Treat yourself to this delicious peanut butter cookie dough ice cream! Would you believe it's dairy-free? Surprisingly creamy, this healthier version owes its luscious texture to blended cashews. It's lighter, salty-sweet, seriously satisfying, and loaded with cookie dough in every bite! We have two methods: one for those with an ice cream maker method, and one for those without.
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Ice Cream
2cupsraw cashews, see notes
1 ½cupswater
½cupall-natural salted peanut butter, see notes
⅓cupsugar
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
6tablespoonssoftened coconut oil or butter
¼cupbrown sugar
½cupall-purpose flour
2teaspoonsvanilla
½cupmini-chocolate chips
Instructions
Place the cashews in a glass jar and cover them with hot water. Let them soak for 30 minutes.
2 cups raw cashews
Rinse the cashews under cold running water and then add them to your blender or food processor. Add 1 ½ cups of fresh water, the peanut butter, and sugar. Blend on high until completely smooth. Note: if you don't have a high-powered blender, you may want to strain the ice cream through a fine-mesh sieve so it is smooth.
½ cup all-natural salted peanut butter, ⅓ cup sugar, 1 ½ cups water
Place the blended cashews into your fridge and let them cool completely, for about 1 hour.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix the coconut oil or butter and sugar with a fork. Add the flour and vanilla and mix until a dough is formed. Stir in the chocolate chips. Break the dough into small pieces and place them on a small baking sheet. Place the tray into your freezer to freeze the cookie dough.
6 tablespoons softened coconut oil or butter, ¼ cup brown sugar, ½ cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons vanilla, ½ cup mini-chocolate chips
Ice Cream Maker Method
Pour the blended cashews into your ice cream maker and process according to manufacturers directions.
Once the ice cream is firm, stir in the frozen cookie dough bites.
Transfer the ice cream to a freezer container and freeze.
No Churn Method
Pour the blended cashews into a large, shallow baking dish and sprinkle the frozen cookie dough bites over the top. Place the dish into your freezer.
After half an hour, remove the dish from your freezer and scrape the ice cream with a spoon to mix it up. Place it back in your freezer. Repeat the scraping and freezing until the ice cream is frozen, about 3-4 times.
Transfer the ice cream to a freezer container and store in your freezer.
Notes
If you have a high-powered blender you can skip the soaking step. If not, soak the cashews for as long as possible to help soften them.We always use salted peanut butter. If you only have unsalted on hand, add a pinch of salt to the ice cream.