This Edible Sugar Cookie dough is safe to eat raw! It uses toasted flour and no eggs to avoid bacteria and is easy to make for a quick treat.
Who doesn't like eating cookie dough? In my opinion, licking the bowl is the best part about making cookies! And cookie dough is definitely one of my ice cream mix-ins of choice.
BUT: eating raw cookie dough is not safe. It can contain dangerous bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella that can make you sick. And trust me: I've had salmonella before (though not from cookie dough), and I will not risk it anymore.
Now if I'm going to eat cookie dough, I make it in a way that is safe to eat raw.
How is Edible Cookie Dough different from regular cookie dough?
Regular cookie dough (that is going to be baked into cookies) contains two possibly dangerous ingredients. Most people already know that eating raw eggs, which are commonly found in cookie dough, can make you sick. If we don't want to cook the dough, and instead eat it raw, we can simply leave the eggs out to omit this risk.
The other ingredient in question is the flour. In recent years, flour has regularly found to be contaminated with E. coli bacteria that can make you very ill. Consequently, it is recommended to make sure flour has been cooked or heated before eating.
So if we're making cookie dough to eat raw, we can either use a safer flour (like the oat flour I used to make Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough), or we can heat up the flour to kill any potential bacteria.
Also, since this dough is never going to be cooked, there are no leaveners like baking soda or baking powder added, because they would be unnecessary.
How do you make raw flour safe to eat?
To make raw flour safe to eat, you need to heat it to kill any potential bacteria. To accomplish this, you can either toast your flour in the oven (or toaster oven since you only need a small amount for this recipe) or use the microwave. The microwave method is much faster, but both methods are less than 5 minutes plus cooling time.
When I was developing this recipe, I knew I didn't want the dough to be "grainy", so I immediately decided not to use oat flour. I wanted it to be as much like "real" sugar cookie dough as possible, so I didn't even bother with other flours that some recipes use, like almond flour. I went straight to experimenting with heat treating all-purpose flour.
On my first try in the toaster oven, I neglected to keep a close eye on the flour and it began to smoke and brown. Since it was only golden brown, I decided to still use it. The dough tasted a little too "toasty" to me, so I tried again and came up with two winning methods.
In the oven (or toaster oven):
Spread the flour on a baking sheet and bake at 300°F for 3-5 minutes, stirring once during cooking to distribute evenly. Cool completely before using.
In the microwave:
Place the flour in a heat proof bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the flour reaches 160°F (it took only 1 minute in my microwave). Cool completely before using.
Whichever method you choose, it's a good idea to confirm that the flour has gotten hot enough with an accurate instant-read thermometer.
Want more SPRINKLE recipes?
Edible Sugar Cookie Dough Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe uses 1% milk, unsalted butter, and includes sprinkles. The recipe will include slightly less sugar if you don't use sprinkles.
Edible Sugar Cookie Dough
Ingredients
- ½ cup flour (use gluten free flour to make this cookie dough Gluten Free)
- ¼ cup butter or spreadable butter (use Dairy Free butter substitute to make this cookie dough Dairy Free and Vegan)
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract, optional
- 2 Tablespoons water or milk, (only if needed - use water or Dairy Free milk to make this cookie dough Dairy Free and Vegan)
- 2 Tablespoons sprinkles, optional
Instructions
Toast Flour
- Microwave method: Place flour in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval until the temperature reaches at least 160°F (77°C) on an instant-read thermometer. It took me a total of 1 minute. Cool completely at room temperature or in the fridge.
- Oven method: spread the flour in a baking pan and bake at 300°F in an oven or toaster oven for about 3-5 minutes, stirring once with a spatula. Make sure you keep an eye on it to avoid it burning or even browning. Cool completely at room temperature or in the fridge.
- Using a hand mixer or spatula, cream together the butter and sugar. Add salt, vanilla, and almond extract and mix until uniform. Add flour and mix on low speed until incorporated. Fold in sprinkles, if using. If the dough is too dry, add water or milk a teaspoon at a time until the dough reaches the right consistency (I used 2 Tablespoons and it was a bit soft, but still perfectly edible). Fold in sprinkles, if using. Eat immediately, or refrigerate in an airtight container up to 2 days (may keep up to a week if using water instead of milk).
Nutrition
Pat says
Terrible
Carissa says
I'm sorry this didn't work out for you.