Recipes

[homedecor1]

The first week of December I prepare most of the cookie dough that freezes well. Although, I've baked & froze many cookies over the years in early December.

I roll it into logs, discs for sugar - triple wrap in press & seal then foil wrap. I make sure they are well sealed.

I thaw & bake BUT I don't use anything but cookie tins. I don't know why but they always stay crisp. I've tried LNL and found the cookie that were crisp has softened. I don't know why🤔

I used to bake huge huge amounts of holiday cookies in my younger years and found baking, cooking & put in Tupperware or metal tins with parchment in between layers & on top then seal & freeze. I never decorated sugar cookies (royal icing) until I was going to use them.

I don't freeze dough for ricotta cookies or any that use cream cheese they never freeze/defrost well & taste different then when I make them fresh. (Just me maybe).

Sadly, I only bake limited now because although I love doing it -- family not close enough and shipping became too expensive. I'm looking forward to baking this year with my GD when I'm home in NJ and making some great memories!

[Pook]

I bake several hundred dozen cookies each year.  I make the dough - roll in balls, roll and cut out for cookie cutter , raisen filled or any other that need rolled out and cut and freeze - then I can bake them all in a few days. I found that layering the baked cookies with plastic wrap keeps ice crystals from forming.  I always have some in the freezer and they are just as good nearly a year later.

[rygimom]

Thanks so much for all your responses.   I'm going to take ideas and start baking!  

[Just Bling]

I don't believe in the freezer.

Cookie dough is delicate and changes consistancy when frozen, if it was that good out of the freezer, wouldn't people like Nestles or Pillsbury offer frozen cookie dough?  Also, cookies baked and put in the freezer are not the same either, they get wet, build up a lot of moisture and the taste changes too.

I would suggest baking around the 10th of December, put them in tins (not plastic) with sheets of parchment between the layers and baked cookies will last until the new year. 

Either baked goods should be baked a day if not a couple days prior to serving such as bread and coffee cakes.  My mom made patika (sp?) and she wrapped that up in wax paper and foil and that lasted about a week.  Baked goods with yeast will mold since we are not adding any perservatives.

I know everyone wants to get a jump on things, put them behind you but planning out a week of cookie baking will ease the pain instead of doing them all in one day. 

This of course is my opinion but it's you that makes the decision as to how much time you have and when you can accomplish all of this.  I went from 20 different varieties of cookies down to 6 and that's still a lot at least for me.  I found out that a couple days after Christmas no one wants the cookies anymore, just sick of looking at them and overall, consumed too many anyway.