This is one outrageously delicious over-the-top confection! It may also be the dessert equivalent of evil. I have the strong urge to go to confession and I’m not even Catholic. The road to Hell? Paved with chocolate chip cookie dough apparently.
A while back, I made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream and that was pretty fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that I was tempted to make it again…right away. But I wanted to try something new, so I decided to put the cookie dough in cookie dough flavored ice cream. You heard me. Cookie dough mixed into cookie dough flavored cream. Annie’s Eats had a fantabulous looking recipe. I started there and turned the ice cream into gelato by using whole milk instead of cream and cornstarch instead of eggs. Also, I love chocolate chips, but find that they tend to be a little too hard in ice cream, so I incorporated the frozen chocolate softening technique from my Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.
And after I had done all that, I conceived of a truly devilish idea. What if I sandwiched my cookie dough flavored frozen gelato studded with chocolate chip cookie dough between two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies…and…dipped that in chocolate.
Yep, I’m going straight to Hell.
Chocolate Dipped Cookie Dough Gelato Sandwiches
“SPECIAL” CHOCOLATE CHIPS FOR ICE CREAM:
You can skip this step and just use 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips, but this extra step will make your chocolate more ice cream friendly.
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
COOKIE DOUGH:
Adapted from Annie’s Eats
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 of the “special chocolate chips for ice cream”. See ingredients above.
GELATO:
Adapted from Annie’s Eats
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cups whole milk
- 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 large pinches of kosher salt
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 of the “special chocolate chips for ice cream”. See ingredients above.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
This recipe is one option, but you can use your favorite recipe
CHOCOLATE FOR DIPPING:
Apropos of nothing, is anyone else out there old enough to remember when Dove Ice Cream Bars first became widely available in the mid-80’s? They were unlike any commercially available ice cream bar before. The rich, dense and intensely flavored ice cream was enrobed in a very thick layer of high quality chocolate that came off in big thick slabs as you ate it. Totally different from their modern-day equivalent which are smaller with chocolate of a conventional thickness. The thick chocolate on these cookie sandwiches brings back sweet memories.
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon canola oil
MAKE THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS
This couldn’t be easier. Melt 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips carefully in a microwave in 20-30 second bursts. Take care not to scorch the chocolate. Then mix in 2 teaspoons of canola oil until smooth. Line a plate or cookie sheet with wax paper and spread the chocolate in a sheet about 1/4 of an inch thick. Stick this in the fridge or freezer for about 10-20 minutes or until firm. Then cut into chunks and reserve.
Why bother with any of this? Because the resulting reconstituted chocolate chips will be softer and less chalky on your teeth and tongue when frozen into the ice cream.
MAKE THE COOKIE DOUGH
Stir together the melted butter and sugar until smooth. Mix in the flour, then the vanilla. Let this sit for about 10 minutes before mixing in 1/2 of the “special” chocolate chips
Why the wait? the special chocolate chips have a lower melting point than traditional chocolate chips and will melt easily into a very warm cookie dough.
The dough will be very wet and won’t look like a traditional cookie dough, but have no fear. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, even better over night. When it is completely firm, cut into chunks and freeze the chunks.
MAKE THE ICE CREAM
Note: The procedure here is very similar to other ice creams on the site like Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough or Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream.
Melt 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Continue heating, stirring often, until the butter is a deep golden brown color, being careful not to burn it. Add 1 cup milk, 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, 2 large pinches of kosher salt and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in the remaining 2 cups of milk. Continue whisking over medium high heat until it comes to a boil, about 5-6 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and continue to cook while whisking for an additional minute. Take off the heat and whisk in the 1/2 cup heavy cream and the vanilla. Transfer to a different bowl or your trusty pyrex measuring cup.
Cool all this down by placing the container with the cream into an ice bath for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Take care not to get water into the cream.
When the mixture is cool, cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the chocolate mixture to prevent a “skin” from forming on the top. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or, even better, overnight.
When you are ready to make the ice cream, turn your on ice cream maker and freeze the mixture according to your machine’s instructions. It will not harden all the way. Mine takes about 25 minutes to reach a nice thick soft serve consistency.
At this point, add the chunks of frozen cookie dough and the rest of the chunks of chocolate. Let it churn for another 30 seconds or so until the cookie dough is well distributed. However, you may need to finish the mixing by hand.
Transfer to a chilled container, cover tightly and place in the freezer for at least 3 hours.
MAKE YOUR FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Once cool. Sandwich a big scoop of the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream between two baked and cooled chocolate chip cookies.
Yes, you should feel guilty. You are about to do a very bad thing.
MAKE THE DIPPING CHOCOLATE
This is very similar to when you made the chocolate chips. Take 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips. Melt carefully in the microwave taking care not to burn. Then, stir in 1 teaspoon of canola oil until smooth. Dip half of each chocolate chip cookie dough sandwich in the chocolate and put back in the freezer to harden.
Again, by mixing the canola oil with the chocolate, you lower the melting point, making the chocolate easier to bite into when frozen.
STORAGE
You can store the sandwiches unwrapped in the freezer for a few hours. However, if you are going to store them longer, wrap each sandwich in plastic. They will be good that way for up to a week (or possibly more). But who knows really. Its not like you will keep them that long. They will call to you from the deep freeze…eat me…eat me…eat me….
You will be powerless to resist.