I have very fond memories of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream from my childhood. It always seemed to be the ultra-exciting choice to have in the freezer, over basic vanilla, and finding a carton of it stashed among the peas and frozen mystery bricks felt like finding a treasure. Plus, there was something about ordering a heaping scoop of it from an ice cream shop, packed with those little niblets of cookie dough, which seemed so mischevious. Maybe it’s because cookie dough was something you weren’t supposed to eat a ton of for fear of a stomach ache caused by the raw eggs (or let’s be real overindulgence) and chocolate chip cookie dough in ice cream form was permission to eat a bunch of it.
This take on the classic has a fragrant, vanilla bean studded ice cream base and is packed with disks of cookie dough, instead of those little bites. This means that when you dip into this ice cream, there’s an almost a ripple-like effect of cookie dough throughout each scoop. It’s everything you remember about chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream–a lush and creamy base, but with a heady dose of vanilla bean and a heavy hand of chocolate chip cookie dough.
This recipe was created in partnership with Darigold, a Northwest, farmer-owned purveyor of high-quality dairy products. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who help make this blog possible!

- Ice Cream Base:
- 2 cups Darigold Whole milk
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1¼ cups Darigold 30% Whipping Cream
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon golden syrup (or corn syrup)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Cookie Dough:
- 5 tablespoons softened butter
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Darigold Whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- Stir 1 tablespoon of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl, set aside. Add the remaining milk to a large saucepan along with the cream. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan with the milk and cream. Stir in the sugar, golden syrup, and salt. Heat over medium-high, stirring frequently until the mixture comes to a low boil. Quickly stir in the milk and cornstarch mixture and continue to boil, while stirring, for 1-2 minutes, or until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon so that when you run a finger across it a defined track is left. Remove from the heat and cool over an ice bath until completely cooled to the touch. You can also cool the ice cream base over an ice bath until room temperature, then pour it into a bowl, cover with plastic, and chill overnight. Process the cooled mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- While the ice cream base chills, make the cookie dough. Beat the butter and sugars together until smooth and combined. Beat in the milk and vanilla. Stir in the flour and salt until combined well, then fold in the mini chocolate chips. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough into clean hands and form into balls, flattening the balls into disks and place on a plate until the ice cream has chilled and processed.
- Once the ice cream has processed spread ⅓ of it into a container, top with ⅓ of the cookie dough disks, and repeat the process twice more. Cover the ice cream with a lid and freeze until firm (at least 6 hours).
OMG, definitely one of my all time favourite flavours!! This ice cream looks soooo creamy!
chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is the best ice cream, period.
Looks so good!!! Love the extra cookie dough ๐
Oh giiiirlll, please pass me a bowl ASAP! We never ever had “fun” flavors of icecream growing up–just plain old vanilla in a vat-sized container that made the ice cream taste all plastic-y. So yes, I’m a little in love with this over here ๐
I’m ready for Spring and more great ice cream recipes! Thank you for sharing this one! It looks amazing!
I love that there’s “disks” of cookie dough instead of little bites — though seriously, when I was little (…and maybe to this day), whenever I order cookie dough ice cream, I find all of the cookie dough chunks and eat it…then leave the ice cream part for someone else hahaha!
YUUUMM! One of my favorite flavors of ice cream ๐ I don’t have an ice cream maker, but I remember seeing a post somewhere on The Kitchn talking about making ice cream in a ziploc bag!! Maybe I’ll have to try that technique so I can have a nice big scoop of this ice cream.
yum can’t wait to try it