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This edible lemon cookie dough is a delightful combination of soft lemon cookies flavors and traditional cookie dough that we all love to eat right out of the bowl. This sweet treat is made entirely of safe, ready-to-eat ingredients, so you can have peace of mind while you satisfy your sweet tooth and enjoy this no-bake dessert.
Most, if not all, of us ate raw cookie dough as children. We were just too impatient to wait for it to cook before digging in or, at the very least, scraping the sides of the bowl clean with our fingers.
The funny thing is, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of us still do it as adults. How can you resist?!
But now, with this edible cookie dough recipe, you can indulge all you want in the incredible texture and flavor of lemon sugar cookie dough without the potentially harmful side effects of eating raw eggs or raw flour. Think of it as the lemony cousin of my edible cookie dough for one.
Key Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this no-bake treat. Scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page for the detailed ingredient measurements.
- All-Purpose Flour: Raw flour contains natural bacteria that can be dangerous if eaten raw. We’ll have you heat-treat the flour first to make it safe to eat.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter so that we can add salt separately later on. You will also want the butter to be softened so pull it out of the fridge 30 minutes before preparing the recipe.
- Granulated Sugar and Brown Sugar: adds a touch of sweetness to the cookie dough.
- Fresh Lemon Juice and Fresh Lemon Zest: gives this bland cookie dough its bright lemon flavor. Got extra lemons? Turn them into my small batch lemon curd.
- Vanilla Extract: adds a touch of flavor to balance out the lemon.
- White Chocolate Chips: or chocolate chunks are optional but do add a nice additional flavor and texture to the lemon to make it really taste like chewy lemon cookies.
- Salt: balances out the sweetness while enhancing all of the other flavors.
How to Make Edible Lemon Cookie Dough
- Heat-treat the flour and cream the butter. Spread the flour on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring halfway, until it reaches 160°F, then let it cool completely. In a medium bowl, cream the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the lemon. Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Add the flour. Add the cooled heat-treated flour and salt and mix until combined. If it looks crumbly, add 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice at a time until the dough is soft just like regular cookie dough.
- Fold in the white chocolate. Gently fold in the white chocolate chips or chunks, if using, until evenly distributed.
- Scoop it. Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into bowls or cones.
- Dig in! Enjoy the edible lemon cookie dough right away, and keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Recipe Tip
You can substitute semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks based on your preference. For an extra lemony kick, you can add a drop or two of lemon extract along with the vanilla extract. Make sure to let the flour cool completely before adding it to the dough to avoid melting the butter.
Why you need to make this recipe!
- This is one of the best lemon desserts you will ever have as it brings back all of the nostalgic cookie dough memories, right up there with my lemon sugar cookie bars and lemon snowball cookies.
- Skip the oven heat of baked cookies and enjoy this easy cookie dough instead.
- It’s the perfect way to satisfy hungry, sugar-craving children in the least amount of time. Make it a party with a bowl of my edible funfetti cookie dough on the side.
- Great to make in advance in large batches for large group
Edible Lemon Cookie Dough FAQs
To store, simply put it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can make it last even longer by laying a sheet of plastic wrap snug on top of the dough to prevent it being exposed to the air in the container.
It is not recommended to use regular, untreated flour in edible cookie dough due to the risk of bacterial contamination. Always heat-treat flour to ensure it is safe to consume.
I know what you are gonna say, we all had raw flour in cookie dough that was supposed to be baked and I get that for the most part we didn’t get sick but in this recipe you would be consuming larger amounts of raw cookie dough and we don’t want to be that one in 20’000/50’000!
You can make some substitutions based on dietary preferences or available ingredients. For example:
Use dairy-free butter to make the recipe vegan.
Make it an orange cookie dough or even a lime cookie dough by subbing the citrus fruit that you decide to use.
Use a gluten-free flour blend instead of all-purpose flour for a gluten-free version.
For a high-protein version, use the method from my cottage cheese edible cookie dough.
Unfortunately, no. This edible lemon cookie dough recipe is formulated to be eaten raw, so it will not bake into a proper cookie because it does not have eggs or baking powder, which is necessary for the cookie structure.
You will not be able to add these ingredients in later because they will not mix evenly and you might over-mix the dough which will cause the flour to activate its gluten which would mess up the cookie texture. If you want a baked lemon cookie, my Crumbl lemon cheesecake cookies are the way to go.
This could be due to using unheated flour or not measuring the flour correctly. Make sure to heat-treat the flour and measure it accurately using a kitchen scale or the spoon-and-level method.
If the dough is too dry, you might need to add a bit more liquid (like lemon juice or milk). If it’s too wet, add a bit more heat-treated flour until you reach the desired consistency.
More No-Bake Treats
If you made this edible lemon cookie dough, I want to know if you ate it straight from the bowl like I did! Leave a ⭐ star rating and a comment below. Happy snacking!!
Edible Lemon Cookie Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour heat-treated
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- zest of two lemons About 1 & 1/2 – 2 tablespoons
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Instructions
Heat-treat the flour
- Spread the flour evenly on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for about 5-7 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the flour reaches 160°F. Let it cool completely.1 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Make the lemon cookie dough
- In a medium bowl, cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar
- Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract until well combined.zest of two lemons, 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the cooled-down heat-treated flour and salt to the wet ingredients, mixing until combined. The dough may be crumbly at first. Add in 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice at a time until the dough is soft just like regular cookie dough.1/4 teaspoon salt
- Gently fold in the chocolate chunks if using until evenly distributed.1 cup white chocolate chips
- Enjoy the edible lemon cookie dough immediately, or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
- You can substitute semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks based on your preference.
- For an extra lemony kick, you can add a drop or two of lemon extract along with the vanilla extract.
- Make sure to let the flour cool completely before adding it to the dough to avoid melting the butter.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
