I Asked 4 Bakers for Their 1-Ingredient Upgrades for Store-Bought Sugar Cookie Dough, and Scored a Dozen Brilliant Ideas

It’s tough to resist a still-warm sugar cookie fresh from the oven. (And honestly, why try to?!)

It’s clear we’re far from alone in thinking this. Allrecipes community members have added hundreds of sugar cookie recipes to our archives, including many like Cracked Sugar Cookies, The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies, and Easy Sugar Cookies; all of which have garnered more than 1,800 5-star reviews each.

But let’s get real: We don’t always have the time and energy to make cookies from scratch and clean up after. So we’re not too proud to admit that we gladly “outsource” and bake semi-homemade sugar cookies using a store-bought mix or dough every so often. Hey, if  “store-bought is fine” for Ina, it’s A-OK with us, too.

Sugar cookie mix and refrigerated sugar cookie dough really become staples in our kitchens come holiday season, when we’re whipping up batch after batch of frosted and cutout cookies for food gifts, holiday parties, and plates for Santa.

Professional bakers confirm that no one else needs to know that you outsourced some of the dessert prep. All it takes, our cookie-savvy baker panelists tell us, is a single ingredient to make store-bought cookie mix or dough taste completely DIY. Get these expert insider tips from our experts, below.

First, Our Panel of Cookie-Savvy Bakers

• Erin Clarke, Milwaukee-based recipe developer and author of Well Plated Everyday

• Alyssa Gangeri, pastry chef and managing partner at The Butter Milk Ranch in Nashville, Tennessee

• Meggan Hill, executive chef and CEO of Culinary Hill in Valencia, California

• Alisa Woods, owner of Sift n Sprinkle Bakery in Des Moines, Iowa

Next, the Best Store-Bought Sugar Cookie Dough

When we polled our panel of bakers about the best in the dough biz, they all gave a hat tip to the Doughboy.

According to Alyssa Gangeri, the pro move is to stock up on Pillsbury Ready-to-Bake! Sugar Cookie Dough, because “the texture and flavor are consistently reliable, making it an ideal canvas for customization. This dough bakes beautifully, creating that slightly crisp edge with a soft center; a delightful texture that’s reminiscent of homemade. It’s a wonderful starting point that allows you to make something truly unique without starting entirely from scratch.”

While Pillsbury is also Meggan Hill’s  go-to, she prefers the Sugar Cookie Mix that can be found in the baking aisle (instead of the refrigerator section). “If you choose the mix packet, it's even easier to customize and elevate the dough,” she tells Allrecipes. (See below for ideas for both the dry mix and the ready-to-bake refrigerated dough.)

If you’re in need of a gluten-free and vegan solution, Gangeri advocates for Sweet Loren’s Sugar Cookie Dough, which is available at many large supermarkets, including Whole Foods Market, Kroger, and Target.

“Sweet Loren’s is made without artificial ingredients or preservatives, which results in a fresher, more authentic taste. The dough bakes up into wonderfully soft, chewy cookies with a rich, buttery flavor that tastes impressively homemade,” Gangeri says. “It’s also gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan, making it a versatile choice for gatherings or families with diverse dietary needs.”

Now, for Those Insider 1-Ingredient Upgrades for Store-Bought Sugar Cookie Dough

Now that you know which store-bought sugar cookies are worth your dough, let’s dive into ultra-easy ways to elevate your bakes. We’ve previously shared 9 easy treats that start with refrigerated sugar cookie dough, but many of those involve multiple ingredients.

The bakers we spoke to agree that it’s possible to make a stellar semi-homemade sugar cookie with just one other ingredient that will really help the finished product shine. The secret?

“When you're looking to add to a store-bought cookie dough, seek out something with ‘main character’ energy,” Woods recommends. “Let the cookie dough act as a supporting cast and use a good-quality, high-flavor addition.”

Here are a dozen ideas to try:

• Roll in toasted nuts. Nutty, chewy, and complex as-is, nuts really embrace their “main character” vibes after they’ve been toasted. Woods is keen on rolling each ball of store-bought sugar cookie dough in chopped toasted pecans or walnuts. (You can pulse the toasted nuts a few times in a food processor rather than chopping them on a cutting board so you don’t make a mess on your kitchen floor.) “Toasted nuts have a strong natural flavor that's going to mask the store-bought taste a bit, and rolling them—rather than folding them—into the dough is going to ensure we don't overmix the dough and get a stodgy cookie,” she says.

• Spiff up with extra candy. Another rollable alternative: M&M Mini candies, crushed candy canes, or finely-chopped pieces of any other leftover candy you happen to have hanging around, according to Hill.

• Dust with ground freeze-dried berries. If you veer more toward fruity desserts than chocolate or nut ones, Woods recommends using a food processor to blitz up some freeze-dried berries (try strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries—all of which are available at retailers like Target and Trader Joe’s) to make a powder. Roll each dough ball in this fruit powder to enjoy “all of the flavor of a berry without adding any water to the dough,” she says.

• Get salty. Clarke believes that store-bought doughs “tend to be overly sweet and one-dimensional. My single ingredient fix? Flaky sea salt.” Try sprinkling a pinch of Maldon or Fleur de Sel on top of each cookie dough ball prior to baking. “It balances the sweetness, makes it easier to taste the butter and vanilla, and gives the cookies elevated, from-scratch vibes,” she adds.

• Add citrus zest. For one of the least fussy and most refreshing options, Gangeri suggests “adding lemon or orange zest to brighten up the dough and give it a subtly fresh twist that balances the sweetness nicely.” Try mixing all of the store-bought dough or mix (prepared according to package instructions) with 2 teaspoons or so.

• Opt for almond extract. A few drops of almond extract can completely transform store-bought dough; enhancing the sweetness while adding a sophisticated flavor, according to Gangeri. “Just ¼ teaspoon is all you need to add a warm, subtle nutty note that’s unexpected yet cozy,” she says. Almond not your thing? Hill also adores stirring in lemon or maple extract.

• Fold in pure vanilla paste. Fold in 1 teaspoon of high-quality vanilla bean paste to “deepen the flavor and add warmth, making the cookies taste more like they’re from scratch and giving that ‘grandma’s kitchen’ vibe,” Gangeri recommends. Beyond the flavor boost, the specks of vanilla bean elevate the appearance so everyone will be asking, “at what bakery did you buy these?!” Hill is also a vanilla devotee and appreciates the way it “lends sweetness without additional sugar. Plus, everyone already has it on hand, so you don't need to seek out anything extra to elevate your store-bought cookie dough.”

• Dollop on fruit preserves. If fruity thumbprint cookies are your jam, Hill says, then “press your thumb into cookie dough balls before baking, then fill with raspberry jam or orange marmalade to make ultra-easy thumbprint cookies.”

• Top with vanilla sugar. If you prefer your spiff-up to occur after baking, “top warm sugar cookies, fresh from the oven, with a pinch of vanilla sugar,” Hill says. Doing so when they’re still fresh and soft will allow the sugar to stick.

• Brush with brown butter. Nutty, toasty, and intense brown butter is a treat tossed with ravioli and roasted cauliflower. It’s also amazing incorporated into cookies. Hill supports warming butter in a skillet until it turns light brown (here’s a full guide for how to make brown butter, AKA beurre noisette), then brush this over the top of cookie dough balls just before baking.

• Drizzle with a glaze. If you have powdered sugar and a sink, then you have all you need to stir together an almost-instant glaze. “Gussy up the baked and cooled cookies with a drizzle of powdered sugar glaze,” Clarke says. Whisk together 1 cup confectioners sugar with 1 tablespoon water, adding more water if needed to reach your desired consistency. “If you can spare 3 ingredients, add some orange zest to really make the cookies sing,” she adds. Drizzle this on cooked and cooled cookies (so it doesn’t all flow off).

• Stir in instant pudding mix. If you're starting with a packet or box of dry sugar cookie dough, before combining the liquid with the dry mixtures, add a box of instant pudding mix to your dry bowl. “Instant pudding mix increases the moisture content of the cookie dough, leading to softer cookies that still have chewy edges,” Hill explains. “Try using one 3.4-ounce box of pudding mix for each stick of butter in your sugar cookie mix recipe.” This jazz-up allows you to customize based on your favorite flavor, such as vanilla, chocolate, cheesecake, butterscotch, white chocolate, or lemon.

A Few More Tips To Help Store-Bought Sugar Cookie Dough Taste Bakery Quality

No matter which single-ingredient addition you pick, here are three final tricks for how to make the store-bought sugar cookies taste like you started from scratch.

• Go thick. If you’re rolling the dough out for semi-homemade cutouts, Clarke encourages rolling the dough out a little thicker than you might do normally. Aim for about ⅓ inch rather than ¼ inch, as many homemade sugar cookie recipes instruct.

• Chill the dough. In addition to rolling out a thicker cookie, chilling the spiffed-up sugar cookie dough for 15 minutes after your addition but before baking “helps the cookies spread less and hold onto their irresistibly soft, chewy centers,” Clarke says.

• Underbake on purpose.  Pull them out when the centers still look a bit soft and let them cool on the baking sheet, Gangeri suggests. “This keeps them chewy and tender.”

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