Bake It, Don't Buy It: 6 Treats That Are Better Homemade

It's so easy to pick up a box of donuts or a package of chocolate chip cookies when you do your weekly shop. As much as my family enjoys wholesale club sheet cake, such commercial baked goods are never as good as the ones you can make at home. I always say homemade is better than store-bought, and it's true for so many reasons. 

Not only can home-baked goods be less expensive than store-bought versions, but you control what goes into them: the quality of the ingredients, how much sugar there is, and that there are no additives or preservatives. It's also more sustainable since no plastic boxes or bags are needed to package your homemade baked goods. 

And if you're here, I think you're someone who enjoys baking. Making treats at home is time to enjoy the process of baking and spending time in the kitchen to make something tasty for your family and friends—maybe they're even helping you bake.

Time-Saving Baking Tips

• If you don’t often have time to bake, know that you can freeze most (unfrosted) cakes and pretty much any drop cookie—you could make a double batch when you do have time for baking. 
• Frostings can be made-ahead and frozen or refrigerated—allow them to come to room temperature and beat until smooth before using.
• If you want to make your favorite treats a tad healthier, swap 1/4 to 1/2 cup of whole-wheat flour for the all-purpose flour used in these recipes. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Pizza and peanut butter cookies were the Friday lunch when I was in high school, and it was the meal we looked forward to all week. With just six ingredients, this nostalgic homemade version is so easy to make. The cookies have the iconic texture that’s slightly chewy in the middle, slightly crumbly on the edges, with plenty of peanut flavor. They’re also a little salty to accentuate the nutty flavor. They’re finished with the classic crosshatch pattern and are ready in a little over half an hour.

Tips

• For the classic texture and flavor, always use grocery store peanut butter, not natural for baking.
• Use a fork lightly dipped in flour to make the crosshatch pattern—dipping it in flour will prevent the fork from sticking to the dough. 
• Don’t press too hard, you aren’t trying to flatten the cookies before you bake them.
• The baked cookies freeze well—and you can eat them right out of the freezer.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are, of course, everyone's favorite cookie. There are a number of stellar chocolate chip cookies, and I love them all, except—this will be controversial—I’m not a fan of cakey chocolate chip cookies. This recipe has been my go-to for the past few years, yielding big cookies with crisp edges and chewy centers. It uses a mix of white and light-brown sugars—just the right amount of brown sugar adds a caramelized flavor and adds the chewiness we all adore. 

Tips

• Sometimes I make them with all chocolate chips, other times I use all chopped chocolate. Recently, I’ve been using a mixture of both, and it’s just right. The chocolate chips hold their shape, whereas the chopped chocolate melts into the cookie—so using both gives the best of both worlds.
• I like to use the "pan banging" method method made popular by Sarah Keiffer, which gives the cookies those wrinkly edges: A couple of times during baking, remove the pan from the oven and firmly bang it on the stovetop. (Avoid doing this if you have a glass stovetop.)  

Glazed Yeast Donuts

Store-bought donuts can be a letdown. They’re often overly sweet, stale from sitting around too long, or too soft. My homemade version takes a bit of time, but the payoff is worth it. Puffy and tender with just a bit of chew (essential for a good donut!), these are the ultimate Sunday morning treat. This recipe makes lemon-glazed yeast donuts, which I prefer to the classic as it has a bit of tang to contrast with the sweetness of the glaze. And it has variations for strawberry and chocolate glazes, which are just as delicious. 

Tips

• These yeasted donuts are perfect for a Sunday brunch, because you need to make the dough the night before. Then roll it out and proof for about one hour the next day. They will be ready to fry when the first sleepy head rolls out of bed.
• Be sure you proof the dough properly before frying the donuts; they should be very puffy and soft—this ensures they get a good belly band (the lighter band around the center of a well-made donut) when you fry them.
• Don’t skip the parchment squares called for in the recipe: each donut sits on one to proof, and you use the parchment to move the donut into the hot oil, so you don’t need to handle or squash the delicate donut before it’s cooked.
• These glazed donuts are best eaten the day they are made; there is no need to worry about leftovers—they go fast!

Baked Chocolate Cake Donuts

Quite simply, these are the very best cake donuts around. Some say baked donuts are really just cupcakes in a different form. Who cares? Thanks to a generous amount of cocoa powder and chocolate chips enriching the batter, and a rich chocolate glaze to finish, these are super chocolatey and tasty.  

Cake donuts are a lot easier to make than yeasted donuts, but you will need a donut pan.

Tips

• If you don’t have a piping bag, snip the corner off of a freezer bag and use it to pipe the batter into the cavities of the donut pan.
• They are best enjoyed on the day they are made, but you could bake them and store in an airtight container the day before you need them.
• Alternatively, freeze the donuts—without any glaze, then add the glaze when you defrost and serve them.

Sheet Cake

Sometimes you will find a store-bought sheet cake in my kitchen; the best ones are sweet and tender, but I find they are lacking in balance—they’re just too sweet. This recipe is the real deal: a simple vanilla cake with the most indulgent chocolate frosting. The cake has a delicate crumb and is baked in a 9-by-13-inch pan. It’s an easy celebration cake for a birthday or graduation, or any time you need a special cake that‘s perfect for sharing. 

The ultra-rich chocolate frosting is super simple and tastes divine. It’s created by beating softened butter into chocolate ganache (that’s an elemental combination of chocolate and cream). If I was advertising it, I'd call it a three-ingredient frosting. Truly, it couldn’t be simpler, especially when compared to my other go-to frosting, Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It's so good, I could eat it with a spoon.

Toaster Pastry

This is not a copycat recipe, but it is informed by toaster pastries. I developed this recipe inspired by the memory of eating them at my grandma's. The crust for this giant double-crusted jam tart is made with butter with a little bit of shortening added to give that sandy store-bought texture. It doesn’t taste like store-bought toaster pastries—it’s better. Making one big pastry to cut into portions is much better than making individual pastries; it cuts back on time, but not taste. 

Tips

• Use whatever jam you have: strawberry, raspberry, cherry—or try apple butter. Homemade is preferable but high-quality store-bought works too.
• The glaze is optional.
• For a healthier version of sprinkles to finish the pastry, pulse freeze-dried berries in the food processor or put them in a freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin.