I was in a bind today and made an accidental discovery using Pillsbury cookie dough. I live in a rural area, about an hour from the nearest grocery store and ran out of NFSC dough. I had already made several dozen baby shower cookies and needed just 6 more cookies. I was out of margarine but didnt want to run to town. I had a tube of that premade sugar cookie dough in the freezer and decided to get it out and see if it would work. I rolled it out, cut the shapes and let it sit in the freezer but they still spread too much. Didnt think the dough would work and I decide to work some flour and cocoa into the dough. I added about 1/4 flour and 3 tablespoons of cocoa. Gave it another try and by golly it worked! As a matter of fact ... it spread less and retained the shape of the cutter better than the NFSC dough. Had a nice brownie taste, nice texture and dried good and solid. I dont think they will be fragile at all. Just wanted to share my discovery. I will consider working with it again if Im needing to make just a few cookies.

Sounds great! A "cookie dough" extender recipe! Thanks for sharing your discovery!

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-Rezzy

Well, I tried 3 times to post a picture so you could see how they retained their shape but for some reason I can't post pictures, even after reading the directions 3 times! LOL!

Good to know since one time recently I just needed 3!!! cookies for a bouquet--we are talking the smallest flower cookies from the flower set and ended up making a 1/2 batch of nf's. I have a Walmart 5mins away and with 3 kiddos 4 and under, it would have been so much easier to get some premade dough vs making it. My little monkeys can reak havoc in a short time--lol

Great discovery! I will have to print out this thread for future reference.

Maybe I don't add enough flour because I have not much luck in the past by doing this. I haven't tried adding cocoa.

I'll try again and see what happens.

Thanks, texastwinkie........I'll have to try it again. I'm curious to see what I end up with

thanks for the tip

Thanks for the great tip!!!!!

I use the Pillsbury cookie dough ALL the time for my cookies. I tried the no-fail recipe and did not like the taste at all. I also add flour to the Pillsbury dough and they hold their shape very well. I cover my cookies with rolled buttercream and add royal icing accents. Everyone who tries them just loves the taste. Needless to say, I don't always volunteer the fact that they are from a packaged dough!! There are some examples in my photos.

Thanks for sharing!! it's good to know we have options when we are in a pinch. BTW I have used the packaged Betty Crocker Sugar cookies and they work well too. They also have a good taste. The package has instructions on what to do to make them roll out cookies.

Shaynamills:

You can find the recipe for rolled buttercream in the recipes section. It's great for covering cookies and some people cover cakes also, although I've never tried that. You roll it out, much like fondant. You can use the same cookie cutter that you used for your cookies to cut out the rolled buttercream. Then just put it on the cookie. I also brush the surface with a small amount of corn syrup to help the buttercream stick.

I know one lady said she tried the betty crocker sugar cookie mix, has anyone else tried it and was sucsessful?

[What is NFSC dough, new to the baking world Thanks]

NO FAIL SUGAR COOKIES do a search for it...They are great!!![/quote]

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2055-No-Fail-Sugar-Cookies.html
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http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1603-Rolled-Buttercream-Icing-Recipe.html

I never have things like Pillsbury on hand. Wish I did to try this though. Sounds good, especially the cocoa added to it.

I never liked sugar cookies until a recipe I found in one of those checkout stand recipe books. I use it all the time. My family absolutely loves it. I'm going to try it next time without the baking powder to see how they turn out ... I've heard they're supposed to retain their shape better that way. I'm a taste girl though ... so comprimising the shape a wee bit for flavour is okay with me.

I'm making some today ... and a chocolate cake It's chilly, might as well warm up with some baking!

Thanks Texastwinkie,
I tried it last night just for fun and it worked, added the flour and cocoa as well as some vanilla and almond flavoring and they held their shape and tasted so yummy!! Even a little cake like in the middle. Not too crunchy, not too cakey, just right. Of course I kept putting the dough in the freezer and then put the cut outs in the freezer prior to baking but it worked. Thanks so much. I'll post pics when I'm done decorating them.

great ideas.... thanks