Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough on a Stick

I wonder if the Queen of Denmark likes cookie dough.  Maybe she has the royal chef make it for her on the sly and then sneaks some when no one's looking.  And then there's Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, who just gave birth to twins and welcomed her fourth and fifth children. I wish for Mary's sake that she's lying in bed resting and enjoying a nice big spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough.  Danish royals and cookie dough?  I say why not.

For as long as I can remember I have had a weakness for dough in various forms.  Cake batter, pastry dough, play-doh (well, that was many many years ago), and, naturally, cookie dough.  Love it with all my heart.  To my traditional mind, the best is chocolate chip, but I would never turn up my nose at peanut butter, oatmeal, sugar or virtually any other kind of cookie dough, either.  As George Bush senior used to say, It wouldn't be prudent.  Did I just quote George Bush?

What you really want to hear about is cookie dough.  It all went down some time last week when I discovered Joy the Baker, my new favorite blog.  If you like to create delicious things to eat, please do yourself a favor and check it out.  And even if you are not so into sharing time in the kitchen with measuring cups and bowls, check it out anyway for the gorgeous photography and food styling.  Joy Wilson is my newfound food idol.  I'm delighted by the fact that she, one, has an English degree just like yours truly, two, whips up spectacular stuff without having had any formal training (i.e. no culinary degree), and three, seems like an ultra cool lady.

I have Joy to um, credit, for the cookie dough on a stick.  I hesitate in giving her too much credit because this stuff is addicting.  And let's face it, we're not talking health food here.  On the other hand, everything in moderation is okay.  Unfortunately, I highly doubt that moderation is defined as inhaling half a bowl of cookie dough.  Maybe in some universe far far away...

Ahem, another fantastic part of this recipe is that you can consume as little or as much dough as you wish without worrying about salmonella.  Ta da, it's egg free.  Joy's recipe uses Greek yogurt, but she also suggests apple sauce and peanut butter as other suitable egg-substitutes.  I went with the Greek yogurt and achieved splendid results.

If you are a fellow cookie dough lover, you must try this!  I'm talking to you, Queen Margrethe.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough on a Stick
Source:  Joy the Baker

1/2c unsalted butter at room temperature
1c. plus 2T flour
1/2t baking soda
3/4t salt
1/2c brown sugar
1/3c granulated sugar
1t vanilla
1/3c Greek yogurt, applesauce or peanut butter
1c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2c chopped walnuts
1c. semi sweet chocolate chips for melting

Directions

1.  Combine flour, soda and salt and set aside.

2.  With a hand mixer or standing mixer, beat the butter and sugars together.  Add vanilla and Greek yogurt and mix again.

3.  Add flour mix to sugar-butter mix and combine thoroughly.

4.  Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

5.  Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, place mounds of dough on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper.  Insert a plastic fork, light-weight metal fork (it won't stand up if it's too heavy), or popsicle stick in the middle of each mound.  Place in freezer 3-4 hours, until hard, or overnight.

6.  Remove from freezer, dip mounds into melted, slightly cooled chocolate.  Return to the baking sheet and freeze until chocolate is hard.

7.  Serve cold straight from the freezer (store extras, if you have any left, in the freezer).