Creative Cookie Dough Mix Ins

While I usually make my cookies from scratch, sometimes I do buy premade dough. When I do buy ready to bake cookie dough, it usually come in the form of a school fundraiser…

Let’s face it, sometimes premade cookie dough is perfect – it’s quick and it’s easy, and often pretty darn tasty. But, it can be improved upon with a bit of creativity and your store bought dough can become something special. If you are so inclined, you could probably pass them off as homemade (or at least semi-homemade) after adding in some extras. Of course you could make these combos from scratch, and if you’d like to do that, you could try my favorite double chocolate cookie recipe.

This is really more of an “idea” than a recipe. Add some mix ins to your cookie dough and doctor it up. I took this triple chocolate cookie dough and doctored it two ways to come up with Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Pretzel Cookies and Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Cookies. YUM. And super easy.

I started with my cookie dough, and simply added in some extras. These both turned out to be very tasty combos. Kraft Caramel Bits and Goldfish Pretzels…

When adding my mix ins, I worked them in by hand. You can use a fork or spoon, but to really truly get them to blend with the dough completely, your hands are going to do the best job. I adore the Kraft Caramel Bits, but they can be a bit messy when baking. When making cookies with them, I put down wax paper and I add a bit of cooking spray, otherwise they can do a pretty good job of sticking to the pans.

I baked according to the directions on the dough.

For the peanut butter cup and pretzel version, I used the peanut butter filled pretzels and mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s,  I rough chopped the pretzels as they are a bit too big to go in full size.

If you love chocolate, peanut butter and crunch, these are for you. I love a lot of crunch and texture in my cookies, and these ones have plenty. SO good.

I have a few more versions to share tomorrow. There are so many possibilities – the sky is the limit. Instead of focusing on making the cookie dough, you get to put your energies into coming up with the perfect mix ins. This could be so fun at a party – let each kiddo pick their own mix ins and make a giant cookie. Or please everyone in the family with their own custom cookie creation. Fun stuff!