Ice Cream #15: Cookie Dough

I find cookie dough ice cream to be so many peoples favorite. Who can resist that sweet and salty dough littered with chocolate chips? There's nothing quite like homemade cookie dough, which can't compare to the store-bought kind. Whenever I make chocolate chip cookies there's always that moment when I realize how much dough I've eaten and worry there won't be enough cookies. Cookie dough ice cream allows you to eat the dough guilt free! Aaron has been begging me to make this for awhile now, so I can finally cross it off my list (9 more ice creams to go)!

This ice cream is actually quite simple to make. It's a basic ice cream base with that classic Nestle Toll House cookie dough recipe we all grew up with. Since the dough gets broken up into bite-size pieces, I find that the mini chocolate chips work well and don't overpower the heavenly goodness of the dough or ice cream. And... I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips, not Nestle. Sacrilege I know. 

This is sort of a two-in-one dessert. Since I only used half the dough in the ice cream, I baked off the remaining dough to make cookies. They make a great garnish for each bowl of ice cream and you get to enjoy the best of both worlds to boot!

COOKIE DOUGH ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

For the cookie dough:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup mini chocolate chips 

For the ice cream:
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. sea salt
4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the cookie dough:
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and whisk to blend. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, or overnight.

For the ice cream:
Fill a large metal bowl with about 2-inches of ice water. Put a slightly smaller metal bowl inside. Place a fine mesh strainer over the two bowls and set aside. 

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, and salt. Bring just to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

While heating the cream mixture, beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl until smooth. Slowly pour the hot cream mixture into the beaten egg yolks, whisking vigorously. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, stirring occasionally (or when an instant read thermometer reaches 170 degrees F). 

Pour the custard through the fine mesh strainer into the bowl. Stir over the ice bath until cool. Stir in the vanilla extract. Cover the surface of the custard with a sheet of plastic wrap and place another sheet over the bowl. Refrigerate until cold, preferably overnight. Process the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

While the ice cream is churning, divide the cookie dough in half. Break one half of dough into bite size pieces and set the remaining dough aside to bake into cookies. Transfer the ice cream to quart containers, alternating with the layers of broken up cookie dough. Freeze for several hours more before serving.

To bake the cookies:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Drop the remaining  cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Garnish each bowl of ice cream with a freshly baked cookie.

Yield: About 1 1/2 quarts ice cream & about 20 cookies