I’ve never met a cookie dough I didn’t like. Raw eggs, raw flour and all. Don’t judge- you never licked a beater as a kid? It’s the best part of making cookies!
In fact, I might enjoy cookie dough more than actual baked cookies and I always judge a dessert on the deliciousness of the batter or dough long before the final version is complete. It is funny to me that some folks refer to it as “edible cookie dough”… isn’t it all raw dough?
While I like making actual cookies, sometimes I’m not in the mood to make a whole batch of cookies. More like I’m craving just a small amount of regular cookie dough as the perfect late night treat.
Edible Cookie Dough Ingredients
You don’t need much for this easy recipe, in fact most folks have all the simple ingredients in their pantry.
- White sugar – Otherwise known as granulated sugar, this is the best type to use.
- Brown sugar – This is what gives it that classic cookie dough flavor. Dark brown sugar or light brown sugar works fine. The images here are using a dark sugar which is higher in molasses and result in a darker color of the dough.
- Softened unsalted butter – some folks have swapped out coconut oil with good results. I prefer the flavor of butter. If you use a salted butter, omit the additional salt.
- Chocolate chips or mix-ins – These are optional but definitely recommended. Check the section below for our favorite ideas.
- Milk or water – Whole milk is best, but any type will do. You can also use water if you don’t have any milk.
- Vanilla Extract – Because there aren’t many ingredients in this recipe, I like to make sure to use a good quality vanilla.
- Fine salt – If you ended up using salted butter, omit the salt. You can always add a little at the end if needed.
- All-purpose flour – Just plain, old flour. See instructions below on how to heat treat flour if this is a concern for you. You can use self rising flour, but it contains a leavening agent and since you aren’t baking, you really don’t need that. If you do use it, omit the additional salt.
Variations
There are several ways that you can make this edible cookie dough recipe your own. And if you’re missing an ingredient, there are plenty of options!
- Flour– If you don’t have heat treated flour or have a flour or gluten sensitivity, feel free to use almond meal or almond flour, gluten free flour or some folks have even used pancake mix and buckwheat flour.
- Chocolate Cookie Dough– Readers have also substituted 1 tablespoon of flour with cocoa powder to make a chocolate cookie dough.
- Butter– Butter is best since it is the base. Margarine is acceptable and vegan butter can also be used. All of these will impact the flavor. Ghee is also an option. I like to use unsalted butter so I can control the salt levels. If you use salted butter, you might want to omit additional salt.
- Vanilla– Use any type of extract you’d like, but I do suggest using some extract for flavor. Omitting this ingredient will result in a near flavorless cookie dough. You can use homemade vanilla which will really blow your mind! Almond flavoring is my second favorite with lemon or rum extract trailing behind.
- Brown Sugar– You can use all white sugar, but brown sugar has molasses in it which is why it is softer and has more flavor. You can add a dab of molasses or even dark agave nectar. If you use all white sugar, it is fine, but it will be more like sugar cookie dough.
How to Make Cookie Dough Edible
This sweet treat is so easy to make, you might make a batch every week!
- Soften Butter. This step is the most commonly messed up step and I can no stress enough that your butter must be soft, but not melted. Here are a few ways to soften butter fast. This is also the number one reason you won’t achieve the desired cookie dough texture. After you melt it, it is hard to get back even if you chill the dough.
- Cream together brown sugar, butter and white sugar. I do this by hand, there really isn’t enough actual batter to require a stand mixer or electric mixer and if the butter is soft enough, it should be easy.
- Add wet ingredients. These include milk/water and the vanilla extract. I like to use milk, but don’t always have it, so water will do. You can also use almond milk or oat milk. Vanilla flavored milk gives you an added bonus!
- Add the flour. If your butter was soft and not melted, this should be plenty of flour. If your butter was runny, you might need to add a little more, but still, this depends on a lot of things. The main one being that everything was measured correctly. With such small volumes, even a little extra splash of milk can throw off how much flour you require.
- Add chocolate chips. Chips are totally optional. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t made just the cookie dough without chips before. Some prefer to use mini chocolate chips for a better dough to chip ratio.
These process image were taken on a different date and used light brown sugar.
Favorite Cookie Dough Mix-Ins
Sure, you can use chocolate chips for this traditional cookie dough recipe, but there are plenty of other fun options to try.
- Crushed Twix
- Crushed Snickers
- Rolos
- Reeses Pieces
- M&Ms
- Butterscotch chips
- Peanut butter chips
- Chopped nuts
- Oreo cookies
- Dried cranberries or cherries
- Chopped nuts
- Raisins
- Oatmeal
- Dark chocolate
- White chocolate chips
- Graham crackers
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Peanut butter cookies
How to Heat Treat Flour
The first time I published this recipe it was just an eggless cookie dough recipe (years ago), nowadays we know how to treat the flour.
Uncooked flour has a small chance of containing some yucky things, so to prevent this, pasteurize it at home. Microwaving is the quickest way. Place raw flour into the microwave (flour alone, not the dough) and heat on high for 20- 45 seconds. Please be mindful that all microwaves are different. Watch the flour closely so it doesn’t burn.
The oven is another good option, simply place it in a thin layer on a baking sheet at 350°F for 5ish minutes. Just make sure it doesn’t burn. This should be plenty to kill off any harmful bacteria.
Storing and Freezing
This easy eggless cookie dough recipe is best consumed right after you make it, but can be made ahead or even stored for another bite later. I wouldn’t make it more than 24 hours in advance.
Storage: Refrigerate and store any leftovers in an airtight container or covered tightly with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out. It should stay good for about 2 days. Keep in mind that this version doesn’t have any preservatives or additives.
Freezing: You can freeze this cookie dough for up to 6 months. If you want to make them into little balls or add it to ice cream as a tasty treat, add an additional tablespoon of flour so it holds its shape.
Easy Edible Cookie Dough Recipe FAQs
I’m going out on a limb to say you melted the butter. Melted butter is the number one cause of yucky cookie dough. It changes the texture and consistency and forces you to add more flour to avoid cookie dough soup, only this makes the texture gritty and well, flour-y.
You can totally use this cookie dough recipe for ice cream. It is a good idea to add 1 tablespoon extra flour so it holds its shape better. Simply freeze little nuggets of the prepared cookie dough on a cookie sheet and fold them into your ice cream after they are set.
This recipe is meant to be a single serving edible cookie dough, not to be baked. Since it is eggless and contains no other leaveners, even if you tried to bake it, it wouldn’t amount to much. You can also try our Mug Brownie.
More Cookie Dough Recipes
Love this recipe like I do? Here are a few more cookie dough recipes you might enjoy.
Edible Cookie Dough Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 heaping tablespoon dark or light brown sugar
- 1-1 1/2 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter , softened
- 1-2 tablespoon(s) chocolate chips , or other add-ins
- 1 tablespoon water or milk
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of fine salt
- 3 tablespoons flour* , more if your butter is melted
Instructions
- Cream together the white and brown sugars with the softened butter using the back of a spoon or a spatula.
- Add the milk/water and vanilla extract.
- Mix in the salt and flour.
- Lastly, add the chocolate chips or other desired add-ins. Dig in!
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or ratings.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
a’not have chocolate chips on hand”??? not in my universe! ;0
Good recipe, but I added the chocolate chips after I melted the butter so it ended up like chocolate cookie dough instead of chocolate chip cookie dough:-)
Chocolate cookie dough isn’t a bad thing. LOL.
I had the same problem, and mine also turned out very soupy (not at all doUghy texture). Any tips/ suggestions?
Hi Megan! Sorry to hear that! The number one issue people have is that they melt the butter instead of using softened butter or accidentally added a little too much water by not measuring. If you need to soften butter fast, check out some of these easy techniques, but whatever you do, don’t put it in the microwave! 🙂 https://www.savoryexperiments.com/how-to-soften-butter-quickly/
And if it is a little soupy, add just a pinch more flour to compensate.
This was so great! TotAlly hit the spot for leriod cravings and the perfect size To avoid binging which is so easy when you buy Cookie dough from the store and sooo easy took two minutes!! Thank you so much
And thank YOU For stopping by to let us know!!!!
my daughter has egg allergy and i want her to taste cookies without egg .how long do i have to bake these.never done cookies before so want to try small batch.
Hi Subhasri, this recipe is meant to be eaten raw. In fact, they probably wouldn’t bake since they don’t have a leavening agent in them. I found this recipe from Genius Kitchen, which is a reputable site. I hope it works for your daughter. Everyone needs a cookie sometimes 🙂 http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/eggless-chocolate-chip-cookies-58919
I have tried many other edible cookie dough recipes and they were either to much or not good. But this recipe is AMAZING. It was so yummy and the texture and size was just right! thank you so much for this recipe! I will make sure to tell all of my friends about this recipe! thank you again!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!! That is what I love to hear! We make it a lot… more often than I wish to admit. LOL.
I love this recipe, I normally eat raw cookie dough no matter what. I made a batch of this then I bought store made cookie dough and this on tastes so much more fresh
I’m so glad to hear that and happy you stopped by to let me know!
This recipe was awful. But thank you for it.
Sorry to hear you didn’t care for it. What was it that you didn’t like?
As a health inspector, I always encourage people not to consume raw cookie dough due to the possibility of salmonella and other bacterial contamination that could be present.
I loved your recipe- it was delicious, not too sweet, had a fantastic texture, and best of all was egg free! The one recommendation that I make (beg!) is to add a step to pasteurize the flour for those who may not think to do it otherwise. It is now known that certain strains of E. coli bacteria are ubiquitous in commercially prepared flours. E. Coli can lead to devastating infectious, and leave behind life long complications. Pasteurization of flour can occur through microwaving, using a frying pan, and baking on a tray in the oven (of the flour alone, not the dough).
Thanks again!!!
Thanks for the feedback! I’ll add that to the recipe.
I microwaved the flour like it says in the recipe. There were a couple lumps in my flour and they actually started burning and smoking in just a minute in the microwave. I scooped out the burned bit and everything turned out great. I just wanted to let you know so people are aware that’s a possibility.
Thanks Jeanette! I’m glad you still enjoyed the cookie dough. I’ve never had this happen, but I would gather that a high wattage microwave could certianly make some sparks. Love the feedback!
This happened to me too which surprised me as my microwave is low (700w).After a full minute on high my flour came out burnt and sent smoke out of the microwave, creating a disgusting smell which spread throughout the house.
So sorry Jeanette! I’m guessing all microwaves are a little different.
I am a Registered Dietitian and viewed this recipe while preparing for a “cooking for one’ class. It’s a great idea and sounds like it would be delicious but the nutritional analysis is just plain not accurate. The butter and sugar alone would have more calories than 218 and 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter would have around 20 grams of fat. Of course there is also fat in the chocolate chips and small amounts in flour. I wish it did only have 218 calories but sadly it’s just not true. I may have to check it out though… I love cookie dough and always feel guilty when I eat it since I know the potential consequences 🙂
Hi ELlen, I use an app that calculates the nutritional info based on common ingredients, I don’t calculate it individually, so you may be 100% right. As in every recipe, the nutritional info can vary greatly based on the exact ingredients you use.
This recipe was amazing! I love to bake, but don’t have the patience to make large batches, and because I’m twelve, I just love experimenting. My dad is very hesitant of these experiments and hates most cakes/cookies that have anything to do with mugs, but the (and all the rest of my family) just loved this recipe. I also found that if you add the baking soda and microwave for about 45-60 seconds, it gives it this heavenly gooey and almost caking/fudgy texture that I know I love. Thanks a million for sharing this recipe! It was truly the best recipe I have ever tried for edible and raw cookie dough.
I’m glad you loved it, Abby!
This recipe is amazing! Just be sure to add the step to brown the flour otherwise it can lead to salmonella. It’s dangerous to eat raw flour so either browning it over the pan or toasting it for 5 mins on 350 in the oven is imperative to make it edible~
This made my day.
I’m glad 🙂