Freezing cookies is the best way to knock out some of the work of fresh baking, ahead of time.
What is the best way to freeze cookies – Dough can be frozen in a roll for slice-&-bake cookies. Divide cut-out cookie dough into 3 disks, wrapping each separately. These keep for 6 months. Either type can be formed on parchment and stored in layers; freezing well for 6 weeks. Most baked cookies freeze nicely in Ziploc bags. Fragile cookies should be hardened in the freezer on a baking sheet, before bagging.
So, that’s the quick answer. Read on to fine-tune your knowledge. Whether you hope to keep your oven off for the summer, or spend an Autumn day getting the jump on some Christmas baking, this simple, no-fuss article distills the rest of what you need to know about freezing cookies and dough.
Preparing Cookies for Freezing
Always cool cookies (and any baked goods) on wire racks, completely, before freezing. If you don’t, they will be soggy when you serve them. Kansas Sate University tells us that “this will prevent moisture condensation from warm food which could make it soggy after thawing.”
Place your baked cookies in clean, food-safe bags, such as Ziplocs, and seal completely, pushing out as much air as possible.
Be sure to select an area in your freezer where the cookies won’t be jostled around or have other things tossed on top of them.
Sometimes, it’s hard to find such a spot. If this describes your freezer situation, you can armor your cookies in deep baking pans. Cookie tins might be okay, but they tend to rust, and not fit as well into the freezer as the pans.
Invest in several good, American-made baking pans with lids. I love the 13×9 size from Nordic Ware (see product here). Their pans have never let me down. They bake evenly, release my food reliably, and are built to last for generations.
Avoiding Cookie Breakage in the Freezer
For freezer storage, neatly stack your cookies into the pan, leaving room to put on the lid without breaking them.
If you have pans, but no lids, you may have an impulse to cover the top with plastic. There’s a good chance a sheet of plastic will fall off. A lot of plastic, wrapped securely around the pan, would work; but it’d be easier to bag your cookies, and place the bags in the pan. You could even fill two bags and stand them up in the pan.
Freezing Cookie Dough: the quickest way to get it done
There are a few different ways to freeze cookie dough, depending on what type of cookie it is, how long you will be freezing it, and how much work you want to save yourself.
If you are making several types of dough at once, the best way to freeze it is to make up each batch of dough, and scoop it into a 1-quart plastic container. This method gets a lot of cookie dough into the freezer quickly. For example, you could make sugar cookie, chocolate chip, and gingerbread doughs, without having to wash the mixing bowl in between. Plus, for three types of cookies, you’re only dragging out all the ingredients once; which is especially helpful with the common ones, such as eggs, flour, sugar, and baking powder.
This is the longest-storing way to freeze cookie dough, because it’s well-sealed. If you are going to store it longer than a month, press a scrap of plastic wrap over the surface of the dough, before placing on the lid.
Before use, store overnight in fridge. Use a cookie scoop to form your cookies.
Freezing Cookie Dough for Easy Storage and Baking
I prefer the slice-and-bake method for summer baking. This is a simple way to get the dough into the freezer fairly quickly, plus baking with it is a snap.
For slice-and-bakes, lay an 18″ sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Place 1/3 of a batch of cookie dough onto it, working it into a 12″ x 1 1/2″ log. Roll it up tightly in the plastic, twisting the ends, and fastening with twist ties.
These logs store neatly in the freezer. To bake with them in warm weather, give them a few hours in the fridge to soften enough to cut. In the cooler weather, you can leave them on the counter for an 30 – 6- minutes to soften, before slicing to the desired size.
The Best Way to Freeze Cookie Dough for Immediate Baking
Freezing your dough for immediate baking involves the most work up front, but provides you with immediate gratification later.
When your dough is ready, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Form your dough and arrange it on the sheet, as though you’re ready to bake it. Place the whole pan in the freezer, and set a timer for 2-3 hours. When time’s up, you can roll up the dough, parchment and all, and place it into a plastic bag in the freezer.
Alternatively, you can remove the frozen dough balls to a plastic bag. When you’re ready to bake these, just place them on a cookie sheet (greased, if called for).
Cookie Freezing Troubleshooter
- Frozen or cold cookie dough bakes at the same temperature as fresh, but needs more time.
- Cookies baked from previously-frozen dough may not spread as much; so be sure to flatten your cookies a bit, if desired.
- Thin, brittle cookies may be too fragile for the freezer.
- If a cookie calls for icing, consider doing so after you have thawed them out. Icing may detatch from the cookie during freezing and thawing, or lose some of its color.
- If part of your cookie dough gets unwrapped and freezer-burned, cut away and discard the dried-out part before using. According to North Dakota State University, “although it is not a safety issue, it affects the quality of the food.”
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