The Ultimate Ube Ice Cream Cookie - No Churn

The two components

• • No-churn ube coconut ice cream: whipped full-fat coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk and ube powder. The condensed milk lowers the freezing point, which is why it scoops instead of setting rock hard.
• • Ube white chocolate cookies: our original cookie, with muscovado sugar and chopped white chocolate, frozen before baking for a thick center.

Step 1: Bloom the Ube Powder

Warm the 60ml of coconut milk until hot but not boiling, then whisk in the 30g of ube powder until you get a completely smooth, thick purple paste. Let it cool to room temperature. This step is what separates a silky ice cream from a grainy one.

Pro Tip: Never add dry ube powder straight to a cold mixture. It hydrates slowly and leaves tiny purple specks that you will feel on the tongue.

Step 2: Build the Condensed Milk Base

Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the cooled ube paste, add the vanilla extract and the pinch of salt, and whisk until the whole mixture is one even deep purple. The salt is small but essential: it stops the condensed milk from tasting flat.

Step 3: Whip the Coconut Cream

Scoop the thick chilled coconut cream into a cold bowl and whip with an electric whisk for about 2 minutes, until it holds soft peaks. Stop as soon as it holds its shape; overwhipping turns coconut cream grainy and it will split later.

Step 4: Fold and Freeze

Fold the ube condensed milk base into the whipped coconut cream in three additions, using a spatula and a light hand. The air you keep here is what replaces churning. Pour into a loaf tin or shallow container, smooth the top, cover with cling film pressed onto the surface, and freeze at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.

Pro Tip: Freeze the ice cream in a shallow container rather than a deep tub. It firms faster and evenly, and it is much easier to get clean scoops.

After 6 hours the texture should be smooth and scoopable, exactly like in the photos above. If it feels icy, the coconut cream was not whipped enough or the cling film was not touching the surface.

Step 5: Cream the Butter and Sugars

Cream the softened butter with the muscovado and light brown sugar for about 3 minutes, until pale and fluffy. The muscovado brings the caramel and molasses depth that stands up to a cold, sweet filling.

Step 6: Add the Egg and Lemon Juice

Beat in the room-temperature egg and a splash of lemon juice until fully combined. The acid activates the baking soda for lift and a chewier crumb, without any citrus taste.

Step 7: Sift and Fold in the Dry Ingredients

Sift the flour together with the 25g of ube powder, then add the baking soda and salt. Fold the dry mix into the wet mixture and stop as soon as no dry flour remains. Overmixing makes the cookies tough.

Step 8: Fold in the White Chocolate and Freeze the Dough

Fold in the roughly chopped white chocolate, then shape 12 balls of about 75g each. Freeze them for at least 2 hours. This rest firms the butter and hydrates the flour, so the cookies bake thick with crinkly tops instead of spreading thin.

Step 9: Bake and Cool Completely

Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set but the centers still look soft. Leave them on the tray for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a rack. A warm cookie will melt the ice cream on contact, so let them reach room temperature, then chill them in the fridge for 15 minutes before serving.

Step 10: Scoop, Top and Serve

Take the ice cream out of the freezer 5 minutes before serving. Scoop the ice cream into chilled bowls. Rest one cooled cookie on top of the scoops and serve immediately.

Ice cream softens fast, so have your cookies and chilled bowls ready before you scoop. A rushed assembly is the only real difficulty in this recipe.

Pro Tip: For extra texture and flavor, sprinkle the ice cream with toasted shredded coconut or white chocolate shavings before resting the cookie on top.

That is the finished result: a deep purple scoop that holds its shape, a soft ube cookie with visible white chocolate, ready to be served immediately.

Serving and Enjoying

Serve the ube ice cream cookie immediately. The contrast between the cold ice cream and the soft cookie is best enjoyed right away. That deep purple color comes only from real purple yam (ube) powder, never from food coloring.

• • Use a hot scoop: Dip your ice cream scoop in hot water and wipe it dry between scoops for a clean, round shape.
• • Chill your bowls: Serving in a pre-chilled bowl keeps the ice cream from melting too fast, preserving the texture.
• • Use cooled cookies: A warm cookie will melt the ice cream on contact. Ensure they are at room temperature or even slightly chilled before serving.
• • Don't overbake the cookies: Pull them from the oven while the centers are still soft to ensure they have a great chewy texture next to the ice cream.
• • Serve immediately: The dessert is best enjoyed right after assembly to get the perfect contrast of temperatures and textures.

• • Assembled dessert: This dessert is best served immediately and does not store well once assembled.
• • Ice cream alone: keeps 1 month in a sealed container with cling film pressed on the surface.
• • Cookie dough: shaped balls freeze up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen, adding 1 to 2 minutes.
• • Make-ahead plan: freeze the ice cream and the dough balls the day before, bake the cookies and serve on the day.

• • Natural purple color from anthocyanins
• • Authentic flavor — vanilla, biscuit and a hint of white chocolate, which is why white chocolate cookies fit so well
• • Dietary fiber that supports a healthy digestive system
• • A clean label — no additives, no dye, no added sugar

• • Ube White Chocolate Cookie Recipe - the cookie used in this recipe
• • Ube Ice Cream Recipe - a classic ube ice cream recipe, made with a dairy base
• • Ube Crookie Recipe - croissant meets cookie
• • Ube Coconut Tres Leches - purple sponge soaked in coconut milk
• • Ube Halaya Recipe - the classic purple yam jam
• • All Ube Recipes