What needs to be done to freeze cookies?

[tamrks]

I wanted to start making cookies for Christmas and freeze them, but I've never frozen cookies before.

ANything special I should do? I am afraid I'm gonna go thru all that work and they'll get freezer burned and taste awful!
And what about taking them out, do I need to thaw them??

Thanks for the help!

[Amanda]

I didn't know you could do that! Wow, that sure would make this time of year a lot easier. I would like to know too, please!

Amanda

[MtBaker]

Well some people we know have done it and report it with success, YourBakingMistress is an avid individual against such type of events.

She's a purest at heart and thinks they don't taste near as good.

Me personally, probably can't tell the difference. I would suggest that maybe one night you go ahead and bake some on a Friday night, freeze them over the weekend and take them out on Monday or Tuesday and see if they taste "different" to you.

That would give them four or so days and you could kind of get an idea if they taste different to you. As far as thawing, I would suggest just letting them sit room temp for about an hour or two.

Hope that helps!

[tamrks]

Yep, I may try that, I'll report back with results! I just don't have time to put aside right before christmas to bake dozens of cookies.

I also like the "freshness" of baked goods.
Who can resist the warm 'right out of the oven' goodness of a cookie! (mmm gotta taste for some now!)

[tamrks]

P.S. also wanted to say HI!! to my fellow "illinois-ans"!!!

[MtBaker]

Didn't notice that this whole thread is made up of us Illinois-ans! Go ILLINI

Originally Posted by tamrks

P.S. also wanted to say HI!! to my fellow "illinois-ans"!!!

[Amanda]

Illinois rocks!

[cakebaker]

Hate to break into the Illinois fest going on, but this Okie would never vote for freezing baked cookies, either decorated or not. I make the dough up ahead of time and freeze it, but that's as far as I go.

I'm assuming you're talking sugar cookies mostly. I'm not sure it would really change the taste if frozen properly, but I like nice crisp sugar cookies and I just think you lose that fresh baked crispy taste with freezing.

What about making the dough, rolling, cutting and freezing? That would save some time and not affect the quality at all.

Oh and Boomer Sooner!

[missnnaction]

I've recently frozen some baked cookies to see if there was a difference... and the ones who tasted the before and after couldn't tell the difference. If you do decide to freeze your cookies make sure that they are wrapped very well and placed in freezer bags. When I took mine out of the freezer, I would either place themin the oven for a minute to warm up or in the microwave for a few seconds.
Great luck with whatever you decide to do.

[carilyn]

I freeze cookies all the time. When I make a batch of family faves I just double it and pop (as Sandra Lee would say) half in the freezer. No one even knows. They only stay in a few weeks. I put them in freezer bags and then in a plastic container. I also have frozen royal iced, satin ice, and choco-pan iced cookies in the freezer. For the iced cookies they are individually wrapped and put in a air tight container. They came out perfectly fine.