Cookie Dough Truffles

In the eternal debate over whether or not raw cookie dough is, in fact, safe to eat, I fall safely on the "yum!  raw eggs!" side of the fence.

I just feel that one of the perks of baking is being able to lick the bowl.  Or, you know.  Scoop batter out of the bowl and into your mouth.  For taste testing poison control purposes.

And because it tastes good.  Most of the time. And if it doesn't taste good...I would highly recommend that you trash the whole thing and start again.  Because when the batter doesn't taste good...there is nothing right going on in there.  I promise.



My mother and I are always arguing about this little indiscretion of mine.  Not that we're really ever in the same room when I bake, but occasionally she calls and asks what I'm doing and a fair portion of the time I find myself to be eating raw batter. 

Then she yells and screams and hems and haws about Salmonella and how she's going to have to pray for me every day for the next week (okay, she doesn't say this since she only seems to remember that she's Catholic on Ash Wednesday but...you get the idea) and that I should take my temperature every hour for the next 7-14 days and run to the hospital as soon as it reaches 101, which she is sure that it is going to do.

And while we're at it, she usually throws in a word of advice or two on how long I really should cook pork for so that it's absolutely safe to eat. Shoe leather consistency is the consensus in the Bruno household.  Oy. 



Lucky for my mother and for anyone else who is hypochondriacal enough to feel a bit squeamish about this raw egg business, there's a new cookie dough in town.  One whose sole purpose in life is to be eaten.  From the bowl.  Without ever seeing the inside of an oven.

Bestill my heart.



A cookie dough that you then roll into a gazillion little balls and dip into chocolate.

So that now instead of Salmonella poisoning, you just have to worry about going into cardiac arrest while eating them.  Because (a) they are so good that you will not be able to stop picking them up and popping them into your mouth. And after the first 3 dozen or so, your arteries might start to rebel.

And (b) they are so good that your brain might not be to handle the fact that your dopamine reward center has now been activated to its maximum capacity.

My doctor-ly advice?  Bring them to a party or some other gathering of people so that they'll be gone before you have time to eat yourself into an oblivion. And don't taste them before you go.  Otherwise you run the risk of hiding them in your fridge and stopping to have one whenever you happen to meander into your kitchen.  And trust me, when the alternative is studying for your kidney exam...you'll find a lot of reasons to meander into the kitchen.



Cookie Dough Truffles
Makes 4-5 dozen, adapted from Annie's Eats

8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 cup AP flour
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 lb semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on high speed.  Add in the flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.  Incorporate until smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to form balls, about 30 minutes.

2. Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1 1/2 inch balls.  Try not to eat too many in the process.  Inevitably fail at not eating too many in the process.  Place whatever you do not eat right now on the spot onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for 1-2 hours.

3. When ready to dip the truffles, melt the semisweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Dip each chilled truffle, one at a time, in the chocolate to coat it.  Shake to remove the excess chocolate.  Transfer to a wax paper-lined surface.  Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Drizzle over the top of the truffles.  Store truffles in the fridge until ready to serve.