Pillsbury – The Impulsive Buy

REVIEW: Pillsbury Limited Edition Candy Cane Sugar Cookie Dough

Marvo / December 18, 2025 / Reviews / 4 Comments

If the media has taught me anything, it’s that regular sugar cookies are the default cookies left out for Santa. But after a lifetime of delivering gifts, I’m pretty sure, much like Santa’s whole body is tired after a night of chimney sliding, present slinging, turbulent sleigh riding, reindeer arguing, and a low iPhone battery, his taste buds must be equally as tired as the rest of his body from sugar cookies.

I’m gonna mix it up for Santa this year and offer him something new. Crumbl? I’m not spending six bucks for one cookie. Chips Ahoy? I don’t want to be on his naughty list next year. Cookies baked from scratch with love? I don’t have the time or love for that.

I’m leaving out for him Pillsbury Candy Cane Sugar Cookies that I got for free from General Mills, which I’m going to try to pass off as baked from scratch. I’m also including a nice, cold, tall glass of a Monster Ultra Energy Drink. SHHHH! Don’t you be telling Santa that I put zero money and barely any effort into turning this pre-made, pre-cut cookie dough into cookies for him. You know what they say, “Snitches get stitches” and “Informers, something something something. I lick he boom-boom down.”

In my mind, being labeled “candy cane” meant there were crunchy candy cane bits in the dough, and when I examined the baked cookie closely through my nearsightedness, I noticed red and white bits, which made me think there were tiny shards of minty candy. However, my teeth didn’t register any crunchy bits; instead, it had the texture of a regular Pillsbury sugar cookie, soft and slightly chewy.

But the lack of candy cane bits did not equal a lack of peppermint flavor. There’s a mild Sensodyne toothpaste-like mintiness in every bite. Even if you don’t chomp on one of those red or white bits, the dough has mint baked into it.

While I’m disappointed I didn’t experience crunchy candy cane bits and a strong minty flavor from the cookies, these Pillsbury Limited Edition Candy Cane Sugar Cookie Dough cookies are decent. They’re different enough from Pillsbury’s standard sugar cookies that Santa might let out a quiet ho ho ho when he shoves them between his red, rosy cheeks. However, they aren’t outstanding enough to make The Big Guy forget all the illegal trespassing, storm avoiding, tip-toeing, fireplace fire avoiding, and elf attitude he needs to deal with for the rest of the night.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from General Mills. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 12 oz/makes 12 cookies
Purchased at: Received from General Mills
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cookie) 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 13 grams of sugar (including 13 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins

Brandon / August 30, 2023 / Reviews / 3 Comments

What is it?

Despite the cutesy “Poppins” moniker, Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins are just… little balls of ready-to-eat peanut butter cookie dough, no more, no less. Is it just me or has it only been within the past few years that companies began selling “safe to eat raw” cookie dough nuggets? Why did it take them so long to start doing this?

How is it?

In the case of this one, they probably should have kept fine-tuning the recipe before release. While there was nothing inherently bad or offensive about this particular Poppins, there wasn’t really much to love, either. The texture is a familiar one in line with any kind of unbaked cookie dough — though I was expecting a bit more grittiness — but the taste is lackluster.

Look, I don’t know how you describe the taste of peanut butter as anything other than “like peanut butter,” but this was like half the taste of peanut butter. Maybe peanut, no butter. That’s not quite it, but I don’t know how to explain it. The PB flavor was there initially, but it just trailed off at the end.

Anything else you need to know?

You can’t bake these. Also, while there are a few safe-to-eat raw cookie dough products on the market that you can bake, there are many others that aren’t meant to be eaten raw. There’s a chance you could get some Salmonella from the eggs or flour or, perhaps more seriously, E. coli from the latter. Thankfully, the only risk with this edible Reese’s dough is the disappointment of spending over $7 on something you shouldn’t spend more than a buck on.

Conclusion:

Even though these aren’t the worst things I’ve ever eaten, I’d never buy them again, and never in good conscience could I recommend that anyone spend $7 on them. But if I was at a party, and they had a tray of Poppins (not sure what strange party this is, but just pretend), I might eat, like, a couple. But only if it was the only dessert. You know, at the world’s weirdest party.

Purchased Price: $7.49
Purchased at: Hy-Vee
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (5 pieces) 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 25 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of total carbohydrates, 9 grams of total sugars, 0 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.

Cookie Dough Pillsbury Reese's

REVIEW: Pillsbury Banana Bread Batter

Ann / July 26, 2023 / Reviews / 14 Comments

You’ve been there. It’s Saturday, and you want banana bread, but all of your bananas are green! Rats! There’s no way to rapid-ripen them, so what do you do?! Boy oh Pillsbury doughboy, does General Mills have a solution for you with its new ready-to-bake Banana Bread Batter.

Okay, maybe that scenario isn’t very realistic, but thankfully this banana bread batter is. It’s also kind of hilarious. I don’t know why a bladder bag full of bread batter is so funny, except to say that a tube of goo will always garner a giggle. The product is pretty straightforward. You simply spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray, squeeze the batter goo into the pan, try not to eat all the goo instantly because, for some inexplicable reason, this batter tastes better than most cookie doughs you’ve tried, and then bake.

The batter needs a little assistance getting into all the corners of the pan, so you need to smooth it out a bit. No big deal, and so far, this is the most effort I’ve put into the entire process aside from cutting off the bag’s tip. The first time I made this, I ignored the step in the instructions to let the batter sit out at room temperature for 15 minutes before baking. Instead, I squeezed it out immediately after removing it from the fridge and baked it for the 60-minute recommended bake time.

When I did this, I baked the joy straight out of it. It was way overdone, had developed a thick bottom crust, was pretty dry, and lacked flavor. I was super disappointed, but it turned out the way it did because of user error. It’s reasonable to expect that a loaf of bread that needs to be baked for an hour should be checked on at around 50 minutes or so. Also, the batter tasted so good that I had to try again. I have to give you all an honest review experience!

I picked up another tube of goo to redeem myself! This time I let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes before squeezing the batter into my greased loaf pan. I also decided to add mini chocolate chips because, well, morsels. I reduced the baking time to 50 minutes and checked the loaf with a toothpick for doneness. This second attempt was an enormous success. This banana bread has a natural banana flavor that is not overpowering. The texture is fluffy, almost like a cake. I would say, as compared to homemade banana bread, most homemade recipes are far more moist and sticky dense. But for how quick and easy this is (assuming you don’t have to do it twice because I did that for you), it’s pretty good! It scratches an itch!

Overall I’d say Pillsbury’s Banana Bread Batter is unique and absurdly convenient for a consumer need that I’m not entirely certain exists. But it sticks the landing with a fluffy, tasty cake bread ending. I would suggest adding mix-ins like chocolate chips, walnuts, or maybe even another real banana to jazz it up a little.

Purchased Price: $6.49
Size: 30 oz log (makes 1 loaf)
Purchased at: Mariano’s (Kroger)
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/15 of a loaf) 190 calories, 6 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 200 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar (including 14 grams of added sugar), and 2 grams of protein.

Baked Goods Pillsbury

REVIEW: Pillsbury Snackable Cookie Dough Bites

Tiffany / January 8, 2021 / Reviews / 1 Comment

Update: So Pillsbury has changed the name of this product to Cookie Dough Poppins, which is a name that must make Poppin Fresh happy.

I thought Pillsbury was leapfrogging this edible cookie dough trend when it upgraded its existing Ready to Bake refrigerated cookie dough packs with a “safe to eat raw” seal and instructions to either eat OR bake them. It was pretty clever, but I guess even the Pillsbury Dough Boy couldn’t resist something in bite-form! So, three Snackable Cookie Dough Bites flavors rolled out: Birthday Cake, Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

He may just be dipping his toe in the water as it doesn’t seem like they’re available nationally yet. Interwebz intel says it’s only at Meijer stores, a regional Midwest grocer, for now.

I hope all of these make it, but with some changes, though. These are overall enjoyable. They’re at the same price point and package size as Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough Chunks. But, with each piece at almost twice the size of Ben & Jerry’s offering, it somehow seems like a better value to me. The mind (and stomach) works in mysterious ways. Their texture is perfect right out of the bag – just like a freshly mixed batch ready to go into the oven. Another plus is that this form doesn’t require any utensils. That’s a win-win-win in my book.

In regards to specific tasting notes, I would rank the flavors from “STEAL IT FROM THE DOUGH BOY NOW – GO GO GO!” to just kindly ask him for a sample as follows: Birthday Cake, Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

The “some changes” mentioned above mainly falls on the peanut butter one. I love all things peanut butter, so I had high hopes. But it fell flat on the rich nuttiness I expected. I could tell it was different from the chocolate chip one, though. But it was mostly visual.

It looked like a brown paper bag saturated in grease, which I’m assuming was caused by the extra oils in the peanut butter. I mentioned these bites were larger, but size didn’t make up for flavor as Ben & Jerry’s packed more peanut taste in a smaller form.

The Chocolate Chip one is in the middle of the pack. While the size and texture were just right, it tasted a bit bland to me. Some additional chocolate bits would have definitely helped, but the dough wasn’t as flavorful, which may be a harder fix. I could clearly taste the vanilla, but it was missing another flavor note.

Determined to figure it out, I sat in my kitchen eating one Pillsbury bite, one Ben & Jerry’s Dough Chunk, and a spoonful of Nestle Toll House edible cookie dough in rapid succession. It validated the lack of that je ne sais quoi, so I read the ingredients and noticed that the Dough Boy omitted a critical component present in the other doughs: BUTTER. I gasped audibly at the cardinal sin. Regardless of whether you agree if cookie dough can be considered cookie dough sans butter, it was a satisfying lightbulb moment as it also explained why the peanut butter one didn’t taste as flavorful either.

Birthday Cake ranked at the top because it was wonderfully vanilla-forward, AND the confetti colors didn’t bleed into the surrounding dough, unlike others. The lack of butter in this one didn’t bother me as I wanted that pure sugary vanilla-y taste. I did find myself wondering why I wouldn’t just buy and eat Ready to Bake Confetti Cookie Dough, though. So, I did and found out that we don’t do that unless we want a mouthful of sugary grit. Well, that’s one way to ensure a shopper buys both. Tricky, tricky!

While there are other edible cookie dough bite options, Pillsbury is currently the only brand that offers a birthday cake flavor, which also happens to be the tastiest and most exciting of the Dough Boy’s offerings. The other flavors are truly not bad at all, but they could use some improvement.

Purchased Price: $4.49 each
Size: 8 oz pouches
Purchased at: Meijer
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Birthday Cake), 6 out of 10 (Chocolate Chip), 4 out of 10 (Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip)
Nutrition Facts: (about 5 pieces) Birthday Cake – 120 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0g of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein. Chocolate Chip – 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0g of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 65 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip – 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0g of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 65 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

Cookie Dough Pillsbury

REVIEW: Pillsbury Heat & Eat Cinnamon Roll

Marvo / September 24, 2020 / Reviews / 3 Comments

What is the Pillsbury Heat & Eat Cinnamon Roll?

Well, actually, there’s more than one in a box, and they aren’t cinnamon rolls. They are bite-sized, pillows of dough, adhered together with cinnamon, and placed into paper cups. I guess you could consider them rolls if they’re made Katamari-style. There are four individual pouches with a vanilla-flavored icing packet for each.