Vegan Cookie Dough Ice Cream

There's nothing better than homemade ice cream. Churn up your own cookie dough ice cream with this vegan and gluten free recipe that's made with cashews, coconut milk, and made-from-scratch cookie dough bites.

Jump to:

• 🍪 Why We Love This Recipe
• 🍨 Ingredients
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
• 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
• 🍽 Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

🍪 Why We Love This Recipe

• Cookie dough: I mean, do we need to say anymore? We don't mess around when it comes to cookie dough, so we developed our own version that's free from eggs and regular flour, so you can pack your ice cream full of the good stuff without worrying about those pesky CDC guidelines.
• Extra creamy: Cashews and coconut milk team up to replace regular dairy products. This creates a luxurious, creamy texture without any off-putting flavors.

🍨 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make this vegan cookie dough ice cream:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• Cashews: Alongside the coconut milk, the soaked cashews are essential to create a creamy texture when you're making vegan ice cream. Be sure to soak your cashews for the recommended amount of time so you end up with perfectly smooth ice cream.
• Maple syrup: We used maple syrup, but agave nectar or date syrup will both work well.
• Cookie dough bites: We repurposed our edible vegan cookie dough bite recipe to add to this ice cream. Instead of rolling them into balls and coating in chocolate like we do in the original recipe, we press the cookie dough into a thin sheet and then slice into small squares to fold into the finished ice cream!
• Coconut milk: Make sure to use full fat coconut milk. This will typically be canned and can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store. Full fat milk is key to creating a rich, creamy texture.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

Ice Cream Base:

(Prep) Soak cashews for 2 hours in room temperature water. After 2 hours, drain and rinse.

(1) In a blender, combine all of the ice cream ingredients: 1 can full-fat coconut milk, 1 cup soaked cashews, ⅓ cup maple or agave syrup, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and ¼ teaspoon fine kosher salt. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Pour into the ice cream maker and start the churn cycle.

Cookie Dough Bites:

(2) While the ice cream is churning, add the ¼ cup vegan butter to a mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat until creamy.

(3) Add in ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter, ¼ cup maple syrup, 2 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla and continue mixing until smooth.

(4) In a separate bowl, stir together 2 cups oat flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add this oat and salt mixture to the butter mixture and mix until well incorporated.

(5) Stir in ½ cup mini chocolate chips.

(6) Spread the cookie dough onto a rimmed tray (make sure that it will fit in your freezer first) lined with parchment paper and press down. To get an even distribution, top the cookie dough with another sheet of parchment paper and press down with another cookie sheet.

(7) Put in the freezer for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the freezer and cut into ¼ inch sized cubes. Put back into the freezer and keep stored until ready to mix into the ice cream.

Combine:

(9) Once the ice cream is finished, transfer to a freezer container and fold in the cookie dough pieces. Freeze until set, which usually takes 3 to 4 hours.

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

• Fold in cookie dough bites after churning: Most ice cream makers will instruct you to add the cookie dough in while it's still churning, but we prefer to fold it in afterwards to retain the large bites of cookie dough.
• Soaking the cashews: Since we're not using milk, the soaked cashews are key to creating a smooth, creamy texture. Don't skip this step! If you're super short on time, you can soak the cashews in super hot water for 20-30 minutes.
• Sweetener: We used maple syrup in this recipe, but you can also use agave nectar, date syrup, etc.
• Coconut milk: Make sure to use full fat to ensure maximum creaminess.
• If you're in the market for an ice cream maker, we wholeheartedly recommend Breville. We've had ours for years and it makes perfect vegan ice cream every time. The model we have in on the pricier end (we use it a lot!), but here's another less expensive option we've heard good things about.
• Storage: We recommend transferring the soft ice cream into a loaf pan or similar container, and then store in a gallon freezer bag. If your container doesn't fit in a bag, give your container a thorough wrap with plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn.

🍽 Related Recipes

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