How To Make the Best-Ever Edible Cookie Dough
Fun, delicious, and safe to eat without baking!
Serves4 to 6
Makes2 cups
Prep15 minutes
Cook5 minutes
Edible cookie dough is popping up left and right, from fun storefronts where you can grab cones of the stuff to grocery aisle cases where you can buy your own to take home. If you’re new to this trend, you might be thinking, “Isn’t all cookie dough edible?” But what we mean by “edible” is that it’s safe to eat.
Although making edible cookie dough at home is a little more complex than simply removing the raw eggs, it’s not much more difficult than mixing up traditional cookie dough. In fact, it takes just 20 minutes to pull together, and is a great activity for the kids to get involved in. Here’s how to make raw cookie dough that’s both safe and delicious.
Re-Creating All the Goodness of Cookie Dough
First, let’s all admit to eating more than just a taste of raw cookie dough from the bowl. It’s got a signature taste: creamy and slightly tangy, with bits of crunchy chocolate and lots of buttery goodness. Making edible cookie dough worth eating on its own means nailing those flavors and the right texture while also removing the egg, raw flour, and chemical leavening.
This edible cookie dough is exactly that. The process of making it will feel familiar — you’ll cream butter and sugar together, add some liquids, fold in the flour and chocolate chips. But one special ingredient gives it that raw cookie dough flavor, and a key step makes it safe to eat.
The 2 Key Steps to Safe-to-Eat Raw Cookie Dough
Bake the flour to remove bacterial threats. Making edible cookie dough isn’t strictly about removing the raw eggs. Unbaked flour poses the same bacterial threats as raw eggs (namely salmonella) and there’s some belief that eating baking powder and baking soda (chemical leaveners) raw can cause some digestive discomfort. So we’re taking out the egg and baking powder and soda, and baking the flour for 10 minutes at 375ºF to kill any bacteria.
Use cream cheese and mini chips for the best texture. The tang and texture that baking powder brought to the dough party needs to be added back in, so we’re calling on cream cheese to help us out. The cream cheese also keeps the dough spoonable in the fridge, but doesn’t taste cheesy at all. Lastly, this recipe uses mini chocolate chips instead of regular morsels, which makes the dough a little bit easier to bite into.
Can I Bake This Dough?
No. There isn’t enough protein in the cream cheese to hold this batter in a cookie shape, and you’ll have a pool of melty dough instead of cookies if you try baking it.
Storing and Serving Edible Cookie Dough
After mixing, there are two ways to store your cookie dough. The first is just to transfer it all to an airtight container. It will remain spoonable in the fridge and you can dip into it anytime you like.
If you plan on sharing — how nice of you! — go ahead and scoop it into tablespoon-sized scoops and chill those on a baking tray for about 30 minutes before transferring the bite-sized balls to an airtight container for the next week. Scoops are my personal favorite, because you can just grab a dough ball for snacking anytime the craving for cookie dough strikes, and you don’t even have to wash a spoon.
How To Make Edible Cookie Dough
Fun, delicious, and safe to eat without baking!
Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 5 minutes
Makes 2 cups
Serves 4 to 6
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 1 cup
all-purpose flour
- 8 tablespoons
(1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup
packed light brown sugar
- 2 ounces
cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup
regular or non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon
kosher salt
- 1 cup
mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Equipment
Measuring cups and spoons
Large mixing bowl
Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
Rimmed baking sheet
Parchment paper
Rubber spatula
Instructions
Bake the flour to kill any bacteria. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 375ºF. Spread the flour out onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool.
Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Place the butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed with an electric hand mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Alternatively, use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.)
Add the milk, vanilla, and salt. Add the milk, vanilla, and salt and beat on medium speed for 1 minute more.
Fold in the flour and mini chocolate chips. Add the cooled flour and chocolate chips and fold them in with a rubber spatula.
Enjoy right away or refrigerate for up to 1 week. The cookie dough is now ready to serve. If not eating right away, refrigerate the dough in an airtight container, or portion out the dough into small scoops on a baking sheet, refrigerate until firm, and then transfer to the container for up to 1 week.
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