Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bars

Here's the deal. The cookie dough recipe below is heavily influenced by what's on the back of the Toll House Chocolate Chip bag - that's what I grew up eating!! You could definitely use your fave cookie dough recipe or a healthier/gluten free blah blah cookie dough recipe - just make sure you replace the raw eggs with a liquid like an oil or milk and then bake the flour for 5-7 minutes at 350 F so that there's no raw ingredients that could contain bacteria. You also won't need any baking agents like baking soda because the dough won't be baked in an oven at all.

This recipe makes about 8 bars, or 16 small square bite-sized pieces.

What you need:​

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• 3/4 granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I love Lily's Sweets)
• 1 quart of vanilla bean ice cream

What to do:

1. Take the ice cream out of the freezer and let it sit out in order to soften it.
2. ​Pour the flour onto a cookie sheet and spread it around until it's distributed as flat and even as it can lay. Bake for 5-7 minutes at 350 F. This way you won't be consuming anything raw that might contain bacteria.
3. Use the microwave or stove top to soften the butter. The butter should be 80% melted. Let it return to room temp before the next step or else it could be hot enough to melt the sugars which isn't good for the overall dough texture.
4. In a large bowl, mix the softened butter with the sugars, vanilla and milk until combined.
5. Slowly mix the flour into the sugars and butter, 1 cup at a time. *If the batter seems too dry, add canola oil 1 tbsp at a time until you get a cookie dough batter texture.
6. Mix in the chocolate chips and if you're like me, eat a handful of them while you're doing it lol.
7. Split the dough in half so that there's two identical sized portions of dough and roll each one out as best you can into a flat 9x9" square shape.
8. Take a piece of parchment paper and place it in the bottom of a 9x9" square pan so that the edges are sticking up and out of it. (This helps you to easily lift the finished product out of the pan at the end without ruining it.)
9. Next, fit one of your cookie dough squares as best as you can into the bottom of the pan until it's stretched to the edges and lays evenly. Stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes in order to make it a bit more firm.
10. Remove the layer of cookie dough from the pan, cover it and put it away in the fridge until later. (Now you have that part ready and sized for the top when the time comes.)
11. Take the other square of cookie dough that you rolled out and place it in the bottom of the pan on top of the sheet of parchment paper. Press down to make it fit evenly and then freeze for 20 minutes to firm up a little bit.
12. Add the ice cream on top of the cookie dough layer. The ice cream should be pretty soft and melty, but not totally liquid. Use a spoon or icing spreader to slather it around and make it as even as possible. You want the layer of ice cream to be hard enough to hold up the top layer of cookie dough without it sinking into the melting ice cream. (If the ice cream layer seems too soft, stick the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes and then add the top layer of cookie dough.)
13. Once the second cookie dough sheet is on top of the ice cream, let the whole thing freeze for 3 hours or overnight.
14. Before eating, remove from the fridge and let it thaw for 6-8 minutes before removing it from the pan and slicing up!