Hi guys.
I’m back!
Yeah, I know, it’s been a while… just over four months in fact. I dropped my Ferrero Rocher Gelato recipe back at the end of August, and then ran for the hills.
The truth is, this blog had become more of a chore than the fun hobby it started out as back in December 2015. I guess I’d started putting too much pressure on myself to be this epic baking blog, with perfectly crafted photos and amazing/seasonal/inventive recipes (sometimes ones that I didn’t even want to eat).
I just want to bake for fun. Things that me or my family want to eat, even if they aren’t the most revolutionary recipes on the internet. I’m always going to veer towards exciting and colourful, because that’s who I am, but do I really want to drink a unicorn freakshake? Probably not. So I won’t be making one.
This isn’t my full-time job. Hell, it’s barely my part-time one. So why put pressure on myself to make it into one?
On that note, I’m back with an actual recipe for you all. Three recipes in fact! Because why make edible raw cookie dough once, when you can make it three times. Hey, it’s Christmas after all.
Dough Dough Dough
I first made edible raw cookie dough back in April 2016, and it’s been a solid favourite amongst you guys ever since. It pretty much involved replacing the eggs in the dough with milk, and (thanks to some input from a helpful reader) baking the flour for 5 or 10 minutes before using it to kill any bacteria that might be lurking in there.
The best memories of baking as a kid include eating the leftover batter from the bowl, and licking that spoon clean afterwards. And although I never got sick from those raw eggs and unbaked flour, why take the chance if you don’t have to?
Three Christmas Flavours
Whilst brainstorming my three Christmas raw cookie doughs over the festive period, I started dreaming of my favourite winter cookies. First up, there’s got to be gingerbread right? Gingerbread men are like the absolute number one Christmas cookie, hands down. I even covered my Christmas cake in gingerbread biscuits this year – little houses with white royal icing snow drifts on the roofs.
Then I definitely needed some sugar cookie dough in there too. This might be a bit of an american thing, but sugar cookies are a total Christmas classic, right? Add in the green and red sprinkles, and some snowy white chocolate chips, and that’s Christmas in a pot.
The last one took a bit of thinking. The only other cookies I’d made this Christmas were biscotti, and that was easy to rule out. I considered chocolate orange, but I always find it a little tricky to get a proper orange flavour into things, and I didn’t want to have to melt orange chocolate this time.
But then it came to me – after dinner mint. After Eights are pretty much a Christmas staple, and so why not adapt my all-time favourite fudgy chocolate cookie recipe into a mint chocolate chip dough? And so the Best Raw Cookie Dough Ever™ (yep, I went there) was born.
Seriously, the after dinner mint raw cookie dough is to die for. I put some Andes mint chocolate chips in the dough (I’ve got my US baking haul to thank for that), but you can use regular dark chocolate chips or even chop up a bar of mint chocolate and throw it in there. The dough itself is mint chocolate flavoured already, so whatever you’ve got to hand will work fine.
But what do I do with it?
Apart from just eating it out of the bowl with a spoon (my favourite), you could easily roll the chilled dough into balls and dip into melted chocolate to create some festive truffles.
And if you’ve been lucky enough to have been on the receiving end of an ice cream maker this Christmas (or even if you haven’t been), you could turn any of these three raw cookie doughs into ice cream with the addition of a chocolate or vanilla ice cream base. Just make the ice cream as per the recipe, and then throw in some chunks of cookie dough before putting in the freezer.
Right, enough chit chat. You want to read the recipe, and I need to get ready to win tonight’s annual New Year board game tournament. I’m 3-1 down at the moment, so hopefully by the time 2019 rolls around I will have clawed it back to 3-2. Wish me luck!
Raw Cookie Dough: 3 Festive Ways (Egg-Free)
Ingredients
For sugar cookie dough
- 150 g plain or all-purpose flour
- 115 g unsalted butter softened
- 100 g caster sugar (US granulated sugar)
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 50 g red and green sprinkles
- 50 g white chocolate chips optional
For after dinner mint cookie dough
- 100 g plain or all-purpose flour
- 115 g unsalted butter softened
- 50 g caster sugar (US granulated sugar)
- 50 g light brown sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
- 1-2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 60 g cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 110 g dark or mint chocolate chips
For gingerbread cookie dough
- 150 g plain or all-purpose flour
- 115 g unsalted butter softened
- 50 g caster sugar (US granulated sugar)
- 50 g dark brown sugar sifted
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2½ teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
For sugar cookie dough
- Before making the cookie dough, ensure that the flour you are using has been pre-baked in the oven for 10 minutes at 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan) to kill any bacteria.
- Cream the butter using a stand or hand-mixer until it is pale and all the lumps are gone. Add the sugar to the bowl and beat again well. Add the milk and vanilla extract, one tablespoon at a time, mixing well between each addition.
- Add the flour and salt to the bowl, and mix gently until just combined. Put the sprinkles and chocolate chips into the bowl and mix gently until well distributed. Eat as is, or chill in the fridge if you want to roll the dough into balls.
For after dinner mint cookie dough
- Before making the cookie dough, ensure that the flour you are using has been pre-baked in the oven for 10 minutes at 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan) to kill any bacteria.
- Cream the butter using a stand or hand-mixer until it is pale and all the lumps are gone. Add both types of sugar to the bowl and beat again well. Add the milk and peppermint extract, one tablespoon at a time, mixing well between each addition.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt to the bowl, and mix gently until just combined. Put the chocolate chips into the bowl and mix gently until well distributed. Eat as is, or chill in the fridge if you want to roll the dough into balls.
For gingerbread cookie dough
- Before making the cookie dough, ensure that the flour you are using has been pre-baked in the oven for 10 minutes at 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan) to kill any bacteria.
- Cream the butter using a stand or hand-mixer until it is pale and all the lumps are gone. Add both types of sugar to the bowl (making sure to sift the dark brown sugar to avoid lumpy batter) and beat again well. Add the milk and vanilla extract, one tablespoon at a time, mixing well between each addition.
- Add the flour, salt, ginger, and cinnamon to the bowl, and mix gently until combined. Eat as is, or chill in the fridge if you want to roll the dough into balls.
I love reading your posts almost as much as I adore eating the delicious treats that you make.
I just want you to enjoy baking and to have fun with your blog – so long as you’re happy, that’s the goal.
Yum yum cookie dough 🙂
Thank you sweetie ♥️