Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Hot on the heels of my Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough comes this easy recipe for no-churn, homemade cookie dough ice cream! Obviously inspired by the joy that is edible cookie dough. And with the summer temperatures inching up by the day, I’ll use any excuse to make a frozen dessert.

This no-churn recipe is a true contender for the best-ever homemade ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream forever remains a classic. This version is extra awesome, though, ‘cause the dough is totally fit for gluten-free diets!

Why You’ll Love Homemade Cookie Dough Ice Cream

In case you’ve never made your own cookie dough ice cream (or any ice cream) at home before, here are some reasons to start:

• It’s 100% gluten free. Everything in this recipe, from the ice cream ingredients right down to the chunks of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough, is safe for gluten-free diets.
• You don’t need an ice cream maker. No churn means you don’t even need an ice cream machine to make delicious cookie dough ice cream at home. This American-style ice cream recipe uses sweetened condensed milk and no eggs.
• No baking required! What’s better than a no-bake dessert in the summertime?

Recipe Ingredients

For the Gluten Free Cookie Dough

• Butter: I stick with unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, you may want to omit the salt that’s added later in the recipe to keep the cookie dough from becoming overly salty.
• Brown Sugar: This recipe uses a combination of brown sugar and white sugar for the best texture and flavor in the dough.
• Vanilla: For the most natural flavor, get your hands on pure vanilla extract.
• Almond Flour
• Flour: We use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour to make the dough gluten free. If you’re not gluten free, regular all-purpose flour works fine. For safety purposes, I strongly recommend heat treating your raw flour prior to using it, see below. You can also use all almond flour (adding more to reach the texture you desire), or a safe oat flour, particularly oat flour you grind yourself.
• Salt
• Chocolate Chips: Mini chocolate chips work great in these bite-sized chunks of cookie dough.
• Milk: You can also use unsweetened almond milk if you prefer.

For the Ice Cream

• Heavy Cream: Make sure the cream is well chilled before you begin. You must use whole fat, heavy cream when making your own ice cream in order to be able to whip it to soft peaks and achieve the creamiest ice cream texture.
• Vanilla
• Sweetened Condensed Milk: You can use regular or fat-free. This ingredient is key to no-churn ice cream! Be sure you’re using sweetened condensed milk, and not canned evaporated milk.
• Chocolate Chips: Even more mini chocolate chips go into the ice cream itself.

How to Make No-Churn Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Once your flour is treated and before you start, place a large glass or metal bowl into the fridge or freezer to chill. You’ll need a cold bowl when making the whipping cream for your ice cream base later on. Next, follow these steps:

• Mix the Cookie Dough: Beat the wet dough ingredients together, then add in your treated flours and the salt. Mix until a dough forms. If your dough is crumbly, add in a spoonful of milk at a time to get it to the right consistency. Next, stir in the chocolate chips.
• Form the Balls: Spoon small balls of dough onto a parchment-lined pan, then place the pan into the freezer.

• Make the Base: Take your chilled bowl out of the fridge or freezer, and combine the heavy cream and vanilla. Beat the cream until soft peaks form, then gently fold in the sweetened condensed milk. 
• Add the Mix-Ins: Once your base is ready, stir in the cookie dough pieces and chocolate chips.

• Freeze: Finally, transfer the cookie dough ice cream mixture to a freezer-friendly loaf pan or similar container. Cover and place the cookie dough ice cream in the freezer. Homemade ice cream usually takes about 4 to 6 hours to freeze up completely.

Tips for Success

If you have a bowl and a freezer, you can make no-churn ice cream! It’s a simple method, and here are some quick tips to make sure this recipe comes out great:

• Chill the Bowl: It’s important that the bowl and the heavy cream itself are well chilled before you get whipping. Freezing the bowl ensures that the ice cream freezes quicker, meaning overall better texture.
• Fat Is Good: No-churn ice cream comes out the best when it’s made with full-fat ingredients, since the fats are what make ice cream extra creamy and not icy.
• Make It Picture-Perfect: If you’d like to decorate the top of your ice cream before it freezes, remember to set aside a few of the cookie dough chunks and chocolate chips ahead of time to sprinkle over once it’s in the pan.
• Can I Bake the Extra Dough?: Sadly, no. The cookie dough in this recipe is made without leavening ingredients like eggs and baking soda, so any attempt to bake it will literally fall flat. You can, however, enjoy any leftover cookie dough by the spoonful, since it’s 100% safe to eat!

Topping & Mix-In Ideas 

Making ice cream at home means that you can bring even your wildest add-ins and flavor dreams to life! Here are some topping and mix-in ideas for cookie dough ice cream:

• Hot Fudge Sauce
• Caramel sauce
• Melted peanut butter
• More cookie chunks (gluten free Oreos, gluten free Graham crackers)
• Brownie chunks
• Candy (Snickers, Reese’s, M&M’s, Kit Kat, etc.)
• Sprinkles
• Chopped cherries
• Crushed nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias)
• Cream cheese (beat a softened 8 oz. package of cream cheese with the sweetened condensed milk for a cheesecake ice cream base)

You can also make a pretty epic sundae by scooping it on top of some Gluten Free Brookies!

More Crowd-Favorite Desserts to Devour

• Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Donuts
• Flourless Nutella Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
• Strawberry Nutella Crepes
• Gluten Free Strawberry Muffins
• Gluten Free Chocolate Cake