4 Traditional Cookie Recipes and How to Amp Up Their Flavor

If you were asked to name a cookie, which type would you name first? 
There are hundreds—maybe thousands—of cookie recipes on the internet,
but the most common are chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, and
oatmeal raisin. These recipes are all delightful on their own, but if
you would like to add some finesse to your recipe or perhaps make it
feel a bit more grown up, these add-ins and tricks will create something
practically gourmet.

The Best Add-Ins for Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is nothing quite as delicious as a warm, gooey, chocolate chip
cookie straight out of the oven—except maybe a warm and gooey chocolate
chip cookie with one of these fancy add-ins.  You can never have enough
chocolate.  Instead of creating small, flat cookies, why not roll them
into balls, dip them in melted chocolate, and chill them in the
refrigerator for easy, delicious chocolate chip cookie dough truffles?

If you prefer your cookie dough baked, don’t worry.  There are plenty of
other options.  Add a bit of salt to your sweet treat by crushing up
pretzels or your favorite potato chips and adding it to the dough.  If
you like a mashup of melty flavors, add in peanut butter chips, white
chocolate chips, or even butterscotch pieces.  You can even create
something fruity by mixing in dried cranberries or a jar of drained
maraschino cherries.

What to Add to Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

Soft peanut butter cookies are pretty darn amazing on their own, of
course, but they could be so much better.  How much do you love bacon?  
How much would you like it mixed into your cookies?  Cooked, drained
bacon mixed into peanut butter cookie dough adds just the right amount
of salty flavor.  If you prefer to keep your cookies sweet, try stirring
some Nutella or cocoa powder into the dough.

Are you someone who loves the flavors of peanut butter and banana
together?  You can get the same flavor in your cookies if you mix in
crushed banana chips.  You can even go traditional by creating peanut
butter cookies with jellied thumbprints in the center.

Unique Ideas for Sugar Cookie Dough

The things you can do with sugar cookie dough range from the very basic
to the highly unique, but each one is delicious in its own right.  If you
want to do something very basic that doesn’t take a lot of time, simply
add some food coloring to your dough.  You could use one color for the
quickest option, or several if you would like to create a rainbow.  For
about the same effort, you can turn your sugar cookies into the popular
but sometimes forgotten snickerdoodles.  All you need to do is add in
some cinnamon sugar.

Would you prefer something more grown up for your sugar cookies?  Try
lavender vanilla or salted caramel flavors.  If you’d like to try the
lavender vanilla, simply add a teaspoon of vanilla and ½ teaspoon of
lavender flowers.  Would you prefer the salted caramel?  Mix in 1 cup of
chopped caramels and sea salt to taste.

Delicious Add-Ins for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are delicious when soft and gooey, and they
already have plenty of their own add-ins, but you can make them even
better.  If you don’t want to change the dough itself, you can make an
orange glaze to drizzle over the cookies once they come out of the oven.
  All it takes is a bit of powdered sugar, some orange juice, and a dash
of orange zest.

Are you a fan of carrot cake?  Add some grated carrot and walnuts to
taste.  You can get a boost of energy and a breakfast cookie flavor with a
bit of espresso powder, or if you want to try something tropical, mix
in dried pineapple and coconut before baking.

A Quick Tip for Your Cookies

Chances are you want to try several of these ideas, but don’t exactly
want to bake several dozen cookies from scratch. There is good news.  Each of these recipes can be made using premade, store-bought cookie
dough.  Hamptoncreek offers each of these flavors and their dairy-free,
vegan doughs are even healthier than many options.  In fact, they’re so
safe and healthy that you can eat them straight from the jar.

Now that you know just how easy it is to make gourmet cookies, you can
have a great treat any night of the week. Don’t forget to take a batch
or two to your next event.  You’ll be the hit of the party.