Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
I’ve talked a few times about how most of my ice cream experiences growing up were largely a product of the local soft serve stand. The thing is, soft serve isn’t exactly ice cream. That, combined with the fact that my mom kept ice cream out of the house the majority of the time, meant that I was a bit older before I started discovering all of the different flavor possibilities associated with “real” ice cream, not just the vanilla, chocolate or swirls of soft serve. I remember going to the beach with my family when I was around 14 years old; on more than one occasion we’d walk down to the ice cream shop near where we were staying. I fell in love. Chocolate chip cookie dough… in ice cream?! It was a dream come true. My mom may not have kept the freezer stocked with ice cream, but she did allow us to lick the beaters. Cookie dough was some amazing stuff, and there it was… floating in rich, creamy vanilla ice cream. My teenage mind was blown.
Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is my go-to if nothing else at the ice cream shop sounds particularly interesting. I’m rarely disappointed. That being said, there has been the occasional cone that seems particularly lacking in the cookie dough department. That will never, ever be a problem with homemade cookie dough ice cream. You have my word.
Last summer, I made chocolate-chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream at the request of my Chief Culinary Consultant, but I couldn’t go very long without churning out a vanilla version. For as much as I love chocolate, I’ve always been a vanilla-first ice cream kind of girl. I made this ice cream using an adaptation of my favorite vanilla ice cream and absolutely loaded it with chunks of (eggless!) chocolate chip cookie dough.
I have years of ice cream eating to catch up on, so I’ll be hovering near the freezer with a spoon while you churn up this recipe!
One year ago: Bacon, Egg & Hash Brown Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, and Rocky Road Chocolate Bark
Two years ago: Top 10 List: Favorite Side Dishes, Homemade Peanut Butter Cups, and Jalapeño Popper Dip
Three years ago: How to Make Perfect Homemade Popcorn
Four years ago: Brown Sugar Bacon Buttermilk Waffles
Five years ago: Fettuccine Alfredo with Fresh Pasta
Six years ago: Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Ingredients
For the Ice Cream:
- 1 cup (244 ml) whole milk
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 cups (476 ml) heavy cream, divided
- Pinch of salt
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- ¾ cup (93.75 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (90 g) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Prepare the Ice Cream Base: Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the heavy cream and the salt in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then increase the heat to medium. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a large bowl and place a fine-mesh sieve on top. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Once the milk mixture begins to simmer around the edges, slowly pour it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly with a rubber spatula, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spatula, a few minutes. The mixture should register 170 to 175 degrees F on an instant-read digital thermometer.
- Pour the custard through the fine-mesh sieve and stir it into the cream. Stir in the vanilla extract, and place the bowl over an ice bath. Stir occasionally, until the mixture is cool. Cover and transfer the custard to the refrigerator until completely chilled, at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Prepare the Cookie Dough: Combine the butter and both sugars in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cream, vanilla and salt, and mix for another minute or so, until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour, mixing just until incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days.
- Churn the Ice Cream: Just before churning the ice cream, scoop the cookie dough into ½-teaspoon to 1 teaspoon-sized balls and place on a plate or parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer. Churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer's instructions. When finished churning, fold in the chunks of cookie dough and transfer to an airtight container. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
How long will the ice cream stay good in the freezer? Can I freeze the cookie dough for several days before adding it to the ice cream? Trying to Prep for a party next Saturday! Thanks!
Hi Sarah, A couple of months! You could definitely make the cookie dough ahead of time.
My sister-in-law made this and it was AMAZING. But I can’t handle much sugar, so I’m making it today with 75% less sugar. I’m not replacing the sugar I left out, either; going without sugar for a while trains your taste buds to not want lots and lots of sweetness. I haven’t finished it yet, but just licking the custard bowl gave me a lot of hope :D I love it and so does my 8-year-old sugar-addicted son! Leaving out 3/4ths of the sugar from the cookie dough may have been a bit extreme; next time I’ll try only decreasing the cookie-dough sugar by half instead of 75%. But it is still delicious, and my kids licked the cookie-dough bowl with much satisfaction!
Also, for the leftover egg whites, I plan on making a pavlova, an egg-white and sugar baked dessert. Egg-white omelets just don’t sound appetizing to me :P
Anyway, thanks for posting this awesome recipe! I haven’t made ice cream in years because I was afraid to try making custard, and I wasn’t happy with the “just throw the cream and sugar in the ice-cream maker” recipes. My kids will be thrilled that I have a new dessert I can make :D
Can you use a pasteurized egg yolk product (like egg beaters) in order to try and not waste the egg whites?
Hi Alana, I would not recommend that, I don’t think you would have the same outcome in making the custard. You could always save the whites in the refrigerator and make an omelet!
I thought about that after I commented and completely agree with you. I think the egg whites will make a nice frittata. Thanks! I can’t wait to make this! :)
Hi, I was wondering if there could be another way to do step 5, since I don’t have an Ice Cream maker. thank you!:)
Hi Gabrielle, I actually did a tutorial quite awhile ago on how to make homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/06/21/how-to-make-homemade-ice-cream-without-an-ice-cream-maker/
Hi Michelle,
I just tried this out. Im a beginner so sorry if I have some basic (stupid) questions:
1. A rubber spatula is mentioned twice, I dont have one, is it that important?
2. My custard never got thick, after more than 10min cooking it started to form small clots but the mixture was still too fluid, so I decided to take it off and move on. What did I do wrong?
3. What do you mean by “churn to manufacturers instructions”?
4. The custard came out of the fridge frozen (obviously:) so it was quite hard to churn, had to let it melt a bit, is this normal/recommended?
5. I have done some other icecream and in all of them the heavy cream had to be whipped together with sugar. Here the cream never got whipped so I could still taste the original ‘raw’ cream in the final outcome, which by the way was not great :) but I will try again!
Thanks, and congratulations on being one of the top results when googling cookie icecream!
Hi Remigio, Here are the answers:
1. You should be using something flexible to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot when making the custard. You could also use a wooden spoon, but I find a spatula to do a better job.
2. The mixture will still be fluid; it will not turn into a pudding consistency, but it should thicken (use the “coat the back of a spatula/spoon” test). Using a digital thermometer is the best way to ensure it’s cooked properly.
3. Each ice cream maker comes with a specific set of instructions about how to churn ice cream in their particular machine. You should refer to these instructions when it comes time to churning the ice cream.
4. No, this is not normal. I don’t understand how the custard would freeze in the refrigerator. Did you put it in the freezer? If placed in the refrigerator (most are kept somewhere around 34-40 degrees F), it should just be chilled, but still a pourable liquid.
Hope that helps!
Hi, thanks for taking the time. It helps.
1/2. Looks like I have to go for some shopping, spatula and thermometer :)
3. I had never heard of the ice cream maker, looked it up and know now. As I said Im a beginner. Im wondering of one such exists around here in Mozambique. The other ice cream I made whipping and folding manually and until now it was going fine, but htis recipe is a bit more complex :)
4. Yes freezer instead of refrigerator, my bad.
Well, will try again!
I’m in the process of making the recipe and it’s looking good so far, haven’t put it in the ice cream maker yet. But for some reason my custard was too thick to go through the sieve. Had to just pour it in. Did I cook it too long?
Hi Drew, You had to have cooked it quite a long time if it did not go through the sieve at all. Typically, the custard will pour right through but the sieve will catch little pieces of egg. Even pastry cream, which is traditionally thick, can go through sieve, albeit by using a spoon or spatula to stir and coax it through.
I overcooked my custard a wee bit, and it didn’t want to just pour through my sieve either. I helped it along by scraping the inside of the sieve with a spoon or rubber spatula, kind of pushing the custard through. It came out just fine :D
my grandchildren simply love this a real blockbuster recipe yum yum yum
The chocolate chip cookies were a great match for the stash of vanilla ice cream we had on hand. It is really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m happy that you shared this useful info with us.
Okay, I got lazy and didn’t make the cookie dough (use chopped Joe Joe’s instead), but the base recipe was fabulous! This was the best ice cream I’ve ever made. And I’d highly recommend combining it with Joe Joe’s or Oreos as a short cut, though I will try the cookie dough eventually.
Hey, will it work without the brown suger ? Just noticed that I don’t have any.
HI Emilia, I would definitely recommend using the brown sugar; the cookie dough won’t taste quite right otherwise.
You can just add 1/2 TB of molasses to regular white sugar to make brown sugar. I would just cream the butter, 3/4 cup white sugar, and 1/2 TB molasses all together.
Oh my goodness…so glad you posted this. I actually made my own version using your Philadelphia style vanilla ice cream recipe and your eggless cookie dough recipe from the chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough. It was so good! But now I’m going to have to try this one! Can’t wait!
I made your cookie dough with a couple minor adjustments and it came out amazing! I posted it on my blog today. Thanks so much for sharing. :)
I’m looking forward to trying some of your other recipes!
I have made sooo many different flavors of ice cream, but never cookie dough. There must be something wrong with me!
yum! one of my favorite flavors!
I love cookie dough ice cream, even though I ate so much as a kid that I sometimes made myself sick. I will definitely be pinning this recipe!
Gosh, I love Chocolate Chip Cookie DOugh Ice Cream… And there’s even recipe here.. <3 Now I wanna get myself a ice cream maker …. Now you make me wanna have some of it tomorrow…..
Cookie Dough ice cream used to be my go-to favorite. Still love it from time to time. I will need to make this soon since I have a ice cream Kitchen Aid attachment yet to be used!
I actually like soft serve better than ice cream but cookie dough is a favorite. Seriously? Who wouldn’t love this!
Ice cream is so good, especially when it’s the summer time! Your ice cream looks amazing and I LOVE cookie dough. Thanks for making and I wish you could make some for me! :)
Who needs Ben and Jerry’s when you can make your own?? Fab!
a FAVORITE!
This ice cream looks delicious! I was bewildered the first time I saw cookie dough ice cream. It was never my favorite, but its growing on me because of cookie dough truffles! They’re definitely making me revisit the ice cream!
Cookie dough ice cream is pretty much the best ice cream of all time! Yours looks so fabulous!!
My mouth is drooling looking at this!
This was one of my favorite flavors growing up, I love those chunks of cookie dough!
I could definitely use a scoop of that .. or 10! Delicious :)
P.S. Just recently discovered your blog – it’s so cute! Will be spending a lot of time on here :D
Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is one of my favorite ice cream flavor !
But why do you use chocolate chip cookie dough without egg ? I always use normal cookies recipe (and I bake the half of the dough to have cookies to go with ice cream^^).
I use eggless cookie dough since it’s generally a no-no nowadays to eat raw eggs.
I LOVE cookie dough ice cream….it’s my favorite. Especially when there’s an abundance of cookie dough chunks :)
Love all of the cookie dough packed into this ice cream!
Must be an ice cream day. Lately I’m loving home made ice cream. It’s just too fun. I just put Coconut Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Pie up on my blog today. Was so fun to create. Your photos are amazing!
Yes, please!
One of my favorite ice cream flavors! This makes me want to get an ice cream maker!
This list of ice creams I want to make is getting SO long!! I like mine super chocolatey, so I would probably add a fudge swirl, but other than that this sounds perfect!
OMG Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is my FAV! I Love this recipe its an absolute MUST TRY!!
This is totally my childhood! Cookie dough was always my favorite!
I have less than three weeks to cook for my youngest who is going back to college. This is at the top of the list. I just want you to know that I will probably go in to withdrawals while you are away on your honeymoon. I start every morning with a visit to your blog and a cup of coffee. You are my favorite! You are amazing and are going to make a beautiful bride! I hope you post some pictures of your beach wedding.
No worries, Lori. There will still be recipes scheduled for when I am away, you won’t miss a beat! :)
Mmm definitely one of my favorite flavours! Yum!
I’m with you on the vanilla thing, girl! So happy you added the vanilla version of your chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. By the way…added this recipe as well as a few others of yours to my favorite blogger recipes for a round-up post for tomorrow. Already had a “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” section, and was blown away when your post popped up in my feed late last night, LOL! Love your styling and photography here, too. Beautiful! Thanks for sharing, Michelle! Pinning to all group boards at Pinterest! xo
That just looks…I can’t even…wow! <3
chocolate chip and cookie dough?!! You are killing me with all these mouth watering pictures lol!
Cookie dough ice cream was a huge discovery for me as well! Mum was very much a ‘piece of fruit for dessert’ type, so when I was unleashed on treats as a teenager it was sugar overload. This would be right up my alley!
Cookie dough balls in ice cream are like buried treasures. LOVE THEM! :)
You just nailed one of my most beloved ice creams, I need (x a million) this ice cream in my life! Great job, yum yum yum!