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Recipe updated 7/18/16
“Ice cream the first week of January? You’re crazy, Briana!”…said no one ever because it’s cookies n cream ice cream, which has got to be about the most-requested ice cream ever. It’s finally here!
I have been dubbed “The Ice Cream Queen”, but it’s been an embarrassingly long time since I posted an ice cream recipe. A long time, as in last March (this mint ice cream). As in, 10 months ago. Aaahhhh!!! Sorry about that, folks. I guess it feels like less time than that because since then I’ve been remaking a lot of my old recipes, tweaking them and re-photographing them for my upcoming cookbook. There are a few more new ice cream recipes I want to “churn out” (where’s the lame joke buzzer when I need it…*ahem* Odyssey reference) before my cookbook is published, so I should have a few more to share with you before too long.
This cookies n cream ice cream boasts chocolate cookie pieces in a creamy vanilla ice cream. It actually turned out even better than I was expecting, and my mom (who is a cookies-n-cream-aholic) loved it. Since I made up the recipe, she’s been enjoying making batches of the chocolate cookie bits, keeping them in the freezer, and stirring them into this basic vanilla milkshake for an “Oreo” shake.
You can click here to see all my ice cream recipes in one nifty pictorial recipe index!
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 2½ cups unsweetened almond milk (use carton coconut milk for a nut free option)
- ½ cup cottage cheese
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 T vegetable glycerin, optional but highly recommended
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- 6-7 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.), to taste
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. glucomannan
- 3 T Briana's Baking Mix
- 1½ T cocoa powder
- ¾ tsp. THM Super Sweet Blend
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- ⅛ tsp. xanthan gum
- 2½ T salted butter, melted
- 1 T Greek yogurt
- Blend all the ice cream ingredients together until completely smooth. Churn in an automatic countertop ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.
- Mix the cookie crumb ingredients together and press them onto a greased baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes, then remove the cookie bits from the oven and put them in the freezer to chill.
- When the ice cream is finished churning, stir it into the chilled crumbs. Enjoy right away or freeze to firm up a little more.
- Like most homemade ice creams, this recipe is best eaten fresh (unless using vegetable glycerin, which gives you more flexibility-see below). If you have leftovers, freeze them and when you're ready to eat them, either let them sit out on the counter for 30 minutes or so or defrost them for a few seconds in the microwave.
- I recommend adding 1 T of vegetable glycerin to this ice cream to keep it from sticking to the sides of the ice cream maker and to keep it softer and not let it get hard so fast in the freezer. If you freeze the ice cream for an extended length of time in the freezer, it will still freeze hard, but if you let it sit out to soften up a little, the glycerin keeps it scoopable instead of icy. Transfer the ice cream from the freezer to the refrigerator 3 hours before serving for optimum texture, or let it sit out on the counter for 30-40 minutes.
This recipe was updated July 18, 2016.
Briana’s Baking Mix
Suggested products:
- Cuisinart 1 1/2 qt. Automatic Ice Cream Churn
- Ninja blender
- Vegetable Glycerin
- Glucomannan
- The Trim Healthy Mama online store carries THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder, Super Sweet Blend, and other great products!
I finally got around to trying one of your ice cream recipes and I chose this one! I love it. I confess, I didn’t have it in me to make the cookies so I used some THM chocolate chips that I buzzed in the blender. Yummy ice cream and super easy. Next time I’ll try it with the cookies. — Also, I’m a huge fan of cinnamon ice cream and it’s nearly impossible to find, especially sugar free. Do you think I could use this recipe and just omit the cookies (again) and add some cinnamon to it? I’d love and appreciate your suggestions. Thank you for sharing your wonderful and tasty creations.
I’m so glad you liked it, April! Yes – I’m sure your tweak for the cinnamon would work just fine.
Are the cookie bits yummy by themselves? I’m craving Oreos like crazy but I definitely don’t want to venture off plan! I LOVE the Oreo Truffle Shake, so I can’t wait to try this *very soon*. I gotta get the ingredients first 😀
I prefer them along with something – on their own they might be too dark chocolatey. In ice cream or a shake they’re perfect!
Ok, so I finally broke down and got the cuisinart ice cream maker. With coupons, $32! Yay! We tried our first batch today, and I made a recipe from the instruction book, my family is non-THM, so I thought I would start with one for them. It did not set up at all. I’m thinking, 1., I didn’t freeze the pan long enough, or cool my custard enough. I’m really bummed. Have you heard of others having this problem? I really hope that it as just our impatience. 🙂
Did you freeze the aluminum canister for a few days first? That’s the first thing I’d check. 🙂 When you first get it it’s important to give it a long freeze time.
Nope, just 24 hours. Will try again Monday. We were so excited to make our own ice cream! I did go ahead and threw the custard in the freezer and it’s freezing up now. Thanks for all of your recipes. I’ve been following THM for several years, but only got serious back in Feb. Love, that you have so many recipes!
Hi Briana! I seem to have a weakness recently for a “Cookies and Cream Mousse” that a local drug store sells! 🙁 Is there a way to make this into Mousse that is on plan?
What kind of mousse? I’m not very experienced with mousse (or moose). 😛 Could you send me a link to something similar so I can see what you’re talking about?
Maybe something like this ~ I’m not sure how they make it!? ~
https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=137652
Mmm…sounds good! I would make an on-plan vanilla pudding (like the one from my Peanut Butter Cream Pie), chocolate cookie pieces (like the ones that go in my Cookies n Cream Ice Cream), and then fold it all together with some homemade whipped cream!
Thank you!!! I will have to try that! 🙂 Hope you are having a good summer!
I’m having a great summer! It’s good to be at home for a summer for a change, and the cookbook stuff is coming to an end! Hope you guys are doing well, too!
This is yum 🙂
We love the cookie bits! What a fantastic addition to all kinds of ice cream… Pretty sure I will be making batches like your mom does! Thanks for another great recipe.
You are very welcome, Beth. 🙂
So you actually put the baking powder IN the ice cream part? And that makes it kind of ‘cookie-ish’? And is there any way to make this and have the egg not be raw?
I’m so excited to try this—cookies’n’cream is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE ice cream flavor!!
Yes ma’am; the baking powder adds to the cookie dough flavor. If you don’t like using raw egg, just leave it out and add a few extra tablespoons of cream. You may miss out on some richness of flavor, though. If you have concerns about salmonella, using fresh eggs and washing them in warm soapy water before cracking them is generally thought to diminish most of that risk. 🙂
Wow! Thanks for the quick reply! I love it when someone responds quickly…:)
I love reading your blog posts, and the humor all over your blog—and I love how you always have plenty of pictures of the food! I also admire your cheerful attitude, and was really inspired by something you said in a post from several days ago, about how you try to see how many people you can smile at and get a return look from while you’re in town, and be cheerful in general—I try to do that too, and now even more so! Thanks for sharing your recipes and cheerfulness here…and I know that had nothing to do with cookies’n’cream ice cream, but this is my first time posting here, and I wanted to tell you.
Aw, thank you for the words of encouragement. 🙂 I appreciate that.
Just to clarify, this recipe doesn’t use raw eggs, correct? I’ve made a bunch of your ice cream recipes and they generally start out the same so the extra 1/2 cup almond milk and no eggs threw me a bit. Then I noticed in a comment that you mentioned replacing the egg with cream so I was even more unsure if the eggs were left out on purpose or not 😉 thanks!
Correct – no eggs in this recipe. It’s been updated since it was first posted. 🙂
Thank you!
Sounds delicious! I’ve never heard of baking powder in ice cream before? What does it do? 🙂
That’s for the cookie flavor. 🙂 Baking powder is used to make a cake/cookie dough flavor.
Do you think a 1.5 qt is big enough ice cream maker? I’m going back between that one and the bigger one. I know by time summer hits I will be needing one to make it through without ice cream. Cookies and Cream is my favorite so I can’t wait to try it.
That’s what I have and love it! Homemade ice cream is best fresh, so I don’t usually make it in big batches because I don’t like to have too many leftovers. Leftovers are good when they’re frozen and thawed, but fresh is definitely better and when it’s as easy as 1 (blend), 2 (churn), why not? 😉 If you have a big family you might want a bigger churn though.
Sounds so good! Where do you find vegetable glycerin? I’ve never heard of it before. Also, what’s your favorite cottage cheese for those who usually only use in savory dishes.. Yes, that’s me, but I’m trying to learn to not think about cottage cheese in my sweets. ?
I usually buy mine in a large quantity online (link below recipe), but I’ve also seen it in cake decorating stores (apparently it keeps icing from getting crusty). 🙂 I’ve used several different brands of cottage cheese in many different recipes and can’t usually tell a difference in taste. I personally can’t taste it at all in this ice cream recipe, so I think you’re safe. 😉 Right now we’re using Sam’s Club brand cottage cheese because we can get it in big tubs and we go through it so fast!
Hi Briana, I’ve been outta the loop for a while- shame on me. I’m wondering what the vegetable glycerin is for in this recipe? I read the info on Amazon and will order some, but couldn’t tell exactly what is purpose is. Is it a sweetener or used to help prevent ice crystals? None of the above?
Thanks in advance.
I adore you and your blog.
Hi Christa! Here’s my best explanation: “I recommend adding 1 T of vegetable glycerin to this ice cream to keep it from sticking to the sides of the ice cream maker and to keep it softer and not let it get hard so fast in the freezer. If you freeze the ice cream for an extended length of time in the freezer, it will still freeze hard, but if you let it sit out to soften up a little, the glycerin keeps it scoopable instead of icy.” The vegetable glycerin improves the texture of the ice cream a lot, keeping it creamier and helps prevent ice crystals like you said. 🙂 I highly recommend it, but that being said, I made ice cream without it for a long time.
Is there a sub for the glycerin? Like vodka? 😉
I’ve heard that vodka can help prevent an ice cream from freezing totally firm, but I haven’t tried it. I don’t think it would lend the same creaminess as the glycerin, but it would probably have a few of the same properties. The glycerin isn’t necessary, just recommended. 🙂