13 Add-Ins for Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix works great on its own, but you can always improve and enrich your cookies. You can add many things to improve the taste and texture of your cookies. So what add-ins can you add to Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix?
Coffee, spices, sour cream, lemon zest, cereal, chocolate, peanut butter, sweets, and nuts are some of the flavor-altering add-ins you can use in Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix. To play with cookies’ consistency and texture, add more milk, eggs, butter, sugar, or flour.
Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix is a great way to make tasty cookies, and even more so because you can add your favorite things to them. However, the taste isn’t always why you should use add-ins, as the dough itself may need some help. I will share ideas about Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix add-ins and why you should use them in the following text.
What to Add to Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix?
If you want to make your Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix even better than it already is, you can add one or more of the following ingredients to make the best out of your sugar cookie mix.
Dried Fruit
Dried fruit such as cranberries, raisins, pineapple, or any other dried fruit you like are great add-ins for your Betty Crocker sugar cookies. They will thicken the mix and give the cookie a nice caramel flavor because of the sugar these ingredients contain.
Peanut Butter
Peanut butter will mash great with your sugar cookies, but it will change the taste, too. Salt from peanuts will bring out the sweetness and will make your guests believe they are made from scratch! The taste may also remind you of Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookies.
In addition, peanut butter will make the texture denser, giving you a ticker and more chewy cookies, but it will restrict you in terms of combining them.
Grated Apples
If you want to add freshness and fruitiness to your cookies, then grated apple is the way to go. You can either grate the apple and add it to the mix fresh, bake it and mash it and then add it, or grate it, caramelize it and add it to the rest of the ingredients.
Whichever option you choose, rest assured that your cookies will taste great.
Still, if you decide to add the grated caramelized apples, put a lower amount of sugar in the mix because the sugar from the caramelized apples could make your cookies too sweet.
Furthermore, if your cookie dough seems too runny, add two tablespoons of flour to fix it. Be careful with the measures because the dough can become too dry.
Coffee
If you are making chocolate cookies, add some instant coffee diluted in hot water. The coffee will color the dough brown, which will make the cookies chocolatier. It will also add bitterness to the cookies, which goes excellent with chocolate flavor.
Moreover, the hot water will act as a bonding agent and will immediately activate the mix.
Spices
Nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, or powdered ginger go a long way in cookies. However, the downside is that they are pretty strong, so they will probably dominate the cookies’ flavor. Dry spices won’t affect the consistency of the dough, so don’t worry about adding too much, though you should be careful taste-wise.
Always add the spices to the dry mix before adding the liquids and forming the dough. That way, they will be evenly distributed, and all cookies will have a similar taste.
Sour Cream
Sour cream and baked goods are always good companions. Sour cream makes the cookies creamier, softer, and lighter, decreasing the chances of them burning.
You should whip the sour cream before merging it with the rest of the ingredients to prevent lumps from forming. The sour cream won’t dominate the flavor, but it will be noticeable, adding a bit of freshness to the cookies, especially expressed when they get cold.
Citrus Zest
Lemon, orange, or grapefruit zest will significantly improve your cookie mix. They will add a degree of sourness to the cookies, making them perfect for whatever you plan to combine them with, even a glass of milk.
Extracts
A few drops of vanilla, almond extract, or whatever extract is your favorite will turn your Betty Crocker sugar cookies into a true work of art. Your cookies will bear the subtle print of the extract you use without being overwhelmed or dominated by it.
A combination of extracts also works well. Mix the extracts and add them to the liquid ingredients before mixing them with the dry to make sure the flavors distribute evenly throughout the cookie dough.
Crunchy Cereal
Cereals added to the sugar cookie mix can be a true delight for the pallet. Not only that they add crunchiness, but they make the cookies lighter, as they themselves contain air bubbles in their structure.
A cup of cornflakes, fruity loops, or another cereal brand you find tasty will do just fine, enriching your cookies.
Espresso
Add espresso powder to the dry ingredients before merging them with the liquid ones. The espresso powder will add bitterness to the mix and will give the cookies a kick making them perfect for breakfast.
Snacks
You can add some chocolate chips, M&Ms, rainbow sprinkles, marshmallows, or dried fruit to the dough and turn your cookies into a fun and delicious experience. The chocolaty ingredients will melt and add creaminess to your cookies. The dried fruit will add extra sugar caramelizing the outside of the cookies.
Crushed Nuts
Imagine your Betty Crocker sugar cookies baking in the oven with chunks of almonds, hazelnuts or nuts, or all three. The chunks will roast nicely inside and on top of the cookies, leaving delightful moist holes in the places they were baking.
The structure of the cookies will be crumbly, and the chunks will make up for any lack of crunchiness they lost because of the other ingredients.
Pudding
Adding pudding will not only add amazing flavor to your cookies but will alter the texture and make it chewy and gooey, giving you the perfect balance between cookies and fudge.
How to Improve Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix?
To improve your Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, it isn’t enough to only add ingredients, as sometimes the key may be technique.
Include Milk
Adding milk to your sugar cookie mix will make the cookies softer and moister on the inside and smoother on the outside. It also influences the taste, making the rest of the flavors milder and better-balanced.
However, be careful how much you add, and balance the consistency by adding four if you go overboard with the milk.
Add Extra Eggs
One or two extra eggs will help the rest of the ingredients bond better giving you more stable cookies with better elasticity. However, eggs reduce the crumbliness of the cookies, so have that in mind.
If you like crumbly cookies but still want to add eggs, it is good to add crushed nuts to make up for it.
Make Cookies With Butter
Butter is irreplaceable when it comes to baked goods. The Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix recipe calls for either butter, margarine, or spread. Use real butter instead of the other two.
The inside creaminess, outside smoothness, and fattiness the butter provides cannot be substituted by another ingredient. Also, butter makes the dough easier to work with and reduces the chances of sticky cookies.
Put Some Flour
Flour is a great way to balance out the consistency of the sugar cookie mix. If you go a bit overboard adding liquid ingredients, add flour to stabilize the consistency.
It is always good to sift the flour into the mix to avoid lumps. Lumps tend to burn when baking which can really ruin your cookies.
Freeze the Dough
The dough may be unstable no matter what you add; therefore, you need to do something to stabilize it, especially if you’re making cut-outs.
Placing the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours before baking the cookies could be just what they need. In addition, the fridge time will give the dough extra moisture making the cookies softer and juicier.
Decrease the Baking Time
Reducing the baking time to as little as five minutes will significantly improve your cookies, especially if you want them more on the softer side.
Improve Cookies With Frosting
Whatever mistakes you made with the dough, there’s nothing frosting cannot fix. Therefore, don’t be stingy with the frosting if nothing else works.
