Last week my mother and I went up to North Conway. We went to Ben & Jerry’s for dessert Friday night, and discovered that it is BLEAK at ice cream shops in ski country in the winter! The place was dead, and they only had about 1/3 as many flavors as usual. A huge percent of the flavors they did have had cookies or brownies in them, so she couldn’t eat them. When we got home, I thought I’d make a cookie-ish one that she could have. Turns out, it’s mighty tasty.

This recipe makes at least twice as much cookie dough as you need, so you can either make two batches of ice cream (it would be too much to fit in a standard ice cream maker at once, but the cookie dough balls will store fine in the freezer) or bake some of the dough. Or a bit of both!

Ingredients:

Ice Cream:

• 2 cups half-and-half
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or vanilla bean paste (I used the paste, so you can see the little seed flecks a bit in the ice cream)

Cookie Dough:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground flax meal
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 3 ounces (3/4 cup) white rice flour
• 1.25 ounces (1/3 cup) sorghum flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 stick butter, softened
• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) dark brown sugar
• 1 3/4 ounces (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 ounces (about 3/4 cup) mini-chocolate chips

Make the ice cream by beating together the yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, about two minutes.

Heat the half-and-half in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it begins to foam up, stirring frequently, then remove from the heat. Drizzle the hot half-and-half into the egg mixture a little bit at a time, whisking the egg mixture constantly.

Once all the half-and-half is in the egg mixture, transfer the whole mixture into the saucepan and put back over the stove on medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, then remove from the heat.

Continue whisking the heated mixture, to keep lumps from forming, and put the bottom of the pot in a bowl of ice water, to stop it from cooking any further. Once the mixture has cooled some, transfer to a bowl, if you wish, and cover with plastic wrap right down to the surface to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate until cold, several hours.

While the ice cream base refrigerates, prepare the cookie dough. In a small bowl stir together the flax and hot water. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the flax and vanilla and beat until once again light and fluffy.

Add the dry ingredients and beat in until a soft even dough forms.

Add the mini chips and beat in until evenly mixed. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or freezer paper. Roll the dough into small (1/2 teaspoon) balls, and place them on the sheet, not worrying about spacing as they won’t grow while freezing.

That’s a smaller than usual pan, not larger than expected dough balls.

Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least an hour until firm.

When the ice cream and dough are both properly chilled, freeze the ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s directions.

When the ice cream is most of the way frozen, usually 20-25 minutes, add as many cookie dough balls as you’d like, several hands-full.

You can eat it immediately, or freeze it firmer in a container in your freezer. The remaining cookie dough can be stored in a bag in the freezer, or baked. You could make larger balls out of some of it, for more normal sized cookies, or you can bake the tiny ones. Straight out of the freezer, the tiny ones bake in about 6 minutes at 350.

It may not look like much, but it is mighty satisfying when you’re in the mood for ice cream!

Gluten-Free Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Dough from Serious Eats, ice cream adapted from Joy of Baking.

Ice Cream:

• 2 cups half-and-half
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla or vanilla bean paste (I used the paste, so you can see little flecks of the seeds)

Cookie Dough:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground flax meal
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 3 ounces (3/4 cup) white rice flour
• 1.25 ounces (1/3 cup) sorghum flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 stick butter, softened
• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) dark brown sugar
• 1 3/4 ounces (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 ounces (about 3/4 cup) mini-chocolate chips

Make the ice cream by beating together the yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, about two minutes.

Heat the half-and-half in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it begins to foam up, stirring frequently, then remove from the heat. Drizzle the hot half-and-half into the egg mixture a little bit at a time, whisking the egg mixture constantly.

Once all the half-and-half is in the egg mixture, transfer the whole mixture into the saucepan and put back over the stove on medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, then remove from the heat. Continue whisking the heated mixture, to keep lumps from forming, and put the bottom of the pot in a bowl of ice water, to stop it from cooking any further. Once the mixture has cooled some, transfer to a bowl, if you wish, and cover with plastic wrap right down to the surface to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate until cold, several hours.

While the ice cream base refrigerates, prepare the cookie dough. In a small bowl stir together the flax and hot water. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt.

Cream together the butter and sugars in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the flax and vanilla and beat until once again light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and beat in until a soft even dough forms. Add the mini chips and beat in until evenly mixed.Line a baking sheet with wax paper or freezer paper. Roll the dough into small (1/2 teaspoon) balls, and place them on the sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least an hour until firm.

When the ice cream and dough are both properly chilled, freeze the ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s directions. When the ice cream is mostly firm, usually 20-25 minutes, add as many cookie dough balls as you’d like, several hands-full. Freeze or bake the remaining cookie dough balls.

Eat immediately, or freeze for firmer ice cream.