It’s a hot afternoon, the house is still warm from the bake off, and what you actually want is something with two hands and a bit of snap to it. Not another salad. Something with cookies in it.
That’s the summer dessert I keep coming back to: a gluten free cookie ice cream sandwich. Chewy chocolate chip cookies with a solid scoop of vanilla ice cream between them — the homemade chipwich of my childhood, minus the flour that made my tummy protest. Best part? You bake one batch, sandwich them as you go, and they keep in the freezer, so a hot week never catches you flat.
These cookies are made with basic pantry staples, and the dough doesn’t need chilling. Make them softer than you’d bake them dry, because they’ll firm up badly in the freezer. No one wants a chipwich that cracks a tooth.
Why it works
Three small details make this recipe behave, and all three come down to how the finished sandwich holds together.
- The egg. The whole egg binds, and the extra yolk is what keeps the cookies chewy after freezing. I wouldn’t swap it out — see the notes below.
- Spoon-and-level the flour. Scooping straight from the bag gives you a denser, stiffer cookie. Level it off and the edges stay crisp, the middle stays soft.
- Freeze as you assemble. Each sandwich goes in the freezer the moment it’s wrapped. Assemble the whole batch first and the first three melt before you finish the last one.
Ingredients
Flour note up front: I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking flour. King Arthur Measure for Measure works too. UK readers looking for local gluten-free blends, Doves Farm and Schär both do an all-purpose baking flour that works in this recipe.
- ½ cup (115ml) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup (160g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (100g) white sugar
- 1 egg, plus 1 extra egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla
- 2 cups (250g) gluten free all purpose baking flour (Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 or King Arthur Measure for Measure)
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) salt
- 1¼ cup (200g) mini chocolate chips
- 3 cups (720ml) vanilla ice cream
- 1 cup (160g) mini chocolate chips, for rolling the edges
5 simple steps
Prep time is about 30 minutes, then the oven takes 20, then the freezer takes it home. Chill time is at least 3 hours — overnight if you can.
- Mix the dough. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Beat the softened butter with both sugars for about 30–60 seconds, then beat in the egg, the yolk, and the vanilla until well combined. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt — spoon and level it — and beat on low until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Shape. Use a medium cookie scoop (about 1½ to 2 tablespoons each) to roll balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving room to spread. I split mine between two sheets.
- Bake, then round them. Bake 11–14 minutes — mine land at 12 for slightly crispy edges and soft centres. Straight out of the oven, press a large round cookie cutter around the edges of each so they’re perfectly round; it makes sandwiching far easier.
- Cool, then sandwich. Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cool, top one cookie with about ¼ cup (60ml) of ice cream, cap it with a second cookie, and roll the edges in extra chocolate chips if you like.
- Freeze as you go. Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and straight into the freezer — don’t let it sit while you do the rest. Repeat with all the cookies, then let the batch set for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.
That’s the whole thing. When you’re ready, unwrap one, let it sit on the counter for a minute or two, and eat it before it becomes a science experiment.
Tips that actually matter
- Don’t skip the freeze. I know three hours is annoying when you’re this close. Serve it soft and it tastes great but falls apart at the first bite. It holds together properly after 3 hours; after overnight it’s sturdy enough to travel in a bag.
- They keep for up to 3 months in the freezer, tightly wrapped, so a big batch covers most of a summer. Pull one out a day or two before a hot stretch.
- Any ice cream works. I went vanilla to keep the classic chipwich shape. Chocolate, mint chip, cookie dough — all fine. The cookies are sweet and chewy, so a less-sweet ice cream usually balances better.
Ingredient swaps, honestly
I keep this short because most of the swaps I’d actually make, I wouldn’t. Here’s the real list:
- Egg and yolk — I don’t recommend a swap. The egg does the binding; the yolk is the chew. If you need it egg-free, look at a good egg replacer and accept drier cookies.
- Butter — regular or a dairy-free butter stick both work. I’d stay away from coconut oil or anything liquid; it changes the texture more than you’d want.
- Flour — 1:1 gluten free all purpose only. Oat, almond, and coconut flours won’t hold the shape you need for a sandwich.
- Sugar — the mix of white and brown is what gives you crisp edges and a chewy middle. This isn’t a low-sugar dessert, so don’t try to out-sneak it on the recipe.
Make it your own
- Batch and label. Portion dough into a container, freeze, and bake straight from frozen with a couple of extra minutes — or bake the weekend before and freeze the cookies raw. Either way, a hot Tuesday takes 10 minutes, not an afternoon.
- Change the ice cream. Chocolate on chocolate is fine for Tom, but for guests I usually do one vanilla, one chocolate, one mint chip. Zero extra work, suddenly it’s a menu.
- Skip the rolling step if you’re in a hurry. Edges look fine without it; the chip roll is purely for the look.
Start today
- ✓ Make one batch this weekend — about 30 minutes at the counter, 12 minutes in the oven
- ✓ Double the recipe the next time and freeze in labelled bags for up to 3 months
- ✓ Keep one in the freezer for the first hot day of the week, and eat it before it melts into a project
Today’s tiny step: the next time you open the ice cream tub, grab two cookies too. Wrap one tonight before bed. Tomorrow’s you doesn’t have to think — just unwrap and eat.
— E, your habit neighbor