Fall baking mixes have hit the shelves so I’m getting started on the testing so you’ll know which ones to pick up when the fall vibes hit you. We’re starting out with pumpkin spice cookies from Betty Crocker’s soft baked line and comparing it to Duncan Hines’ Dolly Parton line. These products are very similar. They both promote a soft cookie and show a cookie topped with frosting on the front despite not including any frosting, just subtle false advertising.
Betty Crocker’s mix called for one stick of butter softened and 2 eggs. Duncan Dolly called for a melted stick of butter and only one egg. Once mixed, the Betty Crocker dough was stickier and more yellow in color compared to the Duncan Dolly mix which was more brown in color and almost too dry. As for taste, the Betty Crocker dough was awful. It was sour, then buttery, then a bit of pumpkin spice. The Duncan Dolly dough tasted like pure powdered sugar with spices mixed in but it definitely had more spice flavor. Neither of these doughs entice you to sit and keep eating them which is probably a good thing.
Both boxes called for larger cookies, specifically 2 tablespoons, whereas a typical cookie would be a 1 tablespoon sized dough ball. So I used my single tablespoon scoop and combined two scoops. After scooping out the cookies, I had 15 dough balls from Betty Crocker and 13 from Duncan Dolly. Both mixes claimed to make about 12 cookies at this size so this was a good number for each box.
Both pans went into the oven at 350°. Betty Crocker called for 15-17 minutes bake time and so of course, they were baked in 12 minutes. You can never trust a Betty Crocker bake time. The Duncan Dolly called for 11-14 minutes and I found them baked at 10. Not as bad as Betty but both mixes had wrong bake times and while I am disappointed, I have come to expect it.Once cooked, both cookies were very similar in color. The Betty Crocker cookies stayed thick and didn’t spread too much whereas the Duncan Dolly cookies spread and got much thinner. Both cookie varieties had a nice crackle on top.
As for flavor, I was pretty shocked to discover how different these cookies are and how much I really enjoyed them both. Betty’s cookie was soft, thick, and tasted buttery, slightly pumpkiny, and a had s very mild spice flavor. Dolly’s cookie had a crispier outside with a soft inside and tasted like you’re being smacked in the face with spice. The salt levels are high but not as high as the spice. These reminded me heavily of a gingerbread cookie and I think they’d be better off selling this year round as a spice cookie instead of pumpkin spice because I wasn’t getting any pumpkin flavor from this cookie despite pumpkin puree being an ingredient. Both cookies were soft, they didn’t lie about that on the package.
I can’t say I’ve ever had this happen in a comparison where I want both cookies again. They are so different and both delicious. I don’t even like pumpkin spice flavored items, I prefer pumpkin flavoring instead of spice but these cookies changed my mind. I’d buy both of these mixes again. At my Walmart I paid $2.78 for the dolly mix and $2.97 for the Betty mix. I continued to eat these cookies and still couldn’t pick a favorite. They’re not similar in taste or texture so it depends on what you are going for on what I would recommend. Do you want a soft center with a crispy outside and a whole lot of spice? Go for Duncan Hine’s Dolly Parton pumpkin spice cookie. Do you want a thick soft buttery pumpkiny mild spice cookie? Go for the Betty Crocker Soft Baked pumpkin spice cookie. If you just want something that feels like fall, pickup whichever one you see first.
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