Pillsbury Simply Refrigerated Cookie Dough
October 20, 2009
I am always interested in processed foods that use whole, recognizable ingredients and avoid artificial flavoring. This new line of refrigerated cookie dough from Pillsbury promises “simple, wholesome ingredients you and your family know and love.” I was surprised to see wheat flour is the first ingredient! There’s no trans fat, and no high fructose corn syrup. The package makes 12 cookies, and it was on sale at my grocery store for $2.50 — I had a coupon that brought it to $1.50 per package.
Unfortunately, the cookies weren’t particularly tasty. I thought they had a prominent artificial butter flavor, even though they are all-natural. And the chocolate chips had none of the silky, gooey goodness that I want in a warm cookie. They baked up flat and looked like something that came from a factory, not my own oven.
For me, these are a skip. I make my own break-and-bake cookies by freezing homemade cookie dough in measured balls — just plop them on a cookie sheet straight from the freezer and bake. I suppose if you made cookies from store-bought refrigerated dough often, it would be nice to rely on a product that was made from pronounceable ingredients. But for the rare times I buy break-and-bake cookies, I won’t worry too much about them being healthier, too.
Edited 10/21 to add: As I look around online I see that lots of food bloggers received a package from Pillsbury in exchange for a review of these cookies. I didn’t! (I would let you know if I had.) I just stumbled upon the coupon and felt like trying them.
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Filed under: Thinking Out Loud
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 4 and 6, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
3 Comments
1.
Ranee @ Arabian Knits | October 21, 2009 at 10:34 am
I would be a little wary of reading the wheat flour as anything but bleached white flour. Technically, all of the white flour we buy is wheat flour. If it doesn’t say whole wheat flour, then it isn’t. Also, just because something is all natural doesn’t mean it’s good, as you said, nor that it is good for you. Botulism, after all, is all natural.
I was trying to find the ingredient list, but couldn’t find a complete list. Do you still have it? I suspect that though they may include pronounceable ingredients, that they still aren’t the best ingredients, or what someone at home would necessarily include.
Ranee, I am virtually smacking my forehead over the wheat flour. You’re totally right, and I fell right into the marketing! I don’t have the package anymore, but I did read the ingredients myself and the only one that gave me pause was palm oil, because of the saturated fat. But then, butter is not innocent there either. I think that without trans fat and HFCS, it is a better choice for someone that would regularly buy ready-made dough anyway. My own cookies taste much better! — Dara
2.
Jodi | October 22, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I don’t like the package design. Wonder why they made it look so boring:)
3.
Sharon | October 26, 2009 at 9:16 am
I agree with you Jodi — guess they wanted the package to look as “Simple” as the ingredients
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