How to Improve Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough?
The Pillsbury sugar cookie dough is a ready-to-bake dough that leaves nothing for you to do except enjoy the cookies after baking. However, with a little imagination and the most basic baking skills, you can improve an already great idea like Pillsbury sugar dough. So how to improve Pillsbury sugar cookie dough?
To improve the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, you can add butter, extracts, citrus zest, sour cream, colorings, coffee, or salt. You can also do some tricks like chilling the dough or adding more of the ingredients already contained in the dough to make the cookies taste even better.
The Pillsbury sugar cookie dough is already as perfect as it can be, but with a tad of creativity and imagination, you can make it taste heavenly and have some fun while baking. In the following paragraphs, I will give you some ideas on making the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough better.
Add Butter
Adding butter is a universal solution when you want to improve a baked good. Chances are that nine out of ten times, it will do an excellent job and that one time when it won’t work, it won’t make things worse, so the worst that could happen is that your Pillsbury sugar cookies will stay the same.
Opt for natural unsalted dairy butter. Margarine could work too, but dairy butter works way better. Melt a stick of butter and let it chill, don’t add it hot.
Pour the butter over your Pillsbury sugar cookie dough and knead it gently until the butter fully absorbs. This will turn your sugar cookie experience into a pleasurable event you want to repeat.
Add Extracts
Extracts are always a great idea to add flavor to your baked goods. Your Pillsbury sugar cookies will taste heavenly with a few drops of vanilla or rum extract. Don’t be stingy with the spices, too; some cinnamon, nutmeg, or pumpkin spice can go a long way, especially with a few drops of vanilla or rum extract.
Sour Cream
Although this may sound a little out there, you should definitely try adding a scoop of sour cream to your Pillsbury sugar cookie dough. The sour cream won’t affect the flavor that much, but it will affect the consistency and texture of the cookies.
The sour cream will add airiness and fluffiness to your Pillsbury sugar cookies, making them soft and even more delicious. Their interior will be creamy and velvety, and you will love the added refinement of the sour cream’s signature action.
Citrus Zest
This list would be incomplete if we didn’t mention citrus zest. Known for its use in desert-making, citrus zest will upgrade your Pillsbury sugar cookie dough. Adding citrus zest to your Pillsbury sugar cookie dough would mean adding some edgy freshness and amplifying the already contained flavors.
The result will be delicious Pillsbury sugar cookies, which taste even sweeter than regular. You can add lemon, orange, or grapefruit zest, or even better, a combination of the three for an even fresher and edgier effect.
Food Coloring
You can experiment with the color if you don’t want to mess with the flavor. Adding food coloring to your Pillsbury sugar cookie dough will give you fun and colorful cookies perfect for birthday party treats or just having fun yourself.
More of the Ingredients
Probably the simplest way to improve Pillsbury sugar cookie dough is to add more ingredients already in the dough. Don’t add sugar, as there is plenty, but feel free to add other ingredients, such as baking powder or melted butter, proportionally.
This will enrich the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, giving you delightfully tasty cookies.
Add Salt
A pinch of salt goes a long way with baked goods. To accentuate the flavors already inside the Pillsbury cookie dough, sprinkle some salt and gently knead to disperse it through the dough. Your cookies will taste sweeter and more intense.
Chill the Dough
The Pillsbury sugar cookie dough works amazing when chilled beforehand. You can place it in the fridge for 20 minutes to half an hour for it to rest and settle, and then you can bake your delicious Pillsbury sugar cookies.
Chilling the dough is also a great idea if you have added anything to it, so leaving the dough in the fridge will allow the extra ingredients to homogenize with the ones already there.
Add Coffee
A tbsp. of the espresso is always welcomed regarding Pillsbury sugar cookie dough. You can sprinkle the coffee on the dough surface and knead it gently until it gets a nice light-brown shade, making your cookies even more seductive.
The coffee will also add sharpness and edge to your cookies.
