Life

These Cookie Dough-Flavored Marshmallows Are Going To Change Your S'mores Game FOREVER

by Megan Grant
Amazon

The cookie dough obsession hit us like a ton of bricks, so delicious that most of us were all, "Salmonella? Who's that?" All sorts of safe and tasty alternatives have popped up over the last year or so, and we've found our newest snack time crush: SmashMallow's Cookie Dough marshmallows are a non-GMO marshmallow that will forever change the way you 'mallow. SmashMallow differentiates itself from the traditional marshmallow by using non-GMO bovine gelatin, organic cane sugar, and other natural ingredients, according to their website. They even use fruit and vegetable juice for coloring. Plus, they're gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free, meaning you can take them into work without fear of giving anyone with allergies FOMO (and also meaning I'm going to eat the whole bag in one sitting).

But wait, it gets better. Not only are they a risk-free way to enjoy cookie dough, but you can use SmashMallows like any regular 'mallow, they share on their site. Enjoy them in your s'mores, a steaming mug of hot chocolate, or even your crispy rice treats.

Aside from cookie dough, SmashMallows come in seven other flavors: mint chocolate chip, coconut pineapple, strawberries & cream, root beer float, meyer lemon poppy seed, cinnamon churro, and mocha chip. You can buy them on their website for $4.00 a bag, and they're also available at Target and on Amazon.

This is great news for cookie dough lovers, as concern still looms over consuming traditional dough while it's still raw. The FDA tells us to quit it because both raw eggs and raw flour can be dangerous, but that hasn't stopped the masses from licking the spoon after whipping up a batch of cookies. Fortunately, we have other options now that won't potentially land us in the hospital. Chocolate chip cookie dough dip is taking desserts to the next level. Oreo and The Cookie Dough Café teamed up to make edible cookie dough in a jar. Unbakeables let us nibble on dough worry-free, and ice cream in cookie dough bowls became a thing. Take that, FDA.

While, as Eater points out, 2017 was the year edible raw cookie dough really landed in the spotlight, it first made its appearance several years prior. As early as 2011, The Cookie Dough Cafe was selling it online and in stores. With the help of Shark Tank, they eventually landed in 10,000 stores around the nation. Then there was Kristen Tomlan, who started selling it online in 2015 and made the decision to open Dō in Manhattan as a brick and mortar in the beginning of 2017. The result after opening her doors? A two-hour wait for hungry customers to get inside, lining up down the entire block.

There's no doubt edible raw cookie dough quickly became a trendy and viral sensation, but it has stuck around perhaps longer than we expected. What's the allure? Is it a nostalgia thing, a food that takes us back to our childhoods, when our parents would make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and let us lick the spoon before they popped them in the oven? Possibly. I certainly have those memories with my mom. Or maybe we just like to live life on the edge. Raw eggs? Unbaked flour? We laugh in the face of danger. Muahaha! Come at me, salmonella.

But most likely, it's just because raw cookie dough is as good as its baked counterpart and also photographs well for our Instagram pages. Plus, after years of fearfully sneaking bites of the raw stuff and now finally having a way to do it safely, it makes sense we go to town on it until we have a giant cookie dough food baby and subsequently slip into a sugar coma.

Enjoy your cookie dough, pals.