These fun Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Cups are crisp around the edges, a touch soft in the center and hold their shape perfectly for a large dollop of ice cream! Dress them up like a sundae or keep them simple for a casual night at home. You can’t go wrong!
You guys, I just had the best week EVER.
Jason took Asher on a trip to visit the grandparents for a week, leaving me home alone. I repeat: HOME. ALONE. Picture me doing the patented Macaulay Culkin hands-to-cheeks pose, but instead of screaming in fear, I’m shrieking with delight.
It was an entire week of sleeping like a rock, staying up past my bedtime with lights on and music blaring, watching zero children’s programming, not being bound by nap or sleep schedules, and putting sharp/dangerous/delicious items anywhere I wanted without a care in the world. I worked like a dog the entire time and it was still the most amazing staycation ever. (Some of you might be thinking this makes me sound heartless, but I’ll bet some other parents of young toddlers can understand the absolute glee and sheer freedom of a week home alone.)
Obviously, I owe Jason big time. Two long road trips plus a week of singlehanded parenting? Yikes. I’m not sure what I’ll do to make it up to him, but I suspect it might involve donating an organ at some point. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. In the meantime, I stocked our freezer with some of his favorite ice cream as a fun, non-surgical thank you.
I’ve seen lots of chocolate chip cookie cups floating around Pinterest (and lots of failed attempts floating around Pinterest-mocking websites) and I think they’re such a cute idea. Ice cream is delicious on its own, but when you can actually eat the container it’s served in? I’m sold. I was intrigued, and eager to try it for myself, and only a little bit scurred. I decided to make double chocolate cookie ice cream cups—it’s a nice twist on the usual chocolate chip flavor, and the brownie-like chocolate cookies pair really nicely with 87.3% of ice cream flavors. (Totally made that statistic up but sounds reasonable to me.)
I’m happy to say that I got the recipe right on the second try! (Let us never speak of the first try again.) These chocolate cookie cups are crisp around the edges, a touch soft in the center, and they hold their shape perfectly once they’re unmolded. They hold a big, generous scoop of ice cream, with a little room around the edges for drizzled toppings. The deep, rich flavor is great with anything from plain vanilla bean to mint chip to peanut butter, and everything in between.
It’s not a perfect “thank you” gift, but it’s a start. I’m hoping if I thank Jason enough, he’ll forget how long this past week was, and be motivated to do these father-son trips on a quarterly basis. A girl can dream, right?
The Ultimate Banana Split
Doughnut Ice Cream Sundaes
Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Cups
Ingredients
- 4 oz unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cool
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips
Instructions
- Combine the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a large stand mixer. Mix with a paddle attachment on medium-low speed until well-blended, but not light and fluffy. You don’t to beat too much air in to the dough, because that will cause it to spread.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix well. In a small bowl whisk together the bread flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the flour mixture and mix until all the flour streaks disappear. Stop the mixer, add the miniature chocolate chips, and stir them in by hand. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl very well with a spatula. Wrap the cookie dough in cling wrap and chill for at least 2 hours, until solid. (The chilling time and the later time in the freezer are both important, so don’t skip them!)
- Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 375 F. Turn two muffin tins upside down. Cut foil into 5×5-inch squares. Press a square of foil on top of the bottom of a muffin cup, shiny side up. Press foil around every other muffin cup (you’ll only be using half of the cups, so that they don’t bake into each other). Each upside-down muffin tin should have 6 muffin bottoms foiled. Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
- Divide the dough in half, and keep half in the refrigerator while you work with the other half. Lightly dust two sheets of waxed paper with flour, and roll the dough out between the waxed paper until it is 1/8-inch thick. This recipe works best with a very thin layer of cookie dough, so don’t let your dough get too thick. Use a 3.5” or 4” circular cutter, and cut 6 circles out of the dough. Lift the dough from the waxed paper with a spatula, and drape it over the foil-covered muffin cup. Press it gently on top and on the sides of the cup. If there are any cracks, smooth them out with your fingers. The dough will move down a little while baking, so no need to press it all the way down to the bottom of the cups.
- Put the tray in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes while you repeat with the remaining dough. Bake the cookie cups for 12 minutes at 375. Let them cool completely before sliding them off the muffin bottoms. Gently peel the foil from the inside of the cups. Fill with ice cream, mousse, whipped cream, pudding or whatever else you’d like!
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
I love it, I want it. I gotta have it.
Then you shall have it, madam!
This must be the best dessert ever: ice cream in a cup you can actually eat??? That’s so great, I need to try it. Although I suspect I’d end up like one of the people featuread at those pinterest mock sites… pretty much.
I laughed so much at your post, your week must have been awesome 😉
Haha thanks Consuelo–I just got sick of eating ice cream out of a non-edible bowl like a chump! 🙂 I think the problem with the pinterest fail sites is that people use regular cookie dough recipes, and don’t chill it, so it spreads too much.
And YES, I had the most amazing week! There is no silence like the silence of a house after a baby leaves. 🙂
Haha, being home alone is always a reason to celebrate ! (It means uninterrupted food photography *sheepish grin*) These are so colorful and with all that ice cream, how could I say no? Your pictures are so fun and make me want to come have an ice cream party with you:) Thumbs up Liz!
Hah, exactly! I definitely relished the quiet food photo time. And um, yes, we would have an epic ice cream party!
I love the fact that you can eat the cup as well as the ice cream! They look sooooooo good 🙂
Thanks for sharing!!
Johlene
XX
Thanks Johlene–the only thing better than ice cream is ice cream in an edible bowl, right?!
Although I don’t have kids, I do love my alone time and I can only imagine how much you come to cherish it when you have a toddler. These cookie cups are adorable.
Oh my gosh, Nicole, believe me when I tell you that there is nothing as amazingly peaceful as a house after a toddler leaves! Thanks for swinging by. 🙂
I love the edible ice cream cup! I don’t know why but my kids prefer eating ice cream in a paper cup (I always get a waffle cone!). I bet they love this ice cream (and cup!). Very cute! Pinnd<3
Thanks Nami! I’m a waffle cone girl myself, so I know where you’re coming from–edible ice cream containers are where it’s at.
Tom and I eat a gallon of that very ice cream every week. Just the two of us. It’s bliss being grownups. Now we have the perfect accessory to add to our gluttony!
This is why you’re my people! Love your ice cream obsession, Heather. 🙂
Congrats on the staycation–you super deserve it!
Also, I’m dying over the caramel drip in the last photo. Get in mah belly, ice cream in a cup!
Thanks lady! The only problem is that now I’m spoiled, and want a staycation basically every week. Waaah!
a week home alone?!??! best.week.ever. I would be thrilled just to go to Target without my kiddo! I love cookies and ice cream, so this is right up my alley! looks like it would be fun for a party!
Oh my gosh, YES! A solo grocery or Target trip is heavenly. And I hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right– I think these would be so fun for a party!
I see the muffin tin thing all the time on Pinterest and am skeptical, thanks for these clarifying directions! And oh boy do these look indulgent–in the best way!
Right?! There are so many pins that are taken out of context or don’t provide adequate instructions, so I see them and think “that’s cool, but I’ll bet it would never work in real life.” Fortunately cookie cups were a success!