The 2 Ingredients Needed To Amp Up Store-Bought Cookie Dough

While store-bought cookie dough may be easy and convenient, the cookies never seem to taste quite as good as the ones made from scratch. However, making homemade cookie dough is a time-consuming process that can get expensive if you don't have all the necessary ingredients.

Finding ways to elevate your pre-made cookie dough with just two ingredients can give you the best of both worlds. One simple addition to your store-bought cookie dough is brown sugar. Although the dough is likely plenty sweet already, brown sugar can provide a deep, molasses flavor common in homemade cookies while also adding moisture to your cookies as they bake. Similarly, another delicious addition is butter, which can give your cookies a rich, homemade flavor.

Whether your store-bought cookies are pre-cut squares ready for the baking tray or a boxed mix, there are various ways these ingredients can be added depending on your desired texture. One option is to cream your butter and brown sugar together before combining the mixture with your store-bought dough. This adds air to the mix and can help your cookies rise in the oven. Alternatively, melting the butter can help your brown sugar dissolve, but once this mixture is fully incorporated into the dough, it will also give you flatter cookies that are crispy on the outside and fudgy on the inside. 

While finding the best store-bought cookie dough for this hack is ideal, it will work with various flavors. Whether you have chocolate chip, sugar, or peanut butter cookie dough, butter and brown sugar can be used as easy additions to complement the taste and texture. An even quicker and easier way to incorporate these two ingredients into your cookies is to treat it as an egg wash. Substituting butter for egg wash is not typically advised for pastries, but cookies are a different story.

Using melted butter as a brushed-on coating for your cookies allows the flavor to seep into the dough as it bakes. Plus, you can dissolve the brown sugar into this mixture or sprinkle it on top of your cookies. With either method, the brown sugar will slightly caramelize in the oven, creating the perfect sweet outer layer. 

At the end of the day, there are many different ways to incorporate these ingredients into your store-bought cookie dough, and your method will likely depend on whether you have a dry mix, a container of dough, or precut ready-to-bake pieces. Luckily, those delicious flavors will shine through regardless of your approach.