Hello, Cookie Dough Is The Raw Food Diet We Can Get Behind

Did the world need a cookbook solely dedicated to raw cookie dough? Hell yeah it did. If anything, the new book Hello, Cookie Dough legitimizes the act of eating raw cookie dough from the mixing bowl, or squeezing it directly into our mouths from a tube while sitting in front of an open refrigerator butt naked. The author, Kristen Tomlan, is the founder of the New York City cookie dough shop Dō, a place where you are not allowed to be naked thanks to the Department Of Health and its nanny state. This cookbook solves that problem.

If you're concerned about getting nasty foodborne illnesses like salmonella or E. coli, you need not worry about the recipes in Hello, Cookie Dough, which teaches you how to pasteurize your own eggs and heat treat your own flour, as well as providing directions on how to bake the doughs into actual cookies for those of you who still find this whole raw dough concept dubious.

Ordinarily raw chocolate chip cookie dough is my one and only, even though I know there's nothing stopping me from eating all the cookie doughs. If there's a reason for the cookie dough cookbook to exist, it's to let me know that there should be no boundaries to my obscene levels of gluttony. There are raw homages to brand name favorites like Biscoffs and Samoas; nostalgia-driven delights like Cherry Cola Slurpee and Dunkaroos; grown-up flavors like Rosé All Day and the oddly intriguing Dessert Focaccia. If you find yourself all dough-ed out, there are also recipes for cakes, hand pies, doughnuts, ice cream sandwiches, cookie dough dip... And, seeing as this is essentially a no-bake baking book, you can go from craving dessert to having your cheeks fully packed with cookie dough like a squirrel in a matter of minutes. That's the dream, isn't it?

Makes 30 scoopsTime: 20 minutes for dough, 2 hours 40 minutes for cookies

You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and you aren't sure if your dream actually happened? It was so vivid that it makes you question everything. Were you in bed last night or were you gallivanting around a magical school that was like Hogwarts, but it wasn't Hogwarts? You don't know.

Eating this flavor is the opposite experience: It will make you question whether real life is actually a wonderful, surreal dream. Like when you drive somewhere and don't remember a single moment of going from point A to point B. Except this time you'll find yourself scraping the bottom of the bowl and you won't know how you got there. Magic, I tell you.

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• ¼ stick (2 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. heat-treated all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tsp. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup pasteurized egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup peanut butter chips

Heat-treat the flour: Place the flour in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each interval. Stir well to make sure none of the flour burns (microwaves have those tricky hot spots). Use an instant-read thermometer to test the flour in several places to make sure it has reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit throughout. If you get a lower reading in one area, just stir and heat for an additional 30 seconds until it's all ready! If some flour sticks to the sides of the bowl just leave it there. Break up any chunks and let cool completely.

Make the dough: In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in the microwave on 50% power in 30-second increments. Stir well between each increment until melted. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the heat-treated flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until the mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds.

Add the granulated and brown sugars and mix on medium until well combined, about 2 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl. Add the egg whites and vanilla and mix just until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. The mixture will be very runny.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low just until the powdery texture of the flour disappears, about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl and mix a final 15 seconds. The "dough" will have a consistency that is more like batter.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a runner spatula to fold in the peanut butter chips.

Dig in now for this classic peanut butter brownie mash-up.

For a dough-like consistency, press plastic wrap onto the batter and chill the whole bowl in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes before you dig in with a spoon!

Kristen's tip: This recipe can also be made into magic brownie bars. Pour the finished dough into an 8"x8" pan and bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Once cooled, cut it into squats, and voilá...watch them magically disappear.

Reprinted with permission from Hello, Cookie Dough: 110 Doughlicious Confections to Eat, Bake & Share by Kristen Tomlan (Grand Central Publishing)