Dr. Axe > Recipes > Desserts > Chocolate

Edible Cookie Dough Recipe — Paleo, Vegan and Gluten-Free!

Name: Edible Cookie Dough Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 28 min
Yield: 20
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 ripe banana or flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons water); ½ cup almond butter or nut butter of choice; 1 cup almond flour; ¼ cup coconut flour; ½ cup maple sugar; ¼ teaspoon sea salt; ½ cup dark chocolate chips (70% or higher); 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

April 6, 2023 by Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CN

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We’ve all done it. Too tempted by the smell of chocolate and the promise of a delicious dessert that’s on the way. Eating cookie dough may be a childhood memory, but it usually came with warnings of salmonella from the raw eggs or consuming bacteria that lives in raw flour.

Well, worry no more. My edible cookie dough recipe is completely safe to eat before it goes in the oven, and it’s delicious if you decide to bake it, too. Win-win! Plus, you won’t find any unhealthy ingredients, like refined sugar, white flour or canola oil here. Only the healthiest, nutrient-rich and anti-inflammatory foods out there.

What Is Edible Cookie Dough?

The popularity of edible cookie dough continues to grow. It seems like people just can’t get enough, with shops and parlors popping up that are exclusively dedicated to serving different flavors of the stuff. I don’t blame them — we’ve been told since we’re kids that we can’t eat it, so of course we want to indulge now that it’s “safe” to do so.

The edible cookie dough recipes out there vary, with some calling for refined, white flour and conventional milk as the main ingredients. As always, I like to find the healthiest mix of ingredients possible. Ingredients that not only taste good, but help my body to function optimally, too.

Edible cookie dough ingredients - Dr. Axe

How to Make Edible Cookie Dough

The base for my edible cookie dough is one cup of almond flour. I love baking (or not baking) with almond flour because it’s a gluten-free flour that boosts heart health, aids in managing blood sugar levels and works as a natural energy booster.

Next I use a half-cup of nut butter. Choose whatever nut butter you like best. I like to use a good quality almond butter because I love the taste, especially when it’s combined with our next ingredient.

The best part — chocolate. It’s necessary for an edible cookie dough recipe, and did you know that there are a number dark chocolate benefits? Dark chocolate (70 percent or higher) protects us from disease-causing free radicals because it’s one of the top high-antioxidant foods.

Add 1½ cups of good quality dark chocolate chips to the mixture. Then add in a quarter cup of coconut flour, half cup of maple sugar and a quarter teaspoon of sea salt. Did you know that adding salt to your dough makes it a little stronger and tighter? It also contributes to the overall flavor of the dough.

Only a few more ingredients left. Add in one-and-a-half teaspoons of pure vanilla extract next. This delicious dessert spice works as a powerful antioxidant, and it helps to reduce inflammation in the body, something that can be helpful for all of us.

And finally, bring in one ripe banana, which will serve as your binder for this edible cookie dough. Bananas are a great source of essential vitamins and minerals, including potassium, magnesium and fiber.

If you just don’t like bananas very much, you have another option. Use one flax egg, which is a tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with three tablespoons of water. Either choice will bring the ingredients together and don’t need to be cooked, so they work perfectly for this edible cookie dough.

And after letting your mixture chill for about 10 minutes, your edible cookie dough is officially ready to eat! And, as I promised earlier, this recipe can be served two ways.

If you rather use your dough for baking cookies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and roll your dough into small disks that are about 1 inch in circumference and ¼ inch thick. Place your cookie disks on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let them bake for 15–18 minutes, until they are light golden brown.