Q: My work is hosting a bake sale next week to help raise money for our local breast cancer awareness walk. I have a number of things I'd like to bake for this good cause, but as I have limited time the night before the sale, I'm looking for ways to get some of the baking done ahead of time.
I know that I can freeze unbaked cookie dough with no ill effects, but I'm wondering if I can freeze baked cookies just as successfully. Will the quality of the cookies be affected if I freeze them until the night before the sale? If it makes any difference, I’m making a variety of drop cookies.
Sent by Kimberly
Editor: Kimberly, yes, you can freeze some cookies ahead of time. Look for cookies high in fat, and make sure they are well-wrapped. Here are some tips for freezing cookies effectively:
• Tips for Freezing Holiday (or Any Day) Cookies
Readers, any tips or suggestions for Kimberly?
Related: Recipe: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Monster Cookies
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The delightful Rachel of Heart of Light has a post dedicated to the topic. It's an excellent overview, and has caused me to fill my small freezer to the brim with both dough and cookies alike:
http://heart-of-light.blogspot.com/2010/08/cookies-to-go.html
i freeze plain old chocolate chip cookies all the time, but most of the time, we eat them frozen. on the rare occasion that there are any left sitting out on a plate, i think that they are still delicious thawed. just make sure that they are sitting on a rack of some sort so that any moisure that escapes in thawing doesn't sit and get absorbed into the cookie.
To follow up on konar's remark, another good way of dealing with the moisture issue is to let the cookies thaw while still inside their packaging. That way condensation will occur on the packaging an not on the cookies themselves. Ideally, you would remove the packaging once the cookies are fully thawed and the condensation has evaporated from the packaging.
OMYGosh, yes! I always freeze cookies the day they are baked, even if they are just for my own household. They are so much better extracted from the freezer to thaw (or not) and be eaten one by one, perfectly fresh, than allowed to let sit around and get stale.
If you have the time to make up all the doughs ahead of time and bake the day off, I can tell you that I've had great results with freezing dough for chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cookies, and shortbread cookies. Bake them still frozen, even.
my mom always freezes her cookies because they go stale really quickly where she lives. We usually eat them frozen but they are just as good if you let them sit out for a little bit on the counter.
My family has been doing this for decades now. Grandma would make cookies over the year as she felt good so that she would have plenty for Christmas.
I will get them into the freezer as soon as they are room temp after baking. They are stored air tight. I thaw them in air tight containers. So far, they have tasted as good as freshly made cookies.
Thanks for the great info, everyone. This is very helpful! :)
I am in a group of 5 to 6 ladies that get together during the first of November and bake lots of cookies for the holidays. we each make enough of two different kinds of cookies for everyone to take home a "batch" (usually 2-3 dz). we put them in the ziploc boxes (shoebox sized) or bags (or any reusable freezer container)and stick them in our freezer. that way when the holidays come around, all we have to do is pull some out the day of or night before to thaw, and you have fresh cookies for family or work get-togethers. It's a lot of work that day, cooking up to 20 batches of cookies, but it's worth it!