Confession: When I was a kid, I used to frequently make a batch of cookie dough just so I could eat the dough. I know I’m not the only one. ‘Fess up. Who’s with me? And who of you is very excited to make this Oatmeal Cookie Dough recipe so you can have a child-hood throw back and enjoy eating balls of cookie dough without guilt?
As you have likely noticed, I never died (not even a little bit) from eating all that cookie dough back in the day, even though the dough was most definitely made with raw eggs. I would say that for the most part, I still don’t fear raw egg consumption, especially if the eggs come from well cared for, free range chickens. Still, I think we’ll all feel just a little bit better about eating cookie dough that we can be assured is free of salmonella.
Or maybe we don’t even care about food safety because we’re all just excited to eat cookie dough.
A few weeks ago, I shared this super easy (5 ingredient!) recipe for Simple Oatmeal Cookies. They come together fast and guess what? They are eggless. No pathogenic bacteria here. (What? I looked up the frightening facts about raw eggs and found big words. Impressive, eh?)
The first time I made these cookies I couldn’t help myself. I grabbed a spoon and took a tiny dip of dough. And then another. Then just one more. It took me back to my childhood days of baking cookies and nibbling dough. I began to feel sheepish until I realized, “Hey. I’m a grown-up now. I can do what I want.” So I took it upon myself to skip the baking step and to make beautiful cookie dough balls – on purpose. After all, why bake cookies when you can just eat cookie dough?
I was therefore behooved to bless you all with this fabulous opportunity to eat cookie dough like a kid. (Yes, more big words. Apparently I’m trying to strike a mature balance between eating cookie dough like a kid and writing about it like an adult.) So I took pictures and turned the idea into a blog post, because friends, I’m here for you. I understand your temptation to eat cookie dough and I do not underestimate the thrill and benefit of tasty childhood memories.
I also put oats in there so we could justify eating this cookie dough for breakfast. It’s as if I thought of everything.
So here we are, same recipe, second verse. Bake them like this if you want actual baked cookies (but why?). Or just make them into cookie dough balls following the easy directions below.
Oatmeal Cookie Dough
- 1½ cups melted butter
- ⅓-1/2 cup sugar (raw, white, brown, or sucanat)
- 1 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups whole rolled oats
- 3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
- Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Mix in flour and oats until well combined.
- Scoop Tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto a plate or into a container.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container.
Grab a spoon. Eat cookie dough. Be free. This behavior is not at all capricious. (I felt it best to end my “eat cookie dough like a kid” post with a big word so you’d remember I’m actually an adult. Impressive, eh?)
