My Edible Cookie Dough recipe uses a quick & simple extra step so you can get your cookie dough fix without the harmful bacteria! I’ll be walking you through how to heat-treat flour (it’s easy) and will also include suggestions for some of my favorite add-ins. Recipe includes a how-to video!
A Sweet Treat That’s Safe to Eat
My edible cookie dough recipe will curb all of your cookie dough cravings and spare you from the bacteria that’s in the raw stuff. We’ll be using heat treated flour and leaving out the eggs for a safe snack that tastes and feels JUST like the real thing!
I know, you’ve probably had your fair share of “unsafe” cookie dough and may be wondering, “Why the separate recipe?”. I’ve been there too–I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten more chocolate chip cookies raw than baked in my lifetime–but we all know we’re not supposed to do it.
What many people don’t know, however, is that raw eggs are not the only threat in raw cookie dough. Raw flour can contain bacteria like E.coli, which is not something to mess around with! Heat treating the flour beforehand kills off any bacteria without hurting any of the flavor, and it only takes a few minutes to do.
Let’s get to it!
What You Need
Today’s cast of characters should be pretty similar to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, with the obvious exception of eggs. Here are a few of them:
- Butter. Using unsalted butter allows us to control the salt level in our edible cookie dough. If all you have on hand is salted, check out my post on salted vs. unsalted butter for substitution instructions.
- Sugar. Most of the sugar in this recipe is brown sugar. You can use light, dark, or a combination of the two (or make your own brown sugar!)!
- Heat treated flour. Heat treating takes just a few minutes and saves you any concerns about contracting foodborne illness from your cookie dough! I’ll show you how to do it below.
- Milk. You may or may not need to add milk. I’ve made this recipe dozens of times and have never needed to add milk, and if you measure your flour properly, you likely won’t need it either. If your cookie dough turns out dry or crumbly though, you will just need to add milk to bring it back together.
SAM’S TIP: During the heat treating process, I found that some of the flour has the tendency to clump or bake together. To keep these clumps out of your cookie dough, run the flour through a sifter before stirring it into your edible cookie dough.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Heat Treat Flour
According to Cooking Light, toasting flour in a 350F oven for just 5 minutes kills off any harmful bacteria (such as E. coli, which is our main concern here).
- Preheat your oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (this will make transferring the flour so easy).
- Measure out your flour and evenly spread it over the parchment paper.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 5-7 minutes.
- To ensure that the flour is really safe, I recommend checking it with an instant read thermometer to verify that the temperature is at least 160F. Allow flour to cool before proceeding with recipe.
How to Make Edible Cookie Dough
- Heat treat your flour, let it cool, then sift it.
- Beat together the butter, sugars, vanilla extract, and salt in a separate bowl until creamy and very well-combined.
- Gradually add in the flour until it’s well incorporated.
- Stir in your chocolate chips or add-ins.
SAM’S TIP: Very important! Make sure you let your flour cool (it doesn’t take long!) before adding it to your other ingredients. Flour that is too hot can leave you with a melted mess.
Frequently Asked Questions
Typically this is a result of accidentally over-measuring flour. To fix this, simply add milk (any kind will work) until your dough begins to come together again, and check out my post on how to measure your flour properly, it contains a few helpful hints .
Edible cookie dough should have a bit of grit-like texture to it, because the real thing does! When cookie dough is raw/un-baked, the sugars in the dough have not yet melted. Anyone who has ever swiped a fingerful of cookie dough from their mixing bowl knows there’s a texture to it that comes from the sugar. Once the dough is baked, the sugars melt, and that texture goes away.
If the grit bothers you, my cookie dough bites and my cookie dough frosting tend to be less gritty and more smooth (thanks to a secret ingredient!), so feel free to try those to get a smoother cookie dough fix!
Yes! Once you’ve made your cookie dough, you can dress it up with all kinds of add-ins. I’ve tried peanut butter chocolate chip , funfetti, and cookies & cream variations. A white chocolate chip, cranberry, and macadamia nut version would be delicious. Get creative with it!
I’d love to hear about the flavor combinations you come up with, so drop me a note in the comments below 😊
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Edible Cookie Dough
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup (215 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature!
- 1 ¼ cups (250 g) brown sugar, tightly packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk optional¹
- ½ cup (85 g) semisweet chocolate chips I recommend using a mix of mini and regular sized
Optional Mix-Ins
- creamy peanut butter
- colored sprinkles
- broken Oreo pieces
Recommended Equipment
- Baking pan
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread flour in an even layer over the parchment paper.
- Bake on 350F (175C) oven for 5-7 minutes²
- Allow flour to cool, then run it through a sifter to break up any clumps that may have formed while baking. Set aside.1 ¾ cup (215 g) all-purpose flour
- In a large bowl (preferably a stand mixer), combine softened butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Use an electric mixer to cream together until very creamy and very well-combined, 1-3 minutes.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 ¼ cups (250 g) brown sugar, tightly packed, ¼ cup (50 g) sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add cooled, sifted flour, stirring until completely combined. If dough is too stiff after thoroughly stirring, add milk, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.1-2 Tablespoons milk
- Stir in chocolate chips (and any additional add-ins you might like!)½ cup (85 g) semisweet chocolate chips, creamy peanut butter, colored sprinkles, broken Oreo pieces
- Best enjoyed immediately after preparing, but you may store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Cookie dough will firm up some in the refrigerator, so for best enjoyment let it sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before enjoying leftovers.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Selene
Looks like a lovely recipe! I just have one question 🙂
if I wanted to make the dough chocolatey by adding cocoa powder, do I need to reduce the amount of flour? or what adjustments would I need to make if any?
Sam
Hi Selene! You would want to substitute some of the flour for cocoa powder. Just keep in mind that cocoa powder is a little bit “thirstier” than flour so you would need less cocoa powder than flour. 🙂
Angela Formica
I’m making your cake pops! I did a trial run for a party I’m making them for, but didn’t want to make the whole batch. The party is 6 days from now, can I freeze the rest of the dough and then use it when ready?
Sam
Hi Angela! I would form it into balls before freezing but that should work just fine. 🙂
savannah
i love your recipes 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Savannah! That means so much to me. 🙂
Carrie
Excellent flavor!! This is deadly to have in the fridge!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Carrie! 🙂
Renee Ackley
Hi Sam! I made this earlier today with dried cranberries and toasted walnuts. Thank you for such wonderful recipes!
Sam
Ooo that sounds delicious! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Renee! 🙂
Carrie
My daughters and I made this last night…delish! The crunch makes it taste like real cookie dough! Thanks for another winner!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Carrie! 🙂
Grace
I am definitely going to try this out! I was just wondering if you are able to bake this cookie dough as well as eat it raw? Thanks for this recipe!
Sam
Hi Grace! It does work but it doesn’t make the best cookies. Here is what I would recommend if you are looking for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe. 🙂
Aly
Is it normal for it to be grainy? I feel the sugar in every bite 🙁
Sam
Hi Aly! Yes it is normal. Cookie dough is inherently grainy because the sugar isn’t baked. If you want a smoother consistency you can try my cookie dough bites, they have a smoother consistency. 🙂
Lily
This is so good and easy to make! Family loved it!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, Lily! 🙂
Cat
Loved this recipe! Not sure if I measured my flour correctly, but either way, even after I added milk, it went off without a hitch! When I don’t add the choco chips, my pupper loves having this as a very rare, but very sweet treat! He is so well-behaved just for this recipe! Got any more I might try for my pup?
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, especially the pup! 🙂 I don’t typically recommend giving sweets to pups because all of the sugar isn’t good for them, but I do have a dog biscuit recipe. My pups LOVEEEE it! 🙂
Liz
I’m from Puerto Rico and we loved this recipe of edible cookie dough then only thing is the grainy texture but totally loved the flavor. We had made another recipe of this and it was a total failure. This time I made sure of measuring the flour very carefully like you said by reading your post on how to measure correctly the flour and I don’t have a scale. Gracias 😊
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookie dough, Liz! The grittiness is due to the sugars not being melted. It’s authentic, like real raw cookie dough, but without the risk of illness. 😊
Arianna
Hi ! Your recipe sounds awesome. I want to make it for my daughter, but she can´t eat gluten, eggs or dairy. I have an egg replacer, could I use it ? Could I use soy butter maybe ? And unsweetened chocolate, milk. free ? And also quinoa flour ? Pleease, help me ! I feel so bad for my daughter who can´t enjoy an ice cream, or a cake. If not, could you please maybe do a gluten free, dairy free and egg free recipe ? Please ! Thank you Sam !
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Arianna! Unfortunately, I do not have experience baking gluten-free, dairy-free, so I can not provide you with any personal recommendations.
I know others have had success with the gluten-free flour 1:1 and you could try using an egg replacer. I am sorry that I can’t be of more help to you. Fingers crossed with the substitutions it turns out wonderfully. Keep me posted. 🙂
Teagan
Could I use almond flour instead of regular flour
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Teagan! I have not tried it, but typically I don’t recommend almond flour as it alters the taste and texture. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out. 🙂
Camile
Can u bake this cookie dough
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Camile! You, can. 🙂
Ali
Will it stay cookie dough ish or turn into a cooked cookie? I’m wanting to do a gender reveal cookie dough stuffed cookie.
Sam
Hi Ali! I might recommend using my cookie dough bites, or cookie dough frosting instead. They have less flour in them. You would need to freeze the frosting. Having not tried it though I am not quite sure how it would turn out. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Lala
Hi
Why does my sugar won’t dissolve and the dough become grainy. I beat the butter and sugars for around 3 min but still won’t dissolve and i use granulated sugar btw
Thanks
Sam
Hi Lala! Cookie dough is supposed to be grainy, you can check out my cookie dough bites if you don’t like a lot of grain to them.
Jenny
Hi,
Thank you so much for this recipe – can’t wait to try it!
When you were talking about never needing to add milk, you mentioned something about getting the flour measuring right. I think that might be my problem when making cookies.
What are your tips for measuring flour correctly. I have always just scooped and leveled 😉
Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
I can’t wait for you to try this recipe, Jenny! I hope that you love it! I have a guide on how to measure flour properly that you should check out. There is also a video included that others have found helpful. 🙂