I have wanted to include a cookie dough ice cream in my collection of Ninja Creami recipes for a while now. With my gluten free, egg free (and incidentally grain free) cookie dough perfected, now is as good a time as any. May I present this incredibly delicious Ninja Creami cookie dough ice cream that is gluten free and incidentally grain free!
Ninja Creami cookie dough ice cream
This delicious cookie dough ice cream is a combination of two recipes: my Ninja Creami vanilla ice cream and my gluten free cookie dough recipe. Together they work like magic to create a delicious treat that is absolutely stuffed to the brim with cookie dough. I designed the recipe to ensure every tiny mouthful of ice cream is choc-full of cookie dough. Just the way I like it!
The ice cream component is made with condensed milk, cream and milk. You can add vanilla but I actually love the plain ice cream. The cookie dough component is made with browned butter, brown sugar, tapioca flour/starch and dark chocolate chips. It is egg free, nut free, xanthan gum free and accidentally grain free.
This ice cream is a full on indulgence. I have a few options for lightening it up a little, which we will go into below. Another thing we will discuss is the ability to make this into a low lactose, low FODMAP treat. Something for everyone!
Recipe tips
After testing this recipe many times (quality control is so important) I have a few notes to share. The first and most important one is that I highly recommend decanting the processed ice cream and mixing in the cookie dough yourself. I am a Ninja Creami LOVER, but I don’t think the machine does mix-ins well.
The chocolate component freezes solid and is unpleasant to eat, for starters. I also find that it doesn’t push mix-ins down very far, resulting in unequal cookie dough distribution.
One other issue is that the volume of cookie dough we’re making is actually too much for the machine. Such is the nature of a cookie dough stuffed ice cream. So! I highly recommend spooning the ice cream out into a bowl and stirring in the cookie dough. To that end, I also recommend freezing it for 15-20 minutes after you combine the two elements. This gives the ice cream the chance to firm up again.
I recommend using the lesser volume of condensed milk that is in my Ninja Creami vanilla ice cream recipe here. The cookie dough is nice and sweet and it also contains chunks of dark chocolate. The dark chocolate is optional, but either way you are introducing extra sweetness. I find the ice cream with 150g condensed milk is absolutely sweet enough either way.
Dispersing the cookie dough in the ice cream
Okay, so this part of the recipe feels a little bit chaotic. We’re mixing soft ice cream with soft cookie dough to get the optimum bite but it feels a little messy in the moment.
Let’s start with the obvious: you need to combine the ice cream and cookie dough ahead of when you plan to eat because the ice cream will start to melt. About 20 minutes ahead of time is normally plenty for me, but you might need to play around depending on the season.
It does take a minute to properly distribute the cookie dough in the ice cream. Work quickly but do it thoroughly to ensure you have a good mix. If you are making this in summer, you could chill the bowl you’ll be mixing in ahead of time to minimise any melting.
Make sure you chop the chocolate finely so it’s easy to distribute in the cookie dough. This, in turn, makes it easy to eat in the ice cream.
I found there are two ways to distribute the cookie dough. The first is to roll it into little balls and stir them through the ice cream. I like this method because there is defined areas of ice cream and cookie dough. However, you need to let it thaw for longer (remember, the cookie dough is made from butter) when eating leftovers. This is probably my preferred method regardless.
The other option is to crumble the cookie dough up and stir that through. This results in much less defined areas of ice cream vs cookie dough. However, it is easier to scoop and and you can start eating it a bit sooner.
I haven’t tested combining the ice cream and cookie dough by pulsing them in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. I suspect it would work well, but I haven’t tested it.
Cookie dough tips
This batch is 1/3 more than the recipe on my website. Personally, I want plenty of cookie dough in every bite of ice cream. This recipe is pretty much equal parts ice cream to cookie dough. If you would like a slightly lower cookie dough ratio, use the recipe on the cookie dough page here. The instructions are the same.
Add the flour gradually and according to your cookie dough. You are looking for a texture that is no longer greasy from the butter, but also holds shape if you try to roll it into a ball. It shouldn’t crumble, nor should it be wet.
The most important thing is to ensure that the dough is no longer greasy. An overly dry and crumbly dough is easily corrected with more milk, but an oily dough will have an unpleasant mouthfeel.
To that end, have extra milk on hand (or use water). The cookie dough tends to absorb liquid as it sits, so you might need to add a splash more at some stage. You want the cookie dough to be truly a dough – not dry and crumbly.
It is very important to use heat treated flour to ensure your dough is safe to eat raw. Please read the instructions (microwave or oven) for heat treating tapioca flour in the cookie dough post.
How to make a low FODMAP Ninja Creami cookie dough ice cream
There are a few easy tweaks to ensure this recipe is suitable for those with lactose issues and on the low FODMAP diet.
The most annoying issue is the condensed milk. Most condensed milk on the shelves is not lactose free – in fact, it is lactose heavy. You have a few options – firstly, you can use a good quality coconut condensed milk. I tested the theory and found it didn’t taste obvious, but I stress the need to find a good brand. Pandaroo in Australia is what I recommend – do not choose anything made with a sugar other than plain white sugar. Some brands use coconut sugar and it adds a strong flavour and brown grey colour. Over 85g of coconut condensed milk contains moderate fructans, but this still means you can eat a decent serve.
Secondly, you can experiment with adding lactase drops to the tin 24-48 hours before you use it. Lactase drops work to consume the lactase in the product. I am not 100% sure if the science works here as lactase can’t be added to all dairy. Soured or cultured dairy contains bacteria that overpower the lactase enzyme when added after souring. However, Condensed milk isn’t soured so I daresay you can add lactase directly to the tin. Let me know if you try it!
Next, the cream and milk. If lactose free cream and milk are not available where you live, you can use the same lactase drops 24-48 hours ahead of making your ice cream. This will work to consume the lactose.
Finally, the dark chocolate! Everything else in the cookie dough is low FODMAP and dark chocolate can be too. I choose 70% dark chocolate for this recipe as I like the contrast. Monash’s entry for dark chocolate is unhelpful because 70% dark chocolate is often lactose free. They say that dark chocolate is low FODMAP in serves of up to 80g, after which it contains moderate lactose. FODMAP Friendly app says it is low FODMAP in serves of up to 100g.
More Ninja Creami recipes
- Ninja Creami strawberry ice cream
- Ninja Creami frozen yoghurt
- Ninja Creami raspberry sorbet
- Ninja Creami coffee ice cream
- Ninja Creami pistachio ice cream from my e-book (and a vegan version, too)
Ninja Creami cookie dough ice cream (gluten free, low FODMAP option)
Ingredients
For the vanilla ice cream:
- 200 g thickened cream heavy/whipping in US/UK
- 150 g sweetened condensed milk NOT evaporated milk or any other product
- 100 g full fat milk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla bean extract
For the gluten free cookie dough:
- 100 g butter
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 20-40 ml+ 1-2 tablespoons milk of choice as needed
- 150-175 g heat treated tapioca flour/starch (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- Pinch of fine salt
- 100 g finely chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
To make the vanilla ice cream:
- Weigh the ingredients into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk gently to incorporate, allow to sit for 5 minutes and whisk again. The condensed milk should have dissolved and be evenly distributed after this time.
- Pour the mixture into a 470ml Ninja Creami tub.
- Place the tub in the freezer with the lid off (this can help prevent a hump forming in the centre) for 16-24 hours.
To make the cookie dough:
- About 30-60 minutes before you are ready to process your ice cream, make your cookie dough.
- Place the butter in a medium saucepan over a low-medium heat. Cook, stirring regularly, until flecks of golden brown butter appear. It should smell warm, nutty and fragrant and be medium brown in colour. It should not smell burnt. When you reach this consistency, take the butter off the heat.
- Measure the brown sugar in a medium heatproof bowl. Once the browned butter has cooled for about 5 minutes, pour it over the brown sugar.
- Add 20ml (1 tablespoon) milk and stir to make a syrupy brown liquid. It is very important to add the milk before the tapioca flour – the mixture becomes pasty and floury tasting if you don’t add the milk first.
- Add the heat-treated tapioca flour in batches. Continue mixing and adding flour until the mixture no longer looks and feels oily. It should look and feel like regular cookie dough. If you try to roll a ball of it in your hands, you should be able to do so easily. If it crumbles as you roll, add more milk.
- Allow the cookie dough to cool before stirring in the finely chopped chocolate chips. You can leave the cookie dough in fine crumbles (as long as they are not dry) or roll them into little balls (which is my preference, see the body of the post). Place the dough into the fridge for at least 10 minutes and ensure it is completely chilled before the next step.
To assemble:
- When you are ready to eat, remove the ice cream from the freezer and process using the ice cream function. If it looks a bit balled up after the first spin, spin it again.
- Take a large mixing bowl (chilled, if you live in a hot or humid climate) and add your chilled cookie dough in either crumbles or balls. Scoop all of the vanilla ice cream into the bowl, then work quickly to combine the two. You are looking for an even distribution of cookie dough to ice cream. It’s a little messy but it’s worth the mess, I promise.
- When you are happy with the distribution, pack all the mixture back into your Ninja Cream tub or an ice cream tub. Squish it down as you scoop. If you are using the 470ml Ninja Creami tub, it will be piled high over the top of the tub. You’ll just have to eat some to fit the lid on, what a shame!
- Place the tub back in the freezer for around 20 minutes or until the ice cream has firmed up. Serve immediately.
- Return leftovers to the fridge with a lid on. Keep in mind that the cookie dough is butter based, so it is a bit of a balancing act allowing the cookie dough to thaw sufficiently without softening the ice cream too much.
Notes
- See the notes in the body of the post for all of my tips and tricks.
- For a slightly lighter recipe, I have successfully used 200g regular milk and 100g full fat cream, as opposed to the specified 200g full fat cream and 100g regular milk.
- Finely chopped chocolate is important so you don’t get giant chunks of rock solid chocolate in your ice cream. Large chunks also make it hard to scoop.
- See the notes in the body of the post on the different ways to distribute the cookie dough.
- I don’t have nutritional information on this recipe. It is a high fat, high carb, high levels of delicious sort of treat.
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