Cooking for One

Edible Cookie Dough for One

by:
November 20, 2019
4.7
6 Ratings
Photo by Julia Gartland. Food Stylist: Kate Buckens. Prop Stylist: Brooke Deonarine.
  • Prep time 35 minutes
  • Cook time 1 minute
  • Makes 4 to 5 cookie dough balls
Author Notes

This Table for One recipe was inspired by my favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate chip cookie dough. (You heard of it?) As much as I adore the Ben & Jerry's pint, I've always felt cheated in the cookie dough department. Maybe it's my exorbitant greed (or my general love of soft, grainy, pillowy things), but the little dough balls are certainly my favorite part of the ice cream. Which led me to wonder: What if I developed an edible cookie dough recipe that was just the balls—and nothing else? Thus, my chocolate chip cookie dough for one was born.

One very important note about this recipe: To make cookie dough edible, i.e. safe to eat raw, be sure to heat-treat the flour. Everyone thinks raw eggs are the issue, but really it's the flour. In 2016, the FDA and CDC investigated an E. coli outbreak and learned that field products like flour can carry diseases if untreated. But there's nothing to fret. All you have to do is microwave your flour for a minute (to 165°F), and you're good to go.

For added salt and crunch (and because I seem to always have mostly-empty bags of Ruffles crumbs), this edible cookie dough recipe calls for a tablespoon of potato chips. And as a reminder, this is a recipe for edible cookie dough, not chocolate chip cookies—so you should not try to bake the final dough balls into actual cookies. —Eric Kim

Test Kitchen Notes

Featured in: Why Do We Eat Raw Cookie Dough? —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips
  • 1 tablespoon crushed potato chips, especially Ruffles
Directions
  1. Heat-treat the flour: Place the flour on a microwave-safe plate and zap for 30 to 60 seconds, or until it reaches 165°F. Check the flour's temperature with an instant-read thermometer.
  2. In a small bowl, fork together the butter, sugars, and salt until creamy, fluffy, and incorporated. Stir in the flour, then add the chocolate and potato chips.
  3. Form dough into four small balls, then refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. These taste best with a bit of chill to them, but eat them at whatever temperature you like.

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Eric Kim was the Table for One columnist at Food52. He is currently working on his first cookbook, KOREAN AMERICAN, to be published by Clarkson Potter in 2022. His favorite writers are William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway, but his hero is Nigella Lawson. You can find his bylines at The New York Times, where he works now as a writer. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @ericjoonho.

2 Reviews

NXL May 11, 2024
For me, this recipe needs the richness and the moisture of an egg.
AstronautIceCream July 14, 2020
This recipe has hit the spot a few times now for me! The chips make a fantastic touch. My adjustments: 2 tablespoons is a LOT of butter for a single serving, so I just use 1 and splash in a little bit of milk at the end to help the dough come together. I also don't bother rolling them into balls and chilling it because... let's be real, if I'm making a single serving of cookie dough, it's because I'm fiending for dessert and the shape/temp really don't matter to me. Just grab a spoon and enjoy.