Happy December!! I can’t believe it’s already December and that the holiday season is in full force. And one thing that always reminds me that Christmas is on it’s way? All of the cookie baking!! I’m a sucker for a good cookie, and the Christmas season seems to be the time that we put on those aprons and get covered in flour and sugar.
I love to try new recipes, and sometimes, you can go through many recipes looking for that perfect recipe. And since there are only 2 of us plus a toddler at my house, even one batch of cookies is just too much for us. But there is a great solution – freezing the cookie dough!!
Years ago, I worked at a job that required me to have a box of Otis Spunkmeyer frozen cookie dough in my freezer at all times. I will totally admit that it was my guilty pleasure to sneak one of those cookie balls out of the freezer for a snack to eat – still frozen! After that, I got the idea to start freezing my own cookie dough so that if the craving ever struck for a fresh cookie, straight out of the oven, it would be easy to bake just a few. As it turns out, many people already do this – but I thought I’d share my method with you!
First, you make your cookie dough as you normally would. I’ll usually make a batch and cook off the first 1 or 2 dozen to have on hand. With the remaining dough, I’ll form it into balls, just like I’m getting ready to bake them. Then put them all on a baking sheet – you can fit quite a few on there, but try not to let them touch. Stick the baking sheet in the freezer to allow the balls to freeze for a few hours. Once the balls are frozen, remove the tray from the freezer and place the balls in a freezer-safe bag. Make sure you label the bag with what kind of cookie they are and the date. Cookie dough should last in the freezer for up to 6 weeks. Since they are already frozen, they won’t stick together, and it’s easy to just pick a few out for baking at a later time.
So what do you do when you want one of those cookies? Many people say to let the dough thaw before baking. You can put them out at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or stick them in the fridge for a few hours. But I’m impatient, and I’ve had good luck just baking them straight from the freezer – just add a few more minutes to the baking time!
This will work well with most cookie dough recipes, but I wouldn’t try it with cake-like cookies or anything with a runny batter.
Thanks for sharing. It’s good to know I don’t have to thaw the dough first. I love freezing cookie dough. I do it because then I can bake exactly the number of cookies I need and won’t be tempted to eat the entire batch. I do double double’s. Double the batch, double the freezer bag.
Excellent idea. It is just my 5 year old and me. I think I’m going to do this. But add a layer of freezer paper in between layers as an added precaution to sticking together.