Do You Eat Cookie Dough?

Before I leave today for a quick trip down to see Little Sister's dance recital I want to share one more recipe from my last trip there. Here is Big Sister's recipe and my comments:

Did you warn your children, "Don't eat the cookie dough!" before you baked the cookies. And tell them not to scrap the bowl or lick the spoon either. It was because of the raw egg in the batter. I don't remember that being a safety concern back in the dark ages when I was growing up. Maybe it should have been.

But now that eggs are produced by chickens living in "chicken factories," they say that the possibility of some kind of contamination is greater than it was when eggs came from backyard chickens. I do not know the exact science behind this, but I do heed the current warnings. (We have adapted our ice cream recipe that my mother made with raw eggs.) Why risk a problem? I am not a fan of raw cookie dough anyway—I don't even want cookie dough ice cream—so that was never a problem for me.

But Big Sister LOVES raw cookie dough. She listened to her mom's advice about avoiding raw eggs.  Said, "how ridiculous!" And then she solved the problem. She found this recipe for edible cookie dough. No eggs involved. She has made it several times. So when she had her friend come sleep over while I was babysitting, they made a big bowl of it for snacking. Evidently, the proper way to eat it is by the spoonful, straight from the bowl.

Here is the recipe. Pay attention to the loosely packed brown sugar. That's not the typical way to measure it. Also, this would be a fun if you need a treat for someone with egg allergies or gluten sensitivities.


EDIBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1-1/4 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk (can use soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, etc)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (gluten-free flour works, too)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (mini, regular, or chunks--your choice)

Toss together flour and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar together until completely smooth—no brown sugar lumps should remain.

Slowly add in the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula. Stir until completely mixed.

Fold in chocolate chips. (Or, you can substitute your favorite stir-ins, like chopped nuts, dried cranberries, M&Ms, etc.)

Enjoy! Eat by the spoonful or use however your sweet tooth desires.

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.

*Note that this does contain raw flour if that is a concern for you.