fried, hand-dipped and glazed donuts. By 8 a.m., all the displays are full, warmed and ready for the daily parade of loyal customers.

The honey dips are pillowy light with nice, buttery centers, and the cake donuts have the soft, crumbly centers and crisp outer crusts that are the hallmark of a good donut shop.

Any donut can become a donut ice cream sandwich, but, there’s definitely an art to crafting a good pairing. Siafakas recommends non-glazed cake donuts for the best experience, and I would agree.

Try the red velvets with pistachio ice cream, or the chocolate cake with vanilla bean espresso. If you love French crullers, get a scoop of strawberry, but my ice cream sandwich of choice is the coconut crusted plain cake with dulce de leche, the shredded coconut adding a nice, sweet texture to every bite.

It’s going to get messy, no matter what, so skip the fork, have a little fun and eat ‘em by hand.

Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop is located on 727 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For more dining recommendations, visit chow.com.