Homemade Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I remember helping my parents turn the crank on our old-fashioned ice cream maker as a kid. My Dad would pour in the rock salt, and we’d sit and take turns grinding the crank until the creamy liquid turned into some of the tastiest ice cream we’d ever had. Making homemade ice cream was special – and such a delicious treat. While we don’t go through all the hard work to make homemade ice cream anymore, it’s still a special treat – and something I hope my kids will remember fondly!

We’re in the middle of a serious heat wave in Washington. When we’re not cooling off in the pool, we’ve been inside saying our many prayers of gratitude for working AC. It’s HOT – and hot weather calls for cool treats – and this homemade cookie dough ice cream is not only cool, it’s amazing!

This is some of the best vanilla ice cream I’ve eaten swirled with BIG chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough. When I buy cookie dough ice cream from the store, I’ll often get 2 or 3 teeny bits of dough in an entire bowl. You will NOT have that problem with this ice cream! This is dough-licious!

Just look at all that dough swimming in that vanilla ice cream! SO incredible. You’re going to love it!

Ingredients:

For the Cookie Dough :

3/4 cup butter or margarine (That is 1 and 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 t salt
1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips (I used regular chocolate chips, but I think the mini would work better for this!)

This is almost the same cookie dough that I use for my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. It’s safe to eat as it contains no eggs!

For the Ice Cream:

2 1/2 cups half n’ half

2 1/2 cups heavy

1 cup sugar

1 T vanilla

1/8 t salt

I LOVE this ice cream recipe because it doesn’t contain eggs. No eggs = no cooking! It’s a mix and dump kind of recipe – and so delicious! It’s the perfect base for just about any mix-in!

To Prepare:

Start by preparing your cookie dough. (These will need to be made a few hours ahead of when you plan to make your ice cream, as they need to go in the freezer to firm up a bit.)

Mix together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix again. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop small bite-sized balls of dough onto trays. (Make sure to choose a tray that will fit in your freezer!) Freeze the dough balls for at least 2 hours. *You may find you have more dough than you want to use. It would be a great “dip” for graham crackers, or for sanity-saving bite-sized treats! (We all have days where a scoop of cookie dough could turn things around!) 😉

When your dough balls have had time to firm up in the freezer, you can start to prepare your ice cream.

In a large bowl, mix together the cream, half n’ half, vanilla, sugar, and salt. Mix until the sugar is well incorporated and no longer grainy.

Pour ice cream mix into your ice cream maker and follow the directions for your specific machine.

Once your ice cream mixture has just started to thicken, add in half of your dough balls.

When the ice cream is finished churning and is to the desired thickness, remove from ice cream machine and transfer into a large bowl. Stir in the remaining cookie dough balls.

*Homemade ice cream is much softer than store-bought “hard scoop” ice cream. Your ice cream may have the texture of a soft-serve. This is normal! You can keep your ice cream in the freezer (in a freezer-safe bowl!) and it will firm up a bit.