It's an iconic part of childhood: there's a fresh bowl of raw cookie dough on the flour-strewn countertop, and whoever was baking (in my own experience, my mom) has left the room for a moment, leaving the sugary sweet unattended. Despite the rumors -- the horrid stories! Tales of woe and illness! -- You decide to sneak closer to the unguarded mixing bowl, peering into the depths to discover that it isn't just recently mixed dough but your favorite flavor of cookie (again, in my case, classic chocolate chip). You glance about, looking for any witnesses who might blow your cover, then take the risk and stick a finger into the mixture, ready to taste what is arguably one of America's favorite desserts...only to be caught as the chef pâtissier re-enters the room, a deft hand snatching the bowl away and a lecture about the dangers of salmonella.

Well, those lectures are about to get a lot shorter because of a new dessert spot that opened up just steps away from NYC's iconic Washington Square Park. Cookie DŌ is a store that specializes in selling raw cookie dough that is made specifically for consumption without baking, just opened right by the NYU campus. That's right, college kids: no more worries about salmonella from raw eggs or raw flour. Instead, you can choose from a variety of cookie dough flavors -- ranging from sugar cookie to s'mores to cake batter -- to fuel your midnight study sessions. You might, like me, have to wait in a line that snakes down the block in the ever-so balmy January weather in order to get your hands on those study session snacks, but the taste of pure joy is worth it, right?

Available for purchase in a cup or in a cone (my personal favorite is the cone made out of a baked cookie, filled with raw cookie dough!), the various flavors of cookie dough are accompanied by a selection of baked treats, such as cookies, brookies (brownie-cookie hybrids), and cookie cakes. As tempting as it is to get three scoops of dough, don't be fooled: a single scoop in a cookie cone is more than enough to fulfill even my sweet-tooth (and I've eaten the Vermonster four times).

So, what are you waiting for? Take advantage of syllabus week and go buy some cookie dough that is salmonella free and sugar-fiend approved!