You know how Mama Berenstain Bear always had freshly-baked cookies waiting for Brother and Sister Bear when they came home from school? (At least she did in one book… I suppose it’s politically incorrect now since that’s not a healthy snack.)
June Cleaver always had some for Beaver and Wally, too. Their kitchens were always spotless – no sign of them mixing up cookie dough – and the cookies always came right out of the oven as the kids arrived home.
Though I would love to be able to serve warm chocolate chip cookies at a moment’s notice, I’ve never figured out how, exactly, to do that… Until now. Maybe you all do this already, but did you know that freezing cookie dough is extremely easy, and you can have warm cookies in the oven – dirtying only a baking sheet – in about 20 minutes?
Form cookie dough into balls and freeze on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Why it’s taken me this long to do this, I don’t know. All you have to do is roll the cookie dough into balls as you normally would, then freeze them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (waxed paper would probably work, too). Make sure they don’t touch each other while they’re freezing!
Once cookie dough balls are frozen, put them in a freezer bag and store until ready to bake!
After they freeze all the way, just put them in a plastic bag and place the bag in the freezer. It’s OK if the cookies touch each other once they are frozen; they shouldn’t stick together.
Bake frozen cookie dough balls as usual, adding just a couple of minutes to the baking time.
When you want fresh, warm cookies, preheat your oven and place the frozen (no need to thaw) cookie dough balls on a baking sheet. Bake the cookies for just a couple of minutes longer than normal.
There you have it – freshly baked cookies on demand!
And voila, you have yummy cookies with no effort required! (Aside from the effort to mix up the original dough, of course.)
I’ve found that this is not only great for being able to have a quick dessert, it’s also helped with portion control. You know how it is, when you make cookies, you make a big batch and then eat them all in about 8.3 hours. I have little self control when it comes to sweets, so making cookies is always a dangerous proposition.
I’ve also found that it’s great when taking a meal to someone – you can just pull cookie dough balls out of the freezer and give them baking instructions!
But, when I’m pulling cookie dough out of the freezer, it’s so much easier to just fix the number of cookies appropriate for one eating. I usually fix one for each kid and two for each adult and that’s it. I won’t be eating five cookies because I’ve only baked two for me. At first I thought the cookie dough in the freezer would be tempting, but if you use real butter, it’s so hard that you might as well be biting a (tasty) ice cube.
So, that’s how I can now serve freshly-baked cookies at a moment’s notice! Do you have any tips for freezing cookie dough?
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I often freeze cookie dough, too. I don’t usually have a big block of time to bake a whole double batch at once. Instead of parchment I flash freeze them on a silicone mat on a baking sheet. I also use a Pampered Chef cookie scoop to make them quickly and a uniform size. Then I store in a flat Tupperware in the freezer. I’m pretty sure having the dough balls in the freezer increases my personal consumption. :/
Another great trick is to smash them flat with another cookie sheet on top and then freeze. When you transfer them into your plastic bag, they lay flat in the freezer and take up less space!
I usually just make a huge double batch then freeze the baked cookies in ice cream pails or tupperware. This also works well so that you always have dessert handy if you need it, just pull out the cookies and thaw them on the counter or another container. You can also just pull out the number you need. The unbaked cookie balls would be nice though if I don’t have a big chunk of time to bake up all the cookies.
I wouldn’t use parchment either – they will come right off the cookie sheet once they are frozen. :) I do this in the summer when I have ‘too many eggs’ (we have birds) and the freedom to bake smaller amounts and different flavors is a real handy thing! Like Rachel said, a cookie scoop is big help too.
See, I tried it without parchment once and they were a bear to get off. :/ Maybe I’ll try again.
I do this all the time… great to freeze different kinds of cookies and then over time you have quite the variety and can easily make up a plate with a bunch of different cookies. Have to say though, I use real butter but I’ve been known to sneak a frozen ball or two… :)
It have never occurred to me to freeze cookie dough (don’t know why dice I buy the packages and freeze them!) but I am so ready to go try this.
Other then chocolate chip cookies what other type of cookies are easy to freeze like this?
Thanks
I’ve done peanut butter cookies and triple chocolate cookies – honest, I think it would work for just about any kind of cookie.
When I worked in a cookie store, we did this during the busiest times of the year, and it worked great. btw Carrie–We always froze on parchment. We would also cut the scoops in 4 pieces to make minis, which were great in small gift bags. We also froze pizza-size pan cookies, too.
Thanks, Carrie. I will do this with my famous ginger snaps. I would do it just to make the house smell good too!
Haha, yes! And then you have the added benefit of having cookies to eat. ;)
Wonderful idea! I will definitely have to try it! :)
My sister and I were seriously discussing this a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t know if you could freeze dough and/or freeze the already baked cookies. Thanks so much for answering our question!
I prefer freezing the dough because it’s (a) easier to use as portion control for us and (b) I’d prefer a warm cookie. ;) But freezing them already baked works well, too!
I’ve done this forever, practically! It works great!!!
Another sneaky thing to do? Make up muffin or cupcake batter, line your tins with paper cups as usual, and freeze – when they’re solidly frozen, pop the frozen batter, cup and all, out of the tin, pop it into your bag, label with instructions and flavor! When you’re ready to bake, simply take the number/flavor combo you need, put them back into your muffin tin, and put them in the oven while it’s heating and bake as usual. You may need a couple extra minutes, so be sure to toothpick check one. This way, you can have freshly baked muffins on demand too!
I’ve found that freezing already baked cookies can dry them out just a smidge, so you may want to store them with a piece of bread in an airtight container once thawed…
And, if you’re a casserole family, you can line all your casserole pans with aluminum foil, make up your casserole to the baking point, seal it, and put the whole pan in the freezer. Once frozen, pop out the brick, wrap it again, and write on it the type and baking instructions. They can either stack like blocks, or stand like books in your freezer, and the best part is that after you’ve cooked it and consumed it, all you have to do is lift the foil out of the pan and discard in your normal foil-discarding fashion! No scrubbing pans!
I am totally going to have to try the muffin tip. Thanks for sharing!