cookie dough ice cream

Here it is- this year’s birthday dessert! And it had to be a good one to ring in the big 3-0.

Quick life update in case you haven’t been reading between the lines, reading the Kindle posts, or reading at all: I am with child.

Baby is due on Boxing Day! Hoping he/she is not actually born on Christmas, but the GS would like to get the 2019 tax break so ideally this kid won’t wait around til January. The first indicator of which parent he/she takes after will be how punctual the birth is.

I have been very fortunate to have a good/easy pregnancy so far. I didn’t really get sick in the beginning and I’m still teaching Pump and Attack and feeling good! I also thought I was carrying the weight relatively well until I was in a clinic and told them I was pregnant and one of the audiologists said “Yeah I’ve been noticing for a while you’ve been gaining weight.”

Omg thanks!!

In fact it’s a miracle I haven’t lost weight given this major void in my diet: cookie dough.

I didn’t realize how much cookie dough I ate until I couldn’t anymore. And yes I know that technically no one is supposed to eat cookie dough because salmonella. HUSH.

I honestly don’t miss drinking but I do miss cookie dough, oysters on the half shell, beef tartare, and the Real Italian from Dipasquale’s. I’ve never contracted a food-borne illness from any of these things in the past but it seems selfish to tempt fate like that. That said, I’d like a big feast of all of these things plus a Union Duckpin delivered to me after I deliver the baby.

So when it came time to decide what sweet treat I would craft myself in celebration of my own birth, this seemed like a given. Also we are leaving for a Scandinavian adventure (!!!) tomorrow, so I didn’t want cake/pie/cookies to go to waste. The leftovers of this beauty will be waiting in the freezer for me when we return.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream

for the brown sugar/vanilla ice cream base

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

2/3 cup brown sugar

6 egg yolks

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (ish?) mini chocolate chips

for the cookie dough

4 tbs unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbs white sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour*

1 tbs milk

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

chopped or mini chocolate chips

*When I was researching eggless cookie dough, I found that there are also risks to eating raw flour. So just for the sake of being responsible, I did spread mine out on a little sheet and baked it in the toaster oven at 350 for 5-6 minutes.

Heat the cream and milk over medium/low heat in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar and stir, letting it barely simmer just until the sugar is dissolved.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl. Slowly pour some of the milk/cream/sugar mixture into the eggs, continually whisking, to temper them. Then pour it all back into the saucepan. Add the salt and vanilla, and resume heat. Let it just barely get to a simmer and then remove from heat. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and let it come to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours.

For the cookie dough, mix the butter with the sugars until fluffy. Add the milk, vanilla, and salt. Add the flour and stir to combine, then add the chocolate. If I had been thinking ahead I probably would have grabbed mini chips, but a rough chop on the regular works fine.

Of note, I don’t intend to use this recipe as a substitute when I’m just craving cookie dough. It is definitely not as good as the real thing. But for the purposes of this ice cream, it was perfect. I just rolled it into little balls and stuck them in the freezer to firm up. They probably ended up being larger than they needed to be, but no one is complaining.

Pour the custard into your ice cream maker and start churning. Once it’s almost done- like soft serve texture, toss in the cookie dough balls and mini chocolate chips. Transfer back into a bowl and into the freezer until you’re ready to serve!

In case you’re wondering I did seriously consider trying to make my own waffle cones. But this would 100% top the list of unnecessary kitchen gadgets so I refrained. Store bought is fine.