If you suck at baking or you lost your measuring spoons in the last move or you don’t have the counter space for a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, premade cookie dough is a life saver. Trader Joe’s recently released a few new cookie dough options: Super Chocolatey Chocolate Chunk, Gluten Free Super Chocolatey Chocolate Chunk, and All Butter Sugar Cookie Dough. We reviewed and liked Trader Joe’s two new chocolate chip cookie doughs (even though you can’t eat the dough raw, which should be illegal). But is this tube of sugar cookie dough a rush-out-and-buy product in its own right? We baked up a few batches to find out.
First thing’s first: Pretty much all freshly baked cookies are good. Okay, maybe they suck if you really botch a batch by accidentally making them with salt instead of sugar, but if you’re dealing with premade cookie dough, you’re probably golden. Trader Joe’s All Butter Sugar Cookie Dough is good by being sugar cookie dough, but I have a few quibbles.
Pros: As we already established, they’re cookies so of course they’re good! This tube of sugar cookie dough makes cookies that are sweet and buttery and chewy right out of the oven (although they crisp up a bit as they cool). The instructions don’t say how thick you should slice the dough before you bake it (they simply instruct you to slice it rather than scoop spoonfuls onto your baking sheet), but I’d say half an inch is safe. If you like a super buttery sugar cookie, you may be able to eat more of these than I was able to.
Cons: Trader Joe’s All Butter Sugar Cookie Dough has a few downsides. The cookies might actually be too buttery for some people’s taste. They’re pretty greasy. The tube we bought was dangerously close to expiring (why would a brand-new product be so close to expiring right after hitting shelves??) and, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think cookies are good when you have to worry that the slightly funky dairy flavor in the dough actually means it’s past its prime. Of course, the biggest con is that, according to the packaging, you can’t eat the dough raw. If you insist on a few bites of raw dough when you make cookies, stick with Pillsbury. Personally, I wouldn’t rush out and buy this again.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
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Gwynedd Stuart
Justine Sterling
Hebba Gouda
Jessica Block
