This Is The Worst Store-Bought Cookie Dough You Can Buy

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Ready-made cookies may be the height of convenience but a pre-portioned package of cookie dough that you can bake into gooey rounds and devour while still warm is on another level of epicurean pleasure. We had a blast ranking 10-store-bought cookie doughs but there was one contender that sadly left us feeling shortchanged: Sweet Loren's gluten-free Monster Cookie Dough. Many gluten-free cookies, which are made without grains like wheat, barley, or rye, can have a grainy texture to them due to the lack of a traditional wheat-based flour. Unfortunately, this was the case with Sweet Loren's Monster Cookie Dough, which is why it ranked so poorly against the other contenders in our taste test, ultimately landing in last place. 

Made with a flour blend comprised of oat, tapioca, rolled oats, and potato starch, the dough simply didn't have that characterful texture of a true blue cookie once it was baked. Worse still, the colored nuggets of chocolate studded in the cookies were burnt in the center, while some were so hard that they were actually difficult to even chew. In fact, the only thing Sweet Loren's Monster Cookie Dough really had going for it was that the dough itself, which comes in pre-portioned balls of 12 to make it super easy to bake, is prepared in a facility free of gluten, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame, making it a suitable option for cookie-lovers with food allergies.

We may have given Sweet Loren's Monster Cookie Dough a low rating, but there are some positive reviews of the product among gluten-free customers online. One reviewer on Reddit placed the monster cookie dough in their top three favorites from the Sweet Loren's brand, enthusing, "These cookies definitely do not taste gluten free OR vegan!" However, one reviewer on Target's website agreed with our findings regarding the unappealing texture of the rainbow-colored candies. They complained, "We are bummed the chocolate candies changed. They're so hard they have almost broke our teeth several times! I don't know what's changed but they aren't the same." 

Another shopper concurred but admitted that they'd still buy them again regardless, so it appears the reviews are a real mixed bag. It's worth noting that the Sweet Loren's brand itself wasn't a total fail; another variety of its gluten-free cookie dough actually topped the leaderboard in our taste test. Loaded generously with chocolate chips, which provided a rich and gooey texture, Sweet Loren's Gluten-Free Chocolate Lover's Cookie Dough beat the other contenders with ease. Plus, it had a scrumptious molasses-like flavor and a perfectly chewy middle despite being gluten free. There weren't any hard rainbow colored chips in this variety, which may explain why it fared better.