Baking Cookies Or Buying Cookies

I'm good at baking from scratch and I still buy cookies sometimes because when Walmart does the 40% off bakery reductions it sometimes works out to be cheaper then baking cookies. Unless you're baking a huge batch of cookies, a box of Walmart bakery clearance cookies at $1.59 is cheaper then buying eggs, flour , sugar, etc.
You mentioned that baking is not your strong area and that you don,'t have much time to bake, so in your case it's okay to buy cookies instead of ingredients. Baking from scratch is not for everyone.

 

I'm much like you PurplePen88 when it comes to baking and I too buy cookies and other baked goods. You know what? The best peanut butter cookies are the home baked ones. I miss them for nothing store bought tastes like home baked peanut butter cookies! Ahh,memories of home baked peanut butter cookies on my mind.

 

I sometimes ruin baking, and other times it comes out perfectly, so it is hit and miss with that. As far as bought cookies, they can also be hit and miss, I have found. But overall, the best cookies out there are the soft cookies. It never really used to matter what flavor they were either, as long as they were soft, and not all crunchy.

 

I used to be good at baking cookies, but lately happens to me the same; sometimes goes right, sometimes go wrong, but usually time is my main constrain when it comes to baking cookies, so I have to buy them, but I tried to bake my own in large batches whenever I have the time, more than for saving money, because I like more my cookies than any found at the store.

 

I can never bake cookies because I do not know how to bake and I don't have the time to bake not to mention that I do not want to bake, hahahaaah. In the last holiday season, there was an abundance of cookies in the guise of gifts from colleagues and friends. I don't know why the cookies became the fashion. I received more than 30 cookies of different sizes, different packaging and different cost. I gave away to the poor neighbors most of those cookies.

 

I like both, but sometimes when cookies are on offer in a store (like Pepperidge Farm) they are better value as you don't feel you have to eat them as quickly. Obviously if you have a family or friend around all of the time to eat them, fresh can be better, but as it's just me, it's not a good idea to eat them all by myself.

 

The only problem with buying cookies and baked goods is a lot of times they have unhealthy transfats and so forth in them. The cheaper the cookie, the likely the worse it is for you. Some cookies are not too time consuming to make at home..I think there are a few gluten free options too that can be made at home.

 

I like to bake, it is a way to release stress for me. I make great cookies and muffins. I have a very simple recipe that quick and easy, take a box of cake frosting, add one cup of flour and one egg, mix it up drop your mix onto a cookie sheet and bake. Use any flavor of frosting you want. I like to make peanut butter cookies this way when I am in a hurry and really need a cookie.

 

I won't lie, I buy cookies at times mainly when I am too lazy to bake them. But nothing beats homemade cookies! I bake the a few times a year, mainly around the holidays. Problem is I always end up making big batches so I have to give them away! But you are right if you bake them you can determine how much sugar, no chemicals, swap things out etc.

 

The only cookies I buy are Oreos because I do not like other store bought cookies. I prefer to make my own because I love homemade cookies. Of course, I do not always make them since I do not have the time or I am just too lazy. The ones I make the most are no bake cookies which are one of my favorites anyway.

 

Buying cookies would be really expensive if I did that all the time as I have food allergies. For me it's a lot cheaper to make them from scratch myself. And I generally find that I prefer the taste if I make them myself as well, so that's also a bonus! Occasionally I might buy them though, but at close to $6 a time here, it's just not really worth it for me unless it's a specific special occasion that I don't want to have to cook for. Which doesn't happen often because I love cooking anyway!

 

I don't know how to cook, so I have no choice but to buy cookies from the store. Luckily, the cheapest cookies here in the bakery nearby are only 6 cents, so that's quite cheap already so no need to learn how to bake.

 

I prefer to bake cookies definitely. It's really fun to do! I always love making things with my mother. We baked cookies together for everyone. I love everyone eating what I make. But I just love making things in general. So yeah I would always choose making cookies over buying it any day.

 

I bake cookies at home only on special occasions or when I just feel like doing it. However I prefer store-bought cookies any other day because I'm not that good at baking and in any case it always is cheaper when I buy the cookies.

IMHO you'll only save money if you are cooking a lot of cookies.

 

Get yourself a cookie scooper - the kind with the scraper inside of it which will release the dough from the scooper. It makes knocking out a batch of home made cookies so much faster and more consistent than trying to roll them all by hand. Another trick I've noticed is to mix your dough, then put it in the fridge for a bit to let it chill back up again (like 30 min to an hour). Otherwise, if the butter is too warm when they go into the oven, they may have a tendency to spread out too much and become too thin and burn easily.

Some people prefer brown sugar in their cookies vs. white sugar (I like the brown sugar myself) and some folks swear by using butter flavored vegetable shortening in place of the butter, but I much prefer butter.

Also, it helps to pull them out a little bit before you think they are "done" - they may seem too soft at first, but will firm up once they cool down. If you cook them until they are hard, you run the risk of burning them.

 

I feel the same way.
Most of the time I buy cookies.
However, sometimes if I have enough money I buy the cookie or cupcake mixes because my kids just love them and we always have lots of fun together when making them.

 

If you decide to make cookies from scratch, I have a couple of suggestions. First, get a silicone baking mat. I lays flat on top of the cookies sheet and there is no need to grease the cookies, which is messy and messy clean-up. Just drop your cookie dough right onto the baking mat. They cook up beautifully. Second, make up a batch of dough and when it is ready, just make a sheet of cookies. Keep the rest of the dough in an air-tight container in the fridge. Then you can have fresh cookies on demand, in a flash. The big clean-up happens less often this way too.

 

I think homemade would definitely taste away better because store brands always have that subtle preservative feel that you could probably not notice but when you start to taste regular home baked goods you could definitely tell the difference. Though I don't think I'd ever switch to home made just for the price since I doubt I'd be saving all that much since I don't really eat cookies regularly and the time I'd be saving myself definitely is worth more than the few dollars I'll get to save when it comes to this so what I do to compromise is just to buy home baked brands like from boutique sellers and then I just use the time I saved to get more work done to compensate.

 

If I need a lot for something like a party, I tend to just buy the cookies. But if there's family over or my little sisters are bored, we bake the cookies ourselves. Homemade cookies tastes so much better, in my opinion. However, it is a bit of a hassle to buy a lot of ingredients, so when I bogged down with work I tend to go the easy route and buy a large cookie platter.