Today I’m sharing a sweet and simple recipe for Cookie Dough Frosting! This recipe is made without eggs and I’ll tell you how to easily heat-treat your flour so you can enjoy the taste of cookie dough without worry! A super easy frosting recipe!
I’ve always thought that the best part of any cake or cupcake was the frosting, but today’s cookie dough frosting recipe is taking my love of icings to a whole new level.
Not too sweet, this recipe has all of the flavor of traditional cookie dough. It’s thick enough to be perfect for piping, can be thinned enough to spread easily over any cake, has the body/textural feel of real cookie dough, but isn’t so gritty that you feel like you’re eating sand.
Right now my cream cheese frosting is the most popular one on my site, and it’s long been my all-time favorite frosting recipe. Today it might have just been replaced.
What You Need
- Flour. All standard chocolate chip cookie dough starts with flour. This recipe does, too. However, you must heat treat your flour before using. More on this below.
- Butter (because, of course).
- Sugar. I use granulated as well as light and dark brown sugar. I like using a bit of dark brown sugar because it helps give the frosting a golden, authentic cookie dough color, but using all dark brown would make it sweeter than I prefer.
- Sweetened condensed milk. I took a page out of my cookie dough bites recipe for this one. Essentially, using this condensed milk helps to sweeten the cookie dough frosting without making it as grainy as it would be if you were to use sugar only. Cookie dough is inherently a bit gritty/grainy (that’s one of the things I love about it, its texture) because it’s not yet been baked so the sugars haven’t melted. However, I’ve received complaints in some of my other cookie dough recipes that people don’t like that grit, so I’ve minimized it significantly here, while not eliminating any of the cookie dough flavor.
- Vanilla extract and salt. For flavor.
- Heavy cream (or whipping cream, or double cream). Whipping our cookie dough frosting with cream lightens the texture and makes for a creamy, mostly smooth, pipeable frosting. If you intend to spread this frosting over a cake, you may find that you need to use a splash more liquid to make it easier for spreading.
- Chocolate chips! Because when you think cookie dough, I bet you think chocolate chip cookie dough, don’t you?
The summary above is just an overview of the ingredients that are needed and why I chose them. For the full recipe and amounts please scroll down to the recipe card.
You Must Heat-Treat Your Flour
OK, look, I’m not your mother, and I can’t make you listen to me. But I cannot in good conscience advise you to skip the step of heat treating your flour. Unfortunately, in recent years, raw flour consumption has been linked to E. Coli. To eradicate this risk, cook your flour until it reaches a temperature of 165F (75C). You can do this in the microwave or in the oven (as I do with my edible cookie dough).
Just make sure you let the flour then cool completely before stirring it in with your other ingredients
What to Do With Cookie Dough Frosting:
- Top off a batch of dark chocolate cupcakes or vanilla cupcakes
- Use it as a filling in French macarons.
- Use it as a filling in your favorite cupcake recipe (or instead of sprinkles in my piñata cupcakes)
- Eat it with a spoon. No judgement here.
Storing
I recommend using your cookie dough frosting, whether piping it on cupcakes or spreading over a cake, right after making. However, this recipe may be made in advance and stored. To store, place in an airtight container and keep at refrigerated for up to 5 days. To use, let the frosting return to room temperature. You will most likely need to briefly re-mix the frosting with an electric mixer to return it to the proper consistency.
More Recipes You Might Like:
- Buttercream Frosting
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Peanut Butter Frosting
- Caramel Cake (with caramel frosting)
Enjoy!
Cookie Dough Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (157 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- ⅔ cup (133 g) light brown sugar¹ firmly packed
- ⅓ cup (65 g) dark brown sugar firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (60 ml) sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or more as needed
- 1-1 ½ cups (170-225 g) Chocolate chips for decorating I like to use a mix of mini and regular-sized semisweet
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Evenly pour flour over parchment and, once oven is fully preheated, bake for 5-7 minutes/until flour reaches 165F (75C). Allow flour to cool completely before using.1 ¼ cups (157 g) all-purpose flour
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together butter, sugars (light brown, dark brown, and granulated) together until very well-combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, ⅔ cup (133 g) light brown sugar¹ firmly packed, ⅓ cup (65 g) dark brown sugar firmly packed, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add condensed milk and vanilla extract and salt and stir together with electric mixer on low speed. Gradually increase speed to high and beat well for 2-3 minutes. Pause halfway through to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.¼ cup (60 ml) sweetened condensed milk, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon table salt
- Add completely cooled flour gradually, stirring on low-speed until creamy and combined. Don’t forget to scrape the bowl periodically!
- Add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and stir, gradually increasing mixer speed to high and stir until creamy and smooth. Add additional cream, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached (if you’re spreading the frosting you may need a bit more liquid than if you are piping it). If you are spreading the frosting you may wish to stir the chocolate chips in here or sprinkle them over the icing once it's spread. Whichever you choose is fine.2 Tablespoons heavy cream, 1-1 ½ cups (170-225 g) Chocolate chips for decorating
- Pipe or spread over cake/cupcakes etc. then sprinkle with chocolate chips as desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Karen
Why does my frosting seem gritty?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Karen! This is normal and part of the cookie dough experience. Since the sugars aren’t being baked and melted, they will still maintain some of their texture within the frosting. We do try to mitigate this a bit with the condensed milk here, but some grittiness should be expected 😊
Abby
Would this work on cookies?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sure! Enjoy, Abby 😊
Janine
Hi Sam.
Could left over frosting be frozen?
Kind regards
Janine
Sam
Hi Janine! That will work just fine. 🙂
Kerry Harbinson
I’ve had to buy a tin of condensed milk for this recipe. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do with the remainder of the tin? I don’t want to throw it away
Shadi
Do cupcakes/cakes frosted with this need to be stored in the refrigerator?
Sam
Hi Shadi! If you are storing them for just a night they will be fine. If you want to keep them much longer it may be better to refrigerate it. 🙂
Nina
Hi! This sounds amazing and I definitely will try it out! Just a question though- We don’t like our frostings super sweet, and with the amount of sugar that’s called for in this recipe, it seems like It may be a lot for me and my family. Do you think the consistency will be ok if I decreased the brown sugars to 1/2, regular sugar to 1/4 cup, and kept the 1/4 cup of condensed milk?
Sam
Hi Nina! I’m not sure how it would turn out. It will definitely change the flavor and I’m not sure how the consistency will be in the end. Sorry I can’t help more. 🙁
Francesca
Didn’t work
Sam
Hi Francesca, do you care to elaborate? I might be able to help. It also may be helpful to watch the video in the recipe card 🙂
Jean Conn
I have not made this however the butter is crossed off the recipe is there reasoning behind that? I just did not want to miss a step to add or not to add.
Sam
Hi Jean! I’m not sure what you mean by the butter is crossed off the recipe. You need 1 cup of unsalted butter here. You will combine it in step 2. 🙂
Mom
Maybe you crossed it out by a mistake by touching the empty square. So just touch it again and it will be uncrossed. It happens.
Siobhan
I think you’ve ticked it off – the ingredients are a tick list so you can mark the step as complete when following the recipe 🙂
Elle
This is the best cookie dough frosting I’ve ever made! ‘Cookie dough’ is my favorite flavor of anything (ice cream, candy, birthday cake). So, I’m pretty familiar with the process. This is as good as those little dessert boutiques that served flavored cookie dough. So much easier to make than a lot of edible cookie dough recipes I’ve tried- and better. This will be my go-to for sure. Additionally, I made the cupcakes you suggested with it and the entire thing was SO GOOD! I always do vanilla with cookie dough, but chocolate is my new flavor now. Thank you for this recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Elle! I can never get enough chocolate, so chocolate is always my flavor of choice. 🙂
Andie
I tried this frosting on devils-food cake they were a hit! one of my friends ate the extra. It is also good on s’mores
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Andie! 🙂
Leana
I am baking chocolate cupcakes tomorrow, and have been dying to try this recipe. It’s my lucky day, I love your recipes, and I know this one will be a winner too.
Thanks for sharing with us!
Sam
I can’t wait to hear how you like it, Leana! <3
Lori
Hi there,
Could I use an alternative to the condensed milk?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Lori! Unfortunately, I don’t have a recommendation. The condensed milk is what makes the frosting work without being too gritty. You could try using my edible cookie dough recipe and thin it with cream until you get the consistency you’re looking for. 🙂
sylvia
How did you check the temperature of the dough, dough is flat on the cookie sheet? Do put in a bowl and then place the thermometer in it?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Sylvia! To check the temperature of the flour, I leave it on the cookie sheet, scoop it all in the center and place a thermometer in the center of the flour pile being sure not to touch the bottom of the pan. 🙂
Mikaru86
Just imagine, a chocolate chip cookie sandwich, with a generous layer of cookie dough frosting in between XD
I may have to actually try that. That simply sounds too decadent and delicious.
Sam
YES, I love the idea. Or maybe the cookies from my chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies. Hope you are staying safe and doing well!
Mikaru86
I was actually thinking along the lines of the Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies (which I tried a while ago and they were amazing!), but those would also look great, but I haven’t had a change to try them.
I’ve been good, despite the circumstances, just very busy. Unfortunately us in IT didn’t get to just lay around on the couch for a few weeks but kept working pretty much as usual (although from home, but that wasn’t much a change really, we were always collaborating internationally and working remote part-time). But I haven’t really baked much recently (made some bread, based on your recipe, which turned out horribly because the butter had apparently gone rancid from sitting in the fridge too long because I hadn’t baked anything XD I definitely do not blame the recipe though!). Baking an entire cake and then eating it on my own only sounds good in theory. In practice it would probably be a pretty bad idea, with the lack of much exercise due to the lock-down, so I’ve scaled back a bit on the baking.
Sugar Spun Run
Yes, the Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies! That would be awesome! Despite the circumstances, I am glad that you are doing well. 🙂
Anna
This is perfect timing, I’m making chocolate cupcakes right now, looking for a good frosting recipe. This looks so good, I’m going to start making it soon!
Sugar Spun Run
That is perfect timing, Anna! I hope that you enjoy the frosting. Keep me posted on how it turns out. 🙂
Anna
I have made this 3 times within the past 2 weeks. My family always insists I top my cupcakes with this! We have been in and out of the grocery store getting cans of condensed milk. This litterally tasted like a creamy cookie dough! Probably one of my favs on your blog (besides your “worst” chocolate chip cookies). Thank you so much for all the hard work you do, this is now a favorite in my family!
Sam
Thank you so much, Anna! I am so glad everyone has enjoyed all of the recipes. 🙂
Anna
It came also came out really thick so we just ate the rest with a spoon 🙂
Sam
The frosting is a little bit of a thicker frosting, but you can always thin it with cream or milk as needed, but also eating it by the spoonful is never a bad option. 😂