Copycat Crumbl Cookie Dough Cookie Recipe

This Copycat Crumbl Cookie Dough Cookie recipe gives you the thick, soft, frosted cookie whenever you want one. Crumbl runs a rotating menu, so the cookie dough one drops off the list for weeks at a stretch, and it’s never on sale the week you want it.

I make these when I want that bakery-style cookie without the drive or the box price, and the part I care about most is texture. They have to stay soft in the middle, which comes down to how you bake them, not how long. Get that right, and the buttercream and cookie dough chunks on top do the rest.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• You can have the cookie dough cookie any week of the year, not just the weeks Crumbl decides to run it.
• The middle stays soft for days because the dough uses a full cup of oil alongside the butter and a few teaspoons of cornstarch, not just flour and butter.
• You can bake the cookies ahead and frost them later, so this fits around a busy day instead of needing one clear run at it.
• The toppings do the decorating for you. A pipe of buttercream, a few cookie dough chunks, a scatter of mini chips, and they look like the bakery version with no piping skill needed.
• There’s no overnight chill. The dough only needs fifteen minutes in the fridge before it bakes.

Ingredients You’ll Need

You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below.

• Butter and vegetable oil. Most cookies pick one. This dough uses both, and the oil is what keeps the middle soft for days rather than just the afternoon you bake them. Don’t swap it all back to butter.
• Cornstarch. Two teaspoons in the dry mix softens the crumb and keeps the cookie tender. It’s the difference between a soft cookie and a crisp one.
• Light brown sugar. All brown sugar here, no white. It brings a little moisture and a softer, chewier set than granulated sugar would.
• Semi-sweet mini chocolate chips. They go in the dough and on top. The mini size matters, because they spread through the cookie evenly instead of sinking into a few big pockets. The base is a chocolate chip cookie at heart, so if you want the plain version, here are my soft chocolate chip cookies.
• Frozen edible cookie dough chunks. Buy the edible kind sold for eating raw, not regular raw cookie dough. Raw homemade dough isn’t safe to eat because of the raw flour and raw egg, and the packaged edible chunks are made with heat-treated flour and no raw egg. This is the one topping I won’t improvise.
• Salted butter for the frosting. The buttercream is only butter and powdered sugar, so the salt in the butter is doing real work seasoning it. Unsalted here tastes flat.

How to Make Copycat Crumbl Cookie Dough Cookies

A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.

Cream the Base

Beat the softened butter and light brown sugar together first, then add the egg, the oil, and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high for three to four minutes until the butter and sugar look pale and fluffy. This is where the cookie gets its lift, so don’t rush it.

Add the Dry Ingredients

Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl, then add it to the wet mix about a cup at a time. Fold in the mini chocolate chips at the end. The dough is soft, and that’s normal.

Shape and Chill

Scoop about a quarter cup of dough per cookie and roll each into a ball. Chill the balls for fifteen minutes. This short rest firms the dough so the cookies hold their shape instead of spreading flat in the oven.

Bake Them Pale

Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Put six dough balls on each of two lined sheets, twelve in total, and flatten each one gently by hand.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, and pull them while they still look pale and just set. They finish cooking as they cool, so if you wait for color, they’re already overbaked. Cool on the sheet for a few minutes, then move them to a wire rack.

Frost and Top

Beat the salted butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Frost only once the cookies are completely cool, or the buttercream slides straight off.

Pipe it from the center out, smooth it with the back of a spoon if you like, then press on the cookie dough chunks and a scatter of mini chips.

Recipe Notes and Expert Tips

• Judge by eye, not the timer. Ovens vary, so start checking at ten minutes. The cookies are done when they look pale but set, not when they turn golden.
• The chill isn’t optional. Skip the fifteen minutes in the fridge, and the cookies spread thin and flat. Warm dough is the usual reason a cookie loses its shape.
• Cool completely before frosting. Buttercream on a warm cookie melts and runs. If you’re short on time, bake first, then frost once they’re cold.
• Flatten evenly. However far you press each ball down is roughly how thick it bakes, so press them to a similar thickness if you want a matched batch.

Recipe Variations

• Swap the mini chips in the dough for chopped chocolate if you’d rather have melty pools than even chips. This one is well-supported by the same dough; it doesn’t change the bake, only the way the chocolate sits.
• For a chocolate frosting, sift a little cocoa powder into the buttercream. I’d add it gradually and watch the texture, since this variation is untested here and too much cocoa can stiffen the frosting.
• If the store doesn’t have cookie dough chunks, top with extra mini chips or more chopped chocolate instead. It’s a decoration swap and well-supported, since nothing about the bake changes. If you like the copycat angle, my copycat Crumbl red velvet cookies run on the same idea.

How to Store Leftovers

These are best the day they’re made, but they keep well. Store the frosted cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, and let them sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving so the frosting softens.

If you want to get ahead, freeze the baked, unfrosted cookies and frost them after they thaw. The frosting is quick to make fresh, and it holds up better added later than frozen on top.

What to Serve With Copycat Crumbl Cookie Dough Cookies

These don’t need much alongside them. A cold glass of milk is the honest pairing, and a cup of coffee cuts the sweetness if you want something for the afternoon.

If you’re building a cookie box or a spread for people coming over, I’d sit them next to something sharper and something spiced so it isn’t all one note. My soft glazed lemon cookies bring the sharp, and Biscoff sandwich cookies add a warm, spiced bite that plays off the sweet frosting on these.

FAQs

More Cookies Worth Baking Next

If you’ve got the oven on and the mixer out, these are the ones I’d make next.

• Marshmallow Swirl Cookies. When you want something gooey and chocolatey rather than frosted, and you don’t mind a stickier cookie.
• Peanut Butter Cookies. For the days you want a plain, no-fuss classic with nothing to decorate.
• Soft Spiced Gingerbread Cookies. When the weather turns, and you’d rather have warm spice than sweet frosting.
• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. If you want a cookie that feels a bit fancy without any extra work.