How To Trick Your Friends Into Thinking Store-Bought Cookies Are Fresh

Nothing beats a freshly made, from-scratch cookie — except for one that requires little effort and appears freshly made. The good news is there are plenty of ways to take store-bought cookies and make them feel, look, and taste homemade. This way, you get the appearance and flavor without the hassle of making a mess in the kitchen.

The first way to make them come to life is to warm them before serving for that fresh-out-of-the-oven feel. For the best way to reheat your cookies to get a soft and chewy taste, you reheat them in the microwave for about 10 seconds for each one. Before nuking, wrap them in a lightly damp paper towel. This trick helps the cookie retain moisture instead of drying out and becoming tough. Use this method on thicker cookie varieties that you want to have a plush texture. 

Another way to trick your guests into thinking they're homemade is to bake them on a parchment-lined sheet at 350 degrees. Let them get toasty for about three minutes. The result will be a warm treat with crispier edges, a less chewy consistency, and a more gooey interior. For extra crispiness, bake at 300 Fahrenheit for five to 10 minutes. This method makes a crunchy, hot texture perfect for hardy varieties like shortbread, gingersnaps, biscotti, and thin cookies, like snickerdoodles, so they feel homemade.

In addition to reheating store-bought cookies, consider decorating them differently to help them appear like you made them yourself. For starters, you can top plain sugar cookies with dollops of buttercream or canned frosting. If you want to get fancy, use royal icing — just be sure to include the secret ingredient to give it undeniable flavor: a dash of vinegar. Best of all, you can decorate more quickly with a squeeze bottle.

For the ultimate impressive hack, assemble pre-made cookie sandwiches by smoothing some frosting between two cookies. In no time, you'll have made a one-of-a-kind treat that looks homemade and personalized. Think chocolate frosting for double chocolate cookies, vanilla cinnamon frosting for cozy snickerdoodles, strawberry icing-topped sugar cookies for a fruity flavor, or add cream cheese frosting and dried fruits and nuts to make hummingbird oatmeal cookies.

Incorporate more toppings into store-bought cookies to keep guests speculating. For example, if you buy chocolate chip cookies from the store, grab a bag of chocolate chunks to stud the surface for extra decor that makes the cookies look thoughtful (and loaded with ingredients). An extra step that will make the cookies taste gourmet is to melt the chocolate and dip the corners of the cookies in it before tossing on some sprinkles or festive candies before drying. No matter how you decide to trick your guests with delicious hacks, make sure to serve up your scratch-look-alike masterpieces on your favorite platter to seal the deal.