This Alex Guarnaschelli Tip Will Elevate Your Store-Bought Cookie Dough

Plenty of foods are just as delicious whether made from scratch or bought at the store. Alton Brown for example, saves time by using frozen pie crust, and Ina Garten makes an exception for jarred mayonnaise and marinara sauce (via Food Network).

When it comes to pre-made cookie dough however, there's usually a tradeoff. On one hand, it's much more convenient. You don't have to measure any ingredients, so the process goes a lot faster, especially when you buy the cookie dough that comes already portioned. But on the other hand, store bought dough is generally less flavorful. Because many store-bought cookie dough brands contain different preservatives, they often end up tasting artificial, Eat This, Not That points out. 

Nothing compares to the taste and quality of a batch of cookies made entirely from scratch, but according to celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli, there's a way to elevate the store-bought kind so you don't have to settle for less.

What makes store-bought cookie dough so convenient is that it can go straight from the package to the oven, but with only one extra step you can make it taste even better, Alex Guarnaschelli says. Before slicing up your log of dough, Guarnaschelli shared to People, roll it in coarse sugar. Not only will this make the cookies look more homemade when they come out of the oven, they'll also taste better. Insider recommends taking this a step further by mixing the sugar directly into the dough to add more moisture and chew. But if you don't want to risk overpowering your cookie with sweetness, Guarnaschelli told People that rolling the dough in chopped nuts instead of sugar works just as well.

Store-bought cookie dough also tends to be lacking in flavor because it uses less mix-ins than a homemade recipe, but Guaranaschelli says there's a simple fix. Just add more chocolate chips or chocolate coated candies and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes.

As a regular judge on "Chopped" and the host of "Supermarket Stakeout," Alex Guarnaschelli knows better than anyone that store-bought products aren't necessarily worse than fresh ingredients. But while most cookie doughs apparently need extra sugar and mix-ins, Guarnaschelli has made sure her own brand tastes delicious as is.

Back in 2020, the celebrity chef came out with her own line of cookie doughs available in flavors like chocolate chip pecan and cranberry orange oatmeal (via YouTube). Available by the 6-pound package, Guarnaschelli's cookie dough has sold out multiple times, she shared on Instagram, and the reason it tastes better than other store-bought cookie doughs all comes down to the lack of additives. 

"If you read the ingredients on the box [of the macadamia white chocolate chunk cookies], the second ingredient is white chocolate chunks. There's nothing in here that you don't want," she shared on a QVC spot (via YouTube). Considering artificial ingredients are what dilutes the flavor of other store-bought cookie doughs, it makes sense that balancing it out with pure sugar or chopped nuts is the easiest way to bring it back.