I'm trying to decide on 4-5 cookies or dessert bars to make this year. I'm doing it a little differently this year so I am looking for some recipes that freeze well (after the baking part). Any suggestions?
I've never personally frozen anything after I've baked it, I always deliver my food gifts as soon as I have them ready. However, I had a friend/neighbor that was in Canada for the holidays and I put hers in her freezer and she said it was all still good when she returned. I had made sugar cookies, peanut blossoms, gingerbread men, peanut butter balls (can't share that recipe, family secret), and peanut butter fudge I think. Oreo balls would be fine too i'm sure.
I put everything in the freezer, including peanut butter balls and Oreo balls.
I like to freeze the cookies about 1 doz. to a bag and put a bag of each type of cookie in a box (shoebox) Then when I want to make up a cookie plate, I just pull the shoe box out, put a few of each cookie on a plate, re-seal the cookie bags and replace the box in the freezer. I could make up cookie plates ahead and put them in the freezer, but it would take up more room than what I have available.
I've thought about the whole freezing aspect for several years. BUT I always dismiss it because I like "fresh" but every year things seemed "rushed" with the baking. I usually bake the week or so before Christmas. AND I end up with a lot of cookies so its like feast or famine...LOL
This year I plan to start the weekend before Thanksgiving and bake a batch every weekend until Christmas...I want to freeze some and keep some out for us to eat. That way we are enjoying goodies all through the season and I have some for holiday parties and our Christmas Eve dinner cookie tray.
When I was young my mom would start her Christmas baking Nov 11th, (Remembrance day here in Canada) she would make shortbread and Christmas cake. Then she would freeze everything....my brothers and I would sneak frozen cookies till Christmas. To this day I love frozen goodies better then thawed ones.
If you don't want to freeze the cookies, you could freeze the dough. I ended up doing this last year. It worked really well. I took one day and made up about 10 kinds of dough. I divided each in half and froze the bags. Then, every week I'd take out one bag and make the cookies with the kids so we always had some Christmas cookies in during the season. I kept the second bag of all the different doughs until a few days before Christmas. Then, we baked them all up and decorated them all the next day. It was great because we only had half a batch of each kind of cookie, but we had a lot of variety and everyone had their favourites. The mess comes with mixing up all the different doughs, so if you get that done all in advance, it's nothing to pop some frozen dough into the oven and just have a single pan to clean after you're all finished. (Use parchment paper, and you don't even have to clean your pans in between each batch.)
Thanks for all the tips! I love making cookies at Christmas-I usually make up a few trays-never froze anything but like the idea of making the dough ahead-I don't have a separate freezer but I do have room for dough I think...and DD loves to bake-but not clean up!! So she could even bake some without me fussing too bad-LOl
I had put a new recipe in the recipe section. Tea Wagon cookies. I think they will freeze. I haven't tried them yet but want to this year. I'll try freezing them, too.