The Mystery of the Raw Cookie Dough

If you are a little girl what might you do with your mom? You probably bake cookies, among other things. And while the cookies are baking, mom and daughter clean up the mixing bowl, right? But first, you get the reward of licking the spatula or the remaining dough in the bowl. 

Although I remember that it was yummy when we did lick the spoon or the bowl, there was something not good about raw ingredients, maybe the egg? 

These days there often isn’t a bowl to lick, because the dough is premixed and in a tub or tube in your ‘fridge. But there are those who don’t want to be bothered with the muss and fuss of even cleaning up a cookie sheet, so even though the label says to cook before eating, they nibble and nosh on the raw cookie dough fresh out of the ‘fridge.

The preliminary results of this investigation indicate a strong association with eating raw prepackaged cookie dough. Most patients reported eating refrigerated prepackaged Nestle Toll House cookie dough products raw. (Nestle has voluntarily recalled this product.) The CDC and other government groups are investigating an outbreak of E Coli that has been linked to consumption of raw cookie dough and it seems to be a particular segment of the population who are affected. 

Good sleuthing, CDC and other government groups. The interesting part for me is the population affected by this outbreak. According to the CDC report  “Ill persons range in age from 2 to 57 years; however, more than 70% are less than 19 years old and none are over 60 years old; 75% are female. ”

 I actually don’t like raw cookie dough but I remember friends who did.  Do they still? Is this a cultural fast-food-in-a-tube habit?  If so it might be prudent to break the habit and make your own “safe-to-eat” cookie dough or just stop eating it. At the Cupcake Project  you’ll find eggless cookie dough recipes although all the recipes contain flour, butter, sugar and milk- ingredients. 

Best advice- cook your dough.