Low carb vanilla ice cream packed with chunks of gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough. The perfect summer indulgence.
It’s been a funny summer here in New England. The temperatures have been swinging wildly from sauna-like heat and humidity to unseasonable chilliness with lots of rain. A few weeks ago, I got into my car after a haircut and the car temperature gauge registered at 108F, which “cooled off” to a breezy 99F as I drove home. Although I’ve lived in warmer climes (Arizona), that was a bit mind-blowing for good old Boston. It’s little wonder I’ve been craving iced and frozen treats this summer. I am sure I crave them every summer, but this year, I’ve been making an inordinate amount of ice cream and popsicles. I can’t seem to get enough and neither can my kids. And I am having a grand old time trying to recreate flavours you’d find at your local creamery. As long as I can find a way to make it free of sugar, why not indulge?
When I saw that Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs was having a no-bake recipe contest this summer, the little wheels in my head began a-spinning. Many no-bake goodies don’t take any eggs at all, but Safest Choice is challenging folks to actually use their pasteurized shell eggs in some great oven-free summer recipes. Since there is little risk of salmonella with Safest Choice, you are free to let your imagination run wild.
Of course, I had plenty of ideas for no-bake bars and cookies and such. But the heat was dragging me down and I wanted ice cream. Ice cream is, of course, no-bake by nature, so how to really play up the freedom of using the pasteurized eggs? What recipe would really show off the ability to use those eggs in raw form?
Cookie dough. Who doesn’t love to eat raw cookie dough? And who hasn’t worried that they are poisoning themselves by eating the cookie dough straight out of the bowl? Or, possibly worse, poisoning their kids by letting them lick the beaters and the bowl clean? Don’t hide your head in shame, we’ve all done it. I am quite certain that most commercial varieties of Cookie Dough Ice Cream contain egg-free cookie dough. But let’s face it, that’s fake cookie dough. REAL cookie dough contains eggs. So why not make REAL low carb chocolate chip cookie dough and freeze it in bits and mix that into my ice cream?
My only problem here was that my best chocolate chip cookie dough recipe made way too much cookie dough. I solved that simply by putting half of it into the ice cream and using the other half for actual cookies. You could also freeze it for future use, or you could try halving the recipe for the cookie dough (you would need to beat the egg and then measure out half of it).
I may, or may not, win the Safest Choice Eggs No-Bake Contest. Maybe YOU will win the contest! Come up with a great no-bake recipe that actually uses eggs and submit…you never know! But even if you don’t win the contest, we are all winners with Low Carb Cookie Dough Ice Cream.
Check out the Safest Choice Summer No Bake Recipe Contest on Facebook.
- 2 1/2 cups cream
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener or granulated erythritol
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp vodka optional, helps reduce iciness
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp liquid stevia extract
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 cups almond flour Honeyville
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3.5 oz high % cacao chocolate finely chopped OR Homemade Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
- For the ice cream, set a bowl over an ice bath and set aside.
- Combine cream, almond milk and erythritol in medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until erythritol dissolves and mixture reaches 175F on an instant read thermometer.
- Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly add about 1 cup of the hot cream mixture, whisking continuously, to temper the yolks. Then slowly whisk egg yolk mixture back into cream, whisking continuously.
- Cook until mixture reaches 180F on an instant read thermometer.
- Pour mixture into bowl set over ice bath and allow to cool 10 minutes. Then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill at least 3 hours.
- Meanwhile, prepare the cookie dough**. Line a large baking sheet with waxed paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat together butter and Swerve. Beat in egg and vanilla extract, then stir in chopped chocolate.
- Spoon about half of the cookie dough into small chunks on prepared baking sheet and freeze until firm. (Freeze the remaining cookie dough for another use, or bake into cookies**).
- Once the cream mixture is chilled, stir in vodka, vanilla extract and stevia extract.
- Sprinkle with xanthan gum and whisk vigorously to combine.
- Pour custard into the canister of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's directions.
- Once churned, transfer half to a large, airtight container. Stir in half of the frozen cookie dough chunks, then top with remaining ice cream and remaining frozen cookie dough chunks until well combined.
- Freeze until firm but not rock hard, about 2 hours.
**This makes too much cookie dough for the actual ice cream. You will only use about half of it. Feel free to freeze the remainder, or to actually make cookies by forming into 1 inch balls and pressing down to 1/4 inch thickness. Then bake at 325F for 8 to 12 minutes.
Serves 10. Each serving has 6 g of carbs and 2 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 4 g.
**This carb count only includes HALF of the cookie dough.
Other nutritional information: 347 Calories; 35g Fat (88.4% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 105mg Cholesterol; 197mg Sodium.
Disclosure: Safest Choice did not ask me to write this post. They are helping sponsor me to attend IFBC this year, but I did this post because I wanted to share the information about the No-Bake Recipe Contest.
Brenda @Sugar-Free Mom says
Looks so creamy and those chunks of cookie dough, YUM!!! Good job and I hope you win!
Eat Good 4 Life says
I wish I could dig my teeth into this, it looks so creamy and refreshing right now 🙂 I think temperatures are up and down all around the world too. In NJ it has been like that and in London and all through Spain which I have been for the past 6 weeks it is the same!! Great looking treat!
Britt @ One&20 says
Yum!
Cookie dough was my favorite ice cream before I went GF. I am soooo happy that there’s a GF recipe I can try! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
This is totally random, but I visiting Boston when cookie dough ice cream was first introduced (or during that time, anyway). I was in 1st grade or so. It was EVERYWHERE! And it was awesome. 😀
I love cookie dough ice cream. I don’t think I’ve had it in years and I don’t dare make it. It’s just too dangerous! Yours looks amazing.
Leslie says
Do you think that you could use full fat coconut milk in place of the cream? I’m not dairy free, but I don’t have any cream. I do, however, have coconut milk.
Carolyn says
I think if it was just coconut milk and almond milk, it might freeze very hard and be quite icy. But it’s worth a try if you are willing to let it warm up a bit when you want some!
Jeanette says
I wish you lived near my brother (he’s pre-diabetic) – he would so appreciate this treat Carolyn!
Emily @ Life on Food says
Ice cream is the only way I have survived this summer in New England. I love cookie dough. Who doesn’t? Great ice cream!
Sommer @ ASpicyPerspective says
Yum! Sounds delicious! 🙂
RavieNomNoms says
::jaw drops:: I am printing this out immediately and trying it!
Low Carbe Diem says
Thanks for this recipe. Perfect timing! I’ve been on a low carb ice cream “research tour” all week. This will come in handy.
Jennifer Eloff says
Nice!! Love reading your blog posts – they’re always interesting!
Indian Recipes says
I am a fan of ice cream and fond to know varieties and good recipes. This is amazingly fine to serve as looks natural and delicious.
Erica says
I just made this tonight…it’s *delicious.* How big are the serving sizes for the recommended 10 servings?
Carolyn says
About a half up each, once it’s been churned.
abi says
Thanks for putting all the nutritional info on the recipes! I love cookie dough, yum.
Stacy says
Do you think you could use all heavy cream and no almond milk? And have you ever had success with vegetable glycerin. I’m wondering if I could use some of that in place of xanthan gum. Thank you.
Carolyn says
All cream would be okay, but it would be really REALLY rich and a bit gummy. And yes, I’ve tried vegetable glycerin. A few tbsp can help the consistency, I just can’t get a very good read on whether it adds carbs or not.
Dawn says
Isn’t the raw egg a concern?
Carolyn says
If you read the post, you will see it’s all about Safest Choice Eggs, the pasteurized shell eggs.
Amanda says
Can you please help me. I have made 2 different ice creams, the brownie explosion and this one. with the brownie one I did not use the vegetable glycerin and it was hard as a rock. This one I did use it, and it is easier to get out, but it didn’t scoop out. It’s like ice shavings. How do you get it to scoop out like ice cream should. I will say they both are FANTASTIC! I love your recipes so much. Thank you for your wonderful creative mind 🙂
Carolyn says
Unfortunately, no matter what you do, ice cream made without sugar tends to freeze harder. But it also sounds to me like your freezer temp is set pretty low..if you used glycerin, it should be a little easier to scoop. One thing that helps me is that I freeze mine in small containers, with maybe 2 servings in it. That way, if I have to let it soften on the counter for a bit, I am not thawing the whole batch every time.
Bekky says
Can I substitute coconut flour into this recipe?
Carolyn says
No, this one is designed for almond flour. They are two very different creatures and you will end up with hockey pucks if you sub coconut flour.
Meg says
Can I substitute flax milk and either soy flour or hazelnut flour for the almond milk and flour? I’m allergic to almonds, but this looks so good!!
Carolyn says
I really have no idea. I don’t use soy flour or flax milk. I think it should work with hazelnut flour, though.
Amy says
I just made this as pure vanilla ice cream and left out the cookie dough part. Delicious! I made it as written except I left out the liquid sweetener. For us it was sweet enough. Thank you for such yummy ice cream recipes!!! Now I will have to make it with the cookie dough added in!!