Take Boxed Cookie Mix From Bland To Gourmet With One Ingredient

The smell of cookies baking in the oven can cure the hardest of days. Boxed cookie mix is a convenient way to whip up a batch, and can be just as easily upgraded as batter made from scratch. One simple trick is to add a sprinkle of sea salt right before baking.

Salt will likely already be included in your mix, but it's incorporated into all the other ingredients during the baking process. Sea salt is usually a finishing salt, which is used toward or at the end of cooking, and its purpose is to add a final layer of complexity to the flavor and texture profile of a dish. Ina Garten keeps three types of salts in her pantry at all times — two of which are finishing salts because they make such a difference. Cookies are sweet, of course, but balancing them out with salty or savory notes can make them more complex and interesting.

When your cookie batter is on the tray, simply add a small pinch of sea salt. The benefit of seasoning before baking is that it will better absorb into the cookies, while still maintaining a bit of crunch. You can also add sea salt as soon as the baked goods come out of the oven and are still hot, but note that flaky sea salt might be a better choice here, as the thinner texture will make it easier to chomp. Just like that, your boxed cookie mix will taste like a premium patisserie fare.

Salt is just the beginning of the culinary journey that is savory cookies. If you thought cookies weren't for you, you probably just haven't found the right one. Yet. Spices are an underrated addition that can ramp up the tastes, with or without heat. If you like spicy, Ancho chilis pair excellently with milk or dark chocolate chip cookies, bringing a grown-up flavor to a children's classic. Many seasonings offer a warming mouth sensation that comforts rather than challenges. Wintery classics like nutmeg and cinnamon can jazz up plain sugar cookies, while uncommon spice, grains of paradise, gives a peppery, citrusy dimension for a savory adaptation of traditionally sweet citrus cookies.

Nuts are a popular cookie filler and can be mixed and matched to give you a complex and flavorful bite. Walnuts and hazelnuts are classic choices, but consider working in pine nuts or pistachios, the latter of which will provide little pops of green, creating a cookie that's as appealing to the eye as it is to the taste buds.