How semi-homemade cookies transformed America’s kitchens
The concept of semi-homemade cookies gained traction in the mid-20th century, aligning with the rise of convenience foods in American households. Brands like Pillsbury introduced slice-and-bake cookies in the late 1950s, providing pre-mixed dough that could be sliced and baked at home. Flavors such as butterscotch nut, toasted coconut, crunchy peanut and sugar cookies became household staples, allowing home bakers to enjoy fresh cookies with minimal effort.
WANT TO BAKE FROM SCRATCH? Get some classic cookie recipes here!
By the 1960s and 1970s, the variety of semi-homemade cookie options expanded further. Products like Betty Crocker’s Spoon and Bake canned cookie dough emerged, enabling bakers to simply spoon dough onto a baking sheet and pop it into the oven. These innovations catered to the growing demand for quick and easy baking solutions, reflecting the changing dynamics of American family life and the increasing number of working parents.
The popularity of semi-homemade cookies also dovetailed with the broader trend of convenience foods that characterized mid-20th-century America. As more households sought time-saving meal solutions, products that offered the satisfaction of home baking without the associated time investment became particularly appealing. This era saw a proliferation of ready-to-use baking mixes and pre-prepared doughs, making it easier than ever to enjoy homemade flavors with store-bought convenience.
Below, we’ve gathered a collection of vintage photos and advertisements, showcasing the charming packaging and marketing of slice-and-bake cookies, cookie mixes, and other pre-made doughs that have delighted home bakers (and their recipients!) over the decades.
Brownie icebox cookies – Vintage Betty Crocker cookie mix (1958)
Pillsbury Slice ‘n Bake cookies from 1959
Here’s fresh cookie dough… all mixed and shaped for you! All you do is slice… and bake! In just minutes, you’ll have 3 to 4 dozen fresh cookies… perfect every single time!
Four flavors: Butterscotch Nut, Toasted Coconut, Crunchy Peanut and New Sugar Cookies.
Vintage slice and bake cookies from Pillsbury (1960)
Old-fashioned slice ‘n bake cookies – Holiday kit (1960)
Cookie ideas galore! Make them all with Pillsbury’s refrigerated holiday cookie kit
Vintage Christmas slice & bake cookie decorating kit (1965)
Flavors in this Pillsbury Holiday Cookie Kit: Chocolate chip, sugar, butterscotch nut, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, caramel chip, fudge nut, coconut with chocolate chunks, spicy ginger, fudge brownies.
Betty Crocker Spoon & Bake canned cookie dough (1975)
Now you’re just a spoon away from the cookies you love whenever you like.
Introducing Betty Crocker’s whole new way to make cookies. Spoon & Bake cookie dough needs no refrigeration, so it’s out of the cupboard and into the oven in minutes. And you’ve got 3 dozen warm, fresh, homebaked cookies.
Could you go for some right now? Just get our your Spoon & Bake in any of these best-loved flavors: Chocolate-flavor chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter or sugar.
Vintage Quaker oatmeal cookie mix from 1977
4 vintage Quaker boxed cookie mixes (1970s)
Chockful-of-fudge Fudge Chip Cookies, Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies (and great butter cookies, too), Peanut Butter Cookies with Peter Pan Peanut Butter, and Quaker’s Famous Oatmeal Cookies
MORE: Easy peanut butter cookies: 3 & 4-ingredient recipes made with biscuit mix
Mrs Goodcookie ready-to-bake frozen cookies (1977)
Big Batch cookie mix (1978)
Bake 6 dozen cookies… that taste like you made them from scratch
Big Batch cookie mix. With great scratch ingredients, like real chocolate chips. Chocolate chip, Oatmeal, Peanut butter, Sugar cookies — each box bakes 6 dozen cookies
Vintage Pillsbury Sugar Cookies – slice and bake from 1979
“Bake a Santa for Santa.”
Vintage Rich’s preformed cookie dough – frozen (1977)
Duncan Hines chocolate chip cookie mix from 1986
MORE: How to make the original Toll House Cookie recipe – the most famous chocolate chip cookie
