If freezing cold temps don't really work for you, we've got some great ideas to make them
really work for you. For the next few weeks, we'll be sharing some of our favorite freezer-friendly tips and recipes to get the most out of your freezer. Today, we begin with cookies, which are a perfectly suited for your freezer. You can put frozen cookie dough right into your preheated oven and have freshly baked cookies in a matter of minutes. But how you freeze and store the dough matters, so follow our tried-and-true tips.
After making your favorite cookie dough (we recommend our Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip recipe), allow dough to sit for a few minutes while you prepare a 9x13 casserole dish with a Silpat liner or a piece of parchment paper lining the bottom. Half of the liner should be hanging over the edge. Form dough into puck-like discs, about an inch thick with a flat top and line them along the bottom of the dish, leaving a little room around the edges.
Once the bottom half has been filled, fold the liner back over the first layer of cookie dough and fill in another layer on top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least one hour to get them hard. (You could leave this in the freezer for longer, but the dough won't last as long or stay as fresh with so much air surrounding it. Not to mention that a 9x13 dish takes up a lot of space!)
Using two strips of plastic wrap per six dough discs, create a "tube" of cookie dough by using the first strip to weave accordion-style between each disc so that they won't stick together. Wrap excess around the sides, then wrap the stack inside the second strip of plastic wrap to create a tube. When it's time to bake, simply preheat your oven, unwrap a tube of dough, arrange them on a lined baking sheet, and bake until golden brown.
Frozen cookie dough will stay fresh in your freezer up to three months, so next time you're making a batch of cookies, but don't want to bake them all, pop some in the freezer as a gift to your future self. (Your future self sends thanks!)
