Welp, after 40 min of work, I made my first batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies. A wise man will make his own cookies to know what goes into them. A smart man will just buy some at the grocery store to save himself the hassel.

Anyways, has anyone made/baked something that they thought would be better if they just bought it from the store?

Note: The cookies were good and I can post pics of them if people want to drool over them.

I make monkey bread from scratch at work

It comes out really pretty looking, so I get all happy inside when I see it all done. I only do it on days we have a brunch crowd (usually twice a month).

EDIT: It looks similar to http://food.sndimg.com/img/recipes/10/49/9/large/pic003uvr.jpg.

Even bad cookies made at home are better than anything bought at the store. Well, OK, I have tasted some cookies at Pot Lucks where I really just felt bad for the family that had to eat this person's cooking. I have found more crappy recipes out there than good ones. I now use the America's Test Kitchen cookbooks when trying any new recipe, at least those recipes work.

I find that any desert item are better at home to make, but most dinners, it is easier to go out. I don't save any money on ingredients, and I have to clean up the kitchen. But, I do get leftovers when I make it at home, that I don't get at the restaurant. And I cook better than most restaurants do.

They're not the prettiest things in the world, but http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/140/c/4/chocolate_chip_cookies_by_amana07-d65yqwn.jpg look like. Had no idea the batch of dough I made would make 54 cookies. Still have 3 bags of dough that I just need to throw onto a sheet and bake em.

*edit:* Changed the link because ImageShack is being a pain with ads.

Other than when I eat out, I try to do all my own cooking. Mostly because I enjoy doing it but also because it just tastes better than anything that has been prepackaged will taste.

I'm going to be baking up lasagna tonight.

Food presentation is important if you're looking for a 5 star rating. It's the taste that matters!

Yes and no? Try making a lasagna by fire and cast iron. Boil the pasta, but hard to drain when on a canoe trip. Reconstitute the tomato chrystals, reconstitue some vegies, chop some others. Then cook the lasagna by dutch oven. Incredibly dificult and time consuming.

But,

The look on the group's faces is priceless when they come back exhausted, after a hard paddle into the wind on what should have been an easy half-day paddle.

So yes, I wish I could have just bought the dish, but reward of making something unexpected (lasagna from scratch on a canoe trip?) for an exhausted group nulifies that want.

Take the dough, make a couple or three logs with it and wrap it up in plastic wrap, then freeze it. This way you can take a log out next week, preheat the oven, slice off the cookie dough that you want onto the sheet and just make what you want for that night. You don't need to even defrost the dough, but it will defrost in the time it takes for the oven to preheat. Just don't leave the cookie sheet on top of the stove so the fats in the dough melts before you can bake them.

I have a friend who makes cookie dough on Sundays, then makes a few fresh cookies for her kids when they come home from school.