Upgrade Your Store-Bought Cookie Dough By Raiding Your Pantry
Semi-homemade has come a long way since food world darling Sandra Lee popularized the concept on her Food Network show by the same name in 2003. Back then, it even seemed a little naughty that you could dress up something like a store-bought pie crust and make it your own. A whopping number of years and social media platforms later, and home cooks can now have their pick of similar shortcuts designed to make infinite preparations a little easier — at least when they don't end in hilarious ruin.
In practice, the semi-homemade ethos seems to be particularly conducive to confections, and one of our favorite, never-fail ways to employ the practice is with store-bought cookie dough. If you keep a tube of something basic like sugar cookie dough in the freezer, you can have a wide array of cookie creations at virtually any time. The same principle applies to good old chocolate chip or oatmeal, but their compatible add-ins will be a little more limited than a more plainer base. Nuts and plenty of dried fruit varieties would be great, for example, but most outlying ingredients would just confuse things.
Choosing the best cookie dough for dress-up
That sugar cookie dough is best suited to modifications, but peanut butter can mingle with plenty of extra sweets like any stray candy you've got lying around, banana chips, or caramel bits. Likewise, an otherwise unadorned chocolate dough, which would be lovely with coconut flakes, chopped maraschino cherries, or simply more chocolate of another kind. You can even combine the different doughs themselves, provided they share a bake time. And unlike something as finicky as a cake batter, it's ok to remix to incorporate your upgrades.
Let's say you are using our preferred sugar cookie dough, for example. You can simply slice and roll the edges in sprinkles, their fancy friend, nonpareils, or rainbow sugar for an aesthetic upgrade that also brings a little extra texture. Or, you can stir in any of the above ingredients, as well as fragrant additions like bright citrus zest which, while not strictly a pantry item, you can store in the refrigerator for a short while, comforting cardamom, which is much more shelf-stable, or your own favorite spice blend for sweets.