Summer days are meant for ice cream. Be it a cone at the pool, a scoop after a game or a bowl just about any time, they’re made for right now. With so many fantastic, naturally gluten-free kinds of ice cream, I have never worried about missing out on cookie dough. The other day, as I was making a batch of vanilla ice cream, curiosity blossomed. The words “cookie dough” shot across my synapses. Could I? Surely it couldn’t be too hard. This isn’t rocket science. No, it’s ice cream. Ice cream with cookie dough. I didn’t think I could go wrong. What resulted was a smooth vanilla ice cream studded with chunks of cookie dough.
It was perfection. A few friends came over to have a scoop one night, and it was well received to say the least. Upon finishing her bowl, one of my oldest, dearest friends declared that she wanted me to give her homemade ice cream for her birthday. Come February, she’ll have a few liters all to herself. Until then, we’ll all be fighting over each bite.
The recipe for this ice cream is based off of David Lebovitz’s vanilla ice cream, and the cookie dough is based off of my mom’s chocolate chip cookies. It’s the best of both worlds. Cookie dough and dreamy, creamy ice cream. I can’t make it too often, or we’ll never stop eating it.
Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Ingredients
1 cup milk
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) stick butter, softened
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp + 1 tsp millet flour (0.90 oz)
2 tbsp tapioca flour (0.60 oz)
1 tbsp sweet rice flour (0.30 oz)
1 tbsp quinoa flour (0.40 oz)
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Steps
In a saucepan, heat the milk, salt and sugar together. Heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Set up an ice bath. Place a two liter bowl over a larger bowl filled part way with ice and water. Place a fine mesh strainer above the smallest bowl and pour the cream in.
Lightly beat the egg yolks together in a small bowl. Reheat the milk, then gradually pour a small portion of the milk over the egg yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. A 1/4 cup should do the trick. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape them into the saucepan of warmed milk.
Cook over low heat and stir constantly with a spatula. Keep cooking until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spatula.
Strain your custard into the heavy cream. Stir the liquid until cooled. Add the vanilla extract, and stir. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
When almost ready to begin making your ice cream, you’ll make the cookie dough balls and freeze them so they don’t get crushed in the ice cream maker.
To make cookie dough balls: Cream together butter and sugars in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in milk and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flours and salt. Stir flours into creamed mixture until uniform. Stir in mini chocolate chips. With floured hands, roll the cookie dough into balls. I made them with about 1 to 1/2 tsp of dough, just doing it by feel. Make them the size you want. Place on a cookie sheet, and freeze.
Freeze your ice cream custard according to your ice cream maker’s instructions, adding in the frozen cookie dough balls when the instructions specify to do so.
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These. They’re little balls of heaven. You know how you’re not supposed to have raw egg? Well these don’t have any. But they still taste like cookie dough. I just wouldn’t bake them. They’re not made for that. They’re made for ice cream. And munching while waiting for the ice cream to churn.
Also, don’t worry about making them perfect. They’re not made for that either. They’ll be covered in ice cream then smashed by spoons and scoops.
I took photos of it as we ate. Besides a quick snap of my own bowl, there was no time to make pictures before eating. Our eyes just got bigger and our stomachs hungrier as we waited. So, there was only a moment before we all dug in.
We had chocolate that night too. More of David Lebovitz‘s ice cream. This was one that Hannah recently posted (and she made it without a machine, by David’s fantastic method. I haven’t tried his method with the cookie dough ice cream, but it’s worth a go!). Seriously awesome. You need that ice cream, too. Changed how I thought about chocolate ice cream. The creaminess! The depth! It deserves a starring role in your freezer sometime summer.
Can you do one thing for me this summer? Something that’s not for me at all? Get lost. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Perhaps there is a nook of the city you’ve been curious about, or somewhere out of the city limits. Getting lost with a few friends is always the beginning of great days, wonderful stories and inside jokes. I plan on doing it more often. And with sights like this, how can you resist? Summer is such a beautiful time of year.
In other good news, The Kitchen Generation is back and running. We’ve been regrouping, but there is a bunch of new content, both posted and soon to come.
Lots of love to you all. I hope this season has been treating you all exceptionally well.
xoxo
Lauren
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, how fabulous, Lauren! It’s the highest compliment when a friend or family member asks for one of your recipes to be made for them as their birthday or Christmas gift! Now off to check out David’s ice cream and/or get lost. 😉
Thanks, Laauren! Hugs,
Shirley
Guess I was dragging out my pronunciation of your name with that spelling, Lauren 🙁 … aargh, sorry, dear!
Shirley
Yum! Love this recipe, and love your idea to get lost. Definitely need to take some time to get lost this summer. 🙂
Yummy! And thanks for sharing David’s method for ice cream without a machine. I’ve also been meaning to try this one from the Food Lab on Serious Eats: http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2010/07/how-to-make-ice-cream-without-an-ice-cream-maker-the-food-lab.html
Yum! I’ve been looking to break into gluten free baking. YOur blog is obviously a huge resource and inspiration. After reading this recipe I’m tempted to make this my first. Thanks for sharing!
Oh My Gosh. I LOVE YOUR BLOG!!! You are absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! And Cookie Dough Ice Cream?! I am in love. 🙂
I love that you made an egg-free cookie dough so there’s no worries about food safety. Looks delish!
Cheers, Pete
summer days ARE meant for ice cream!
Yum. I would veganize! Just saw that Coconut Dreams has Vegan Cookie Dough ice cream out, at Whole Foods, and I have had several fantasies about it already.
okay, so im not a celiac person but i have been having abdomonal pains since december and and my mom is a nurse and thought it could be celiacs but i tested negitive but my mom put me on a gluten free diet and it has helped so much! but it is so hard like i feel like i cant eat anything so maybe this can help me out because im a very picky eater! \: