I am going to make cookies to give as birthday gifts. I don't know how to figure the cost into my overall budget. How much does it cost to make 1 dozen chocolate chip cookies? How about oatmeal raisin? Peanut butter?
By Penny from Cuyahoga Falls, OH
All depends if you are making from scratch or buying the pastry rolls you cut up and bake. (01/19/2010)
By Suntydt
Like Suntydt said it depends on if you bake from scratch, what part of the country you live in or what store you shop, what you already have in your pantry, if you buy on sale or with coupons or in the bulk section, etc.
Around here chocolate chips don't ever go very cheap unless you just stocked up at Christmas time. Spices can be costly if you don't already have them in your kitchen, although cinnamon is one of the least expensive ones. I always thought PB cookies were pretty inexpensive to make and most homes already have PB in their pantry. (Hopefully the recipient does not have peanut allergies.)
Here is a simple as can be PB cookie recipe that most people love that only uses 3 ingredients: PB, sugar, and one egg. You can also vary the recipe by adding chocolate chips or crunchy style PB, etc. Read the comments there for more suggestions.
allrecipes.com
The ingredients used for that recipe come under a dollar, more like 50 cents for the whole batch.
This ThriftyFun article talks a bit about calculating the cost of cookies:
thriftyfun.com (01/19/2010)
By KL
I think the best way to do this is to just break down the cost of ingredients and do the math.
I think it's a great idea to make cookies for gifts. This year for my husband's birthday, I am making him a batch of cookies of his choice every month.
Some of my husband's favorites are: chocolate chips (there is a great recipe in the Cook's Illustrated The Best cookbook), oatmeal, Portuguese biscuits, Italian cookies (with vanilla instead of anise), cranberry orange cookies, snickerdoodles, and Congo bars. He does not like peanut butter, so those are out.
Look for older cookie cookbooks at yardsales and used book stores. I find the older recipes have cheaper ingredients and tend to use staples that everyone has in their homes. (01/20/2010)
By Linda
I've costed out recipes for years at my job and it does take a little math. You must take each ingredient and cost it out individually. For example, if your recipe needs 1 cup of flour and you buy flour in a 5 lb bag for $5.00 then the cost of 1 cup (8 oz) of flour will be 50 cents. You have to take the 5 lb bag of flour and figure out how many cups are in 5 lbs (or 80 oz). So there is 10 cups of flour in 5 lbs. Then the 1 cup costs you 50 cents. Then just do this with every ingredient. If you are planning on doing a lot of baking, then start buying ingredients in larger sizes since the price per oz will be cheaper.
(01/20/2010)
By Dorothy
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