My edible cookie dough recipe tastes incredible and easily transforms into 5 irresistible flavors! Get ready to whip up batches of classic chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal cookie, and snickerdoodle cookie dough.
This ultimate guide will help you make the most delicious edible cookie dough at home. I love classic chocolate chip cookies, so I gravitate towards the basic recipe, but there’s something for everyone below! Whether you love oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies, or even snickerdoodles!
All five cookie dough flavors store well in the refrigerator and can be frozen. You can even bake them like our regular cookie recipes!
Key Ingredients
- Flour: For increased safety, use heat-treated flour. Look for heat-treated or “ready-to-eat” flour like DŌ heat-treated flour (other commercial brands sell them, but often in large 50lb bags). The FDA recommends using commercially heat-treated flour for edible cookie dough, but many bakers heat-treat their flour at home. I’ve included how to heat treat flour in the recipe below, which you can use for all-purpose flour and gluten-free flour blends.
- Butter: I add butter to enhance the flavor and moisture of the cookie dough. If you prefer, you can use salted butter and omit the additional salt later in the recipe. For a vegan version, substitute with non-dairy plant-based butter.
- Baking Soda: It might seem unusual, but a small amount of baking soda helps the raw cookie dough taste more like baked cookies. It also means you can bake the dough if you’d like!
- Sugar: I love the combination of granulated and brown sugar. You can use either one on its own, but brown sugar adds a richer flavor.
- Milk or Cream: Since this recipe is egg-free, you need a little extra liquid for the perfect texture. I usually add a tablespoon or two. For a vegan option, you can use non-dairy milk.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds flavor and sweetness, making the dough taste even more like traditional cookies.
- Molasses (Optional): A tiny touch of molasses adds flavor and richness to the dough. I use only half a teaspoon, but it really makes a difference in flavor. Since it’s such a small amount, I’ve made it optional in case you don’t have it on hand.
The ingredients above are for the basic recipe. In the edible cookie dough recipe below, we provide ingredients and instructions for five different flavors, each using the basic recipe as its base.
How to Make Edible Cookie Dough
Edible cookie dough is really simple to make. It’s very similar to making traditional baked cookies.
Remember that you’ll need to either use commercially heat-treated flour or heat-treat your flour yourself. You can do this in the microwave or oven, which only takes a few minutes.
To make the cookie dough, you’ll beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, light, and creamy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms. Then, you can add chocolate chips, nuts, or whatever you love.
Once you have the basic edible cookie dough recipe down, you can play around to make different variations. Here are five delicious flavors that use the basic recipe as a base:
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Use the basic recipe and add chocolate chips.
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Use the basic recipe and add unsweetened cocoa powder and chocolate chips to the basic recipe.
- Peanut Butter Cookie Dough: Swap half of the butter in the basic recipe with peanut butter and add crushed peanuts.
- Oatmeal Cookie Dough: Swap some of the flour called for in the basic recipe with old-fashioned rolled oats and add ground cinnamon. For oatmeal raisin cookie dough, mix in raisins.
- Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough: Use the basic recipe and add cream of tartar and ground cinnamon. Then sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top when serving. Cream of tartar tastes sour and is a common ingredient in snickerdoodle cookies. If you do not have it on hand, leave it out for more of a cinnamon sugar cookie dough.
Edible Cookie Dough (5 Flavors!)
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Edible cookie dough is simple to make. It’s very similar to baked cookies. You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer. If you don’t have a mixer, you can make the dough by hand. The texture won’t be as fluffy, but it will still taste great.
Use the basic recipe as a base for all five flavors. The base recipe ingredient amounts stay the same for the chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, and snickerdoodle flavors. For the peanut butter flavor, you need to reduce the butter called for in the basic recipe. For the oatmeal cookie flavor, you need to reduce the flour called for in the basic recipe.
Important: There is a potential risk of foodborne illness from consuming raw flour. For safety, we highly recommend heat-treating your flour or using commercially heat-treated flour (DŌ heat-treated flour is available online in smaller bags). The FDA recommends commercially heat-treated flour over heat-treated flour at home. With that said, many bakers heat-treat their flour for edible cookie dough, and I have shared how to heat-treat flour at the beginning of the recipe below.
You Will Need
Basic Edible Cookie Dough3/4 cup (95g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50g) packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (55g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ tablespoons milk, cream or half-and-half, or more as needed
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon molasses, optional, see notes
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough1/3 cup chocolate chips or chunks
Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch cocoa or regular
1/3 cup chocolate chips or chunks
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough2 tablespoons unsalted butter (instead of 4 tablespoons in the basic recipe)
2 tablespoons well-stirred peanut butter
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
Oatmeal Cookie Dough1/4 cup (30 grams) all-purpose flour (instead of 3/4 cup in the basic recipe)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (45 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup raisins, optional
Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar topping (2 ½ teaspoons sugar + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon)
Directions
- Heat Treat the Flour for Safety
1Microwave instructions: Microwave the flour in a microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute. Remove and stir well—it will seem hard to stir at first and then break apart. Microwave for 1 more minute or until the temperature reaches 165°F. Stir the flour very well, then sift into a medium bowl.
2Oven instructions: Spread the flour onto a baking sheet and bake in a 350°F oven for 10 minutes. Sift the flour into a bowl.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Flavor
1Beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, milk, vanilla extract, and molasses with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then evenly sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture. Beat for 30 seconds, then add the flour and mix on low speed until well incorporated. If the dough seems too thick or dry, beat in another 1/2 tablespoon of milk. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Flavor
1Beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, milk, vanilla extract, and molasses with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then evenly sprinkle the baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder over the mixture. Beat for 30 seconds, then add the flour and mix at low speed until well incorporated. If the dough seems too thick or dry, beat in another 1/2 tablespoon of milk. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Peanut Butter Cookie Flavor
1Beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter (2 tablespoons), peanut butter, milk, vanilla extract, and molasses with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then evenly sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture. Beat for 30 seconds, then add the flour and mix at low speed until well incorporated. If the dough seems too thick or dry, beat in another 1/2 tablespoon of milk. Fold in the chopped peanuts.
- Oatmeal Cookie Flavor
1Beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, milk, vanilla extract, and molasses with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then evenly sprinkle baking soda, salt, and cinnamon over the mixture. Beat for 30 seconds, add 1/4 cup of flour and oats, and mix at low speed until well incorporated. If the dough seems too thick or dry, beat in another 1/2 tablespoon of milk. Fold in the raisins (if using).
- Snickerdoodle Cookie Flavor
1Beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then evenly sprinkle the baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and cinnamon over the mixture. Beat for 30 seconds then add the flour and mix on low speed until well incorporated. If the dough seems too thick or dry, beat in another 1/2 tablespoon of milk. Serve sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: You can store edible cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and in the freezer for a month, probably more. If you freeze it, scoop the dough into balls and freeze them individually. Thaw in the refrigerator.
- Commercially heat-treated flour: Look online. There are a few commercial brands, but they sell 50lb bags of flour. I’ve found one brand selling smaller bags more appropriate for the home cook (DŌ heat-treated flour).
- Molasses: A bit of molasses makes the dough extra tasty and rich. We only use half a teaspoon. It’s a small amount, but it makes the cookie dough extra delicious. Since it’s such a small amount, we made it optional. (We realize not everyone wants to buy a whole jar of molasses for one teaspoon!)
- Baking edible cookie dough: All the variations we shared above bake nicely. They spread a little more than usual, but honestly, that’s not bad. Bake the cookie dough in a 350°F oven until the bottoms and edges are light brown, about 10 minutes.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. Calculations are based on the basic dough recipe.
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Looks delightful, but I do have one question. Is it a must that the cookie dough be refrigerated?
Hi Deborah, Yes, we recommend storing the cookie dough in the fridge.
This is a 5 star recipe! It’s wonderful! Do you recommend we use molasses in the Snickerdoodle basic recipe also? Molasses wasn’t listed in the directions for just that version. Was that intentional or accidental? I agree the molasses added a lot to the chocolate chip version. Thank you for the advice.
Hi Sarah! Yes, we do add the molasses to the Snickerdoodle version. It is listed in the basic cookie dough recipe. For the snickerdoodle version, you would start with the basic recipe and add cream of tartar, cinnamon, and the cinnamon sugar.
Is the basic recipe equivalent to a sugar cookie flavor? Or do you suggest a different variant for that?
The basic recipe is more similar to chocolate chip cookie dough.
Sounds yummy. I would love to make some. Thank you for the recipes and tips.
AWESOME RECIPE!! We made the basic,chocolate chip and oatmeal!
Or…make balls and dip in chocolate! Problem solved
It’s really deliciouse but i havent tasted it yet. 10 out of ten Flint lockwood. Mary berry would be impressed.
I like to press some plastic wrap or parchment paper down onto the dough before storing it in the fridge.
Yummy! I cannot wait to use this recipe again!