Attention: Cookie Milk Ice Cream is now a thing — and it is seriously delicious. If you enjoy speculoos or cookie butter flavors, you’ll love this speculoos cookie–infused ice cream.
Inspired by the idea of cereal milk, I decided to try “cookie milk”: steeping speculoos cookies in dairy, straining out the solids, and using the flavored milk as the base for ice cream. I specifically used Dutch windmill speculoos-style cookies with almonds. Instead of stirring cookie butter directly into the base, which adds a lot of oil and an aftertaste I don’t love, this method extracts the cookie flavor without the heavy coating of fat.
To make the cookie milk, I placed roughly 6.5 ounces (about nine cookies) in a bowl and poured about 20 ounces of half-and-half over them. After stirring, I refrigerated the mixture for an hour or two to allow the flavors and starches to infuse the dairy. When I returned, the cookies had largely disintegrated. I strained the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, pressing lightly on the solids to extract the starchy, cookie-flavored milk while avoiding pushing through any sticky dough. The result was just under two cups of fragrant cookie milk.
I added 2 ounces of dark brown sugar (by weight), 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, and a pinch of kosher salt to the cookie milk, and gently cooked it until it came to a boil and thickened slightly. After straining and chilling the base in an ice bath, it reached a pudding-like consistency. The residual starch from the cookies contributed to the texture, so next time I might omit the cornstarch, but the cornstarch worked well for this batch.
Once chilled, I adjusted the texture by warming an additional 8 ounces of half-and-half with a pinch of salt and 1 ounce of brown sugar, then stirred that into the chilled cookie milk to bring the total dairy volume up and smooth the consistency. The base smelled and tasted remarkably like the cookies—subtle, spicy, nostalgic—and needed no extra spice.
Hello, Cookie Milk Ice Cream
While the churn was running, I chopped the remaining cookies and froze the pieces so they wouldn’t warm the ice cream as they were added. I folded the frozen cookie bits in during the final minutes of churning, then layered the ice cream with a brown-sugar ribbon to add a molasses-like, caramel note. The finished ice cream is essentially cookies in cookie-flavored ice cream, with crunchy cookie pieces and a brown sugar swirl for contrast.
This ice cream has one of the shortest ingredient lists I’ve used, and it’s genuinely good. It’s a straightforward way to turn your favorite spiced cookies into a rich, creamy dessert without adding extra oils or commercial spreads. You can adapt the technique for many cookie types: steep, strain, thicken if needed, finish the base, churn, and add frozen cookie pieces.
Cookie Milk Ice Cream
Yield: about 1 quart
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 oz speculoos-style cookies (I used Archway Dutch windmill cookies)
- 28 oz half-and-half, divided (about 20 oz to steep, 8 oz reserved)
- 3 oz dark brown sugar (by weight) for the base
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (optional—cookie starch may suffice)
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- Broken or chopped frozen cookies for mix-ins (about 1 cup)
- 3–4 tablespoons dark brown sugar for a swirl
Instructions
- Place the cookies in a large bowl. Pour 20 oz of half-and-half over them, stir, and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to four hours to infuse.
- Strain the cookie milk through a fine mesh strainer into a saucepan or bowl, tapping the strainer and pressing gently on the solids to extract liquid without forcing cookie paste through. Discard the solids.
- Combine the strained cookie milk with the dark brown sugar, salt, and cornstarch (if using). Whisk over medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Boil briefly (about 10 seconds), then remove from heat and strain into a metal bowl set in an ice bath.
- Chill the base, stirring occasionally, until cold. Stir in the remaining 8 oz of warmed half-and-half and taste for salt; adjust if necessary.
- Churn the chilled base according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
- During the last 2–3 minutes of churning, add the frozen cookie pieces so they distribute evenly.
- To create a brown-sugar ribbon, sprinkle about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar in the container, add a third of the ice cream, sprinkle more sugar, add another third, and finish with the remaining ice cream and sugar. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface and freeze for at least 4 hours to ripen.
- Scoop and enjoy.
There you have it: Cookie Milk. Cookie Milk Ice Cream. Go steep your favorite cookies in milk, and make your own version of this nostalgic, spiced ice cream.
Another Ice Cream Tuesday
A friend joined in Ice Cream Tuesday with a no-churn brown sugar peach ripple recipe, which demonstrates how many directions this weekly ritual can take. If you’re experimenting with flavors, this cookie-milk technique can be adapted to a wide range of cookies and add-ins.
Other Notes
This recipe highlights how simple techniques—infusing dairy with cookies, gentle straining, and mindful thickening—can yield a complex, layered dessert without relying on processed spreads. If you prefer a lighter base, consider reducing or omitting the cornstarch; if you want a richer result, use cream instead of half-and-half. Above all, taste and adjust as you go.