This easy edible cookie dough recipe is the perfect sweet treat! Eggless cookie dough with heat-treated flour makes it safe for everyone to eat.
It’s pretty much been all cakes around here lately, because they are truly my fave to make and share, but I would be remiss not to share with you my very favourite (and easy to make) indulgence — Edible Cookie Dough!
I used to buy the Pilsbury logs of cookie dough in an effort to get my fix, but there is really nothing better than a homemade version. Plus my version is completely safe to eat, so you don’t have to worry about any potential risks in eating the dough.
This Edible Cookie Dough post is your one stop shop for everything you need to know about:
- How to make cookie dough safe to eat
- How to convert any cookie dough recipe into an edible cookie dough
- How to store and serve edible cookie dough for best results
Plus, I’ll share my favourite flavour pairings for various types of cookie dough. Read on!
Is Raw Flour Safe to Eat?
Let’s be honest here, who hasn’t indulged in a bite of raw cookie dough or a lick of raw cake batter? Heck, I still do it with every single cake and cookie I make. I bet most of you do the same, and haven’t had any ill effects (that you’ve noticed, anyhow). Are the chances high that you’ll get sick from eating raw dough or batter? Probably not, but why take the chance??
Do as I say, not as I do, people.
The reality is that eating raw flour is just as risky as eating raw eggs. Raw flour can carry E. coli, and that’s just not something you want to risk having in your system.
So, how do we make raw cookie dough safe to eat??
How to Make Raw Cookie Dough Safe to Eat
- Don’t use eggs
- Heat-treat the flour
Raw eggs can carry salmonella, and raw flour can carry E. coli. You can read more about the dangers of them here.
Both salmonella and E.coli can be deadly, and at the very least could make you very sick. Why risk it when it’s so easy to make a safe, edible version?
Now, you could use pasteurized eggs that have been treated to kill bacteria, but unless you’re ingesting eggs for some kind of health benefit, I don’t see why you’d bother. Seeing as how this is a recipe for raw cookie dough, I’m gonna guess health is not super high on your radar.
In place of the eggs, because the cookie dough may need some moisture in there, we add a bit of milk. That is pretty self-explanatory, so let’s talk about heat-treating the flour.
How to Heat Treat Flour
Heat-treating the flour helps to kill any residual bacteria that may be present. It’s fairly easy to do, albeit a tad messy. I suggest lining a baking sheet with parchment paper that overhangs slightly to help with the process.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread flour evenly on baking sheet.
- Bake for 5-10mins.*
- Remove from oven and cool before use.**
* I say 5-10 mins because ovens vary. You don’t want the flour to start turning brown, but you want to cook it long enough to kill the bacteria. You’re looking to get the flour to 160F. I use my favourite Thermapen instant-read thermometer to check this, but there are plenty of other good options.
** If the flour clumps a bit, be sure to sift it before use in the recipe.
How to Make Edible Cookie Dough
Now that your flour is safe to eat, it’s time to make Edible Cookie Dough!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- flour (heat-treated)
- butter (room temperature, very soft)
- light brown sugar
- granulated sugar
- sea salt
- milk (room temperature)
- vanilla
- mini chocolate chips (or other additions)
Fairly standard ingredients for a chocolate chip cookie recipe, except for one key element that I think makes all the difference: flakey sea salt.
All cookie recipes have some salt in them to help cut the sweetness. I prefer to use flakey sea salt vs regular table salt, as I LOVE the contrast of those sea salt flakes with the sweet chocolate chips. It’s literally mouth-watering. Feel free to use regular salt if you don’t have any sea salt on hand, but use less of it (see recipe for info).
I generally recommend spooning and levelling your flour rather than scooping it, as this can greatly affect the quantity of flour you get, which can adversely affect the end result (thick, dry cookies).
The good news is that since we’re not baking this cookie dough, you don’t need to be as precise, but you still don’t want the dough to be overly flour heavy (for flavour and texture). I recommend only adding milk as needed to get it to the consistency you like — you might not even need to add any.
Details on the method are in the recipe below, but you pretty much follow a standard cookie recipe:
- Cream butter & sugars
- Add dry ingredients
- Add milk (if needed)
- Fold in chocolate chips or other additions
I find it easiest to do this with a stand mixer (or hand mixer), but you could totally do this by hand. I recommend that the butter be very soft so it’s easier to incorporate, regardless of whether you use a mixer or not.
If mixing by hand, you won’t be able to get the butter and sugars light and fluffy, but it doesn’t really matter all that much.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I make a smaller batch?
I realize that not everyone wants/needs 18 servings of cookie dough around, so you can easily adjust the Servings in the recipe below to get smaller proportions.
However, if you get too small a portion, the numbers can be a bit funny and hard to figure out, so I thought I’d include the amounts if you just wanted to make enough for two:
Cookie Dough for Two:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (heat-treated)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature, very soft)
- 2 Tbsp light brown sugar (packed)
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cups mini chocolate chips (or other additions)
- 1 tsp milk (as needed)
Follow the instructions in the recipe below.
Can I make Edible Cookie Dough from any cookie recipe?
As long as you replace the eggs with milk (or use pasteurized eggs) and heat-treat your flour, you should be able to make almost any cookie dough edible (unless there is some other questionable ingredient in there). Here are some great ones to try as edible cookie dough versions:
Of course, there is nothing better than traditional chocolate chip cookie dough (or so I thought, but read on). If you like, you can easily replace (or add to) the mini chocolate chips. Here are some fun ideas!
- Mini m&m’s – for an added candy crunch
- Unicorn Morsels – super fun for kids or birthdays – great with a sugar cookie dough
- Semi-Sweet Chunks – for serious chocolate lovers
- Espresso Morsels – for coffee addicts – sign me up for some of these!
- S’mores Chips – I must try to find these!! Where can I get them in Canada??
- Cinnamon Chips – would go so well with a gingerbread cookie dough!
- Mint Chips – also perfect for a dark chocolate cookie dough
- Try it with chopped nuts or toasted coconut!
I could go on, but I’ve clearly gone down rabbit hole of cookie dough additions, and have added more to my cart than I care to admit. All are likely to gather dust in my pantry until I stumble across them one day, just like the poor peanut butter chips.
In this edible cookie dough recipe here today, I used:
Surprisingly (to me), the ones with the Reese’s Pieces were my favourite by far. Like, landslide. They well surpassed the regular old mini chocolate chips. SO good! In my next batch, I’m using these only.
Can you bake it?
Technically, you can (I tried it), but the cookies will not turn out right, since there is no leavening agent (baking soda) or eggs. I baked one cookie just to test it out and see — I baked it at 350 using a chilled ball of cookie dough.
The cookie didn’t spread as much as I expected but also didn’t really puff up at all. It turned out a bit greasy, dense, and flat.
So, basically, I don’t recommend it.
If you’re desperate for some freshly baked cookies instead of edible cookie dough, you’d be much better off just making a proper batch of cookie dough and storing that in the freezer in case of cookie emergencies.
How do you store leftovers?
Edible cookie dough can be stored as follows:
- up to 1 week in the fridge
- up to 3 months in the freezer
The recipe below makes a large amount of cookie dough. I like it this way because I can portion it up and store it for later. I like to use a small cookie scoop (2 tsp) to portion the dough.
I then place all the little cookie dough balls on a sheet pan, and pop them into the fridge or freezer to firm up. Once firm, I transfer them all to a large Ziploc freezer bag and keep them in the freezer. That way, I limit the amount that I eat. Or so I thought.
Turns out my favourite way to eat these is actually straight out of the freezer! I find room temperature cookie dough to be a little bit too sweet, and chilling it helps cut that down a bit. They are such a perfect texture, too. Firm enough to bite into, but not something you’ll break your teeth on.
If you haven’t tried frozen cookie dough, do not miss out!!
I hope you found this post helpful and will experiment with delicious options of edible cookie dough.
Recipes that use Edible Cookie Dough:
Top Tips for making this recipe:
- You must heat-treat your flour before use. See recipe and blog post for details.
- If you want to use eggs, be sure they are pasteurized. Use two eggs per recipe below, and leave out the milk.
- If you don’t want to use sea salt, use 1 tsp regular salt instead.
- See post above for details on how to make edible cookie dough for two.
- The cookie dough will last for up to 1 week in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.
- I recommend portioning the cookie dough before freezing for ease of snacking/thawing. A cookie scoop will work well for this.
- The lack of eggs and baking soda will cause this dough to bake poorly. If you want baked cookies, I recommend using my favourite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe instead.
Edible Cookie Dough
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour heat-treated
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature (very soft)
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt or 1 tsp regular salt
- 2 cups mini chocolate chips or other favourite addition
- 3 Tbsp milk if needed
Instructions
Heat-Treat the Flour:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Spread flour evenly on baking sheet and bake for 5-10mins or until the flour reaches 160F. Cool completely, sift if needed.
Edible Cookie Dough:
- Beat butter until creamy, add sugars and beat on high until pale and fluffy (2-3mins). Add vanilla and mix until combined.
- Reduce speed to low and slowly add in flour and salt. Mix until well combined. Slowly add in milk, 1 Tbsp at a time if needed, until desired consistency is reached. Fold in chocolate chips or other additions.
- Portion with a cookie scoop if desired and chill or freeze. Serve room temperature or chilled.
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Originally published Sept 6, 2019
April says
Hi, just wondering if I could microwave the flour instead of putting it in the oven???
Olivia says
Hi April! No, I don’t think it would cook evenly so it’s best to bake it.