Saturday, December 6, 2008

Cookie advice….. In addition, a giveaway!

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Everyone loves homemade Christmas cookies, our family does as well. They all have their favorites and I try hard to have them each year. Here is the problem; I tend to try to make them all the weekend before Christmas so they will be nice and fresh. The problem, what was once fun has now become a chore. I noticed on some of your blogs that you were starting your cookies now. I really would love to make a cookie a day and not be so overwhelmed. What is your trick to keeping them fresh? I do not get the whole "if it is soft put it in here, if it is hard add bread" thing!! Can’t I just put them in a zip-lock bag and freeze them? Help! I would be grateful for your advice and since my 100th post is near, if you can help me out with this problem, I will enter you in “ my few days early, 100th post giveaway” giveaway.
Rules---I know :0(
1. Advice
2. Remember I need an email.
3. Only people with advice will be entered.
4. Here is what you can win.
5. 20 of my 1930 fat quarters and the pattern Sunny Days by Darlene Zimmerman.

Winner will be posted December 19th Good Luck!!




41 comments:

  1. Advice, got it! :o)

    I bake my cookies and layer them between wax paper in a freezer zip loc bags. I do not freeze frosted cookies or any with a powdered sugar coating. Then when you need cookies you can take out what you want and have a variety! Enjoy. I have cookies in my freezer right now.

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  2. Freezing I now can be done, but also it helps to put them into a vacuum (a space with no air (not sure it is the same word in englisch)) than they are good for a long time too.

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  3. yes, i agree with stephanie...bake your cookies now and package them up all neatly in layers in ziploc bags...be sure to squeeze all the air out of the bags! don't enter me in your giveaway, silly...you have already been too generous with me...=)

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  4. Oh please don´t laugh at me now...;o) just have one advice...buy some lovely cookies at the store...eat them up before they turn soft or whatever...and now its time to buy some more...:o) I do this all the time...but don´t work all the time...cause Im forgetting them ..and they...hmmm turn soft anyway... so Im out of help too...maybe I will have to take some peeks at the comments...lol...

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  5. I think you should take a box for the cookies with some apple-slices in it.

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  6. Jane, have you ever thought about freezing your cookie dough? Then when the time comes, all you have to do is bake them, no mixing or mess!! I am now retired but one of the ladies I worked with made tons of cookies each year and this is how she did it.

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  7. Hi Jane, I'll tell you what I do and I love to bake!! Especially cookies! I get the Ziploc Freezer bags, it has to say freezer. I just divide my cookies to fit in the bags try to squeeze most of the air out, without squishing the cookies, then seal them and throw them in the freezer. That is it! No fuss no muss. Works for me! Like Terri, you don't enter me in the giveaway either, you are a sweetie with me! Best of luck with all the cookie advice!

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  8. Hi it's the 1st time I'm here -I saw the word "Fabric" in the name on a comment you made (I love fabric- lol) and here you are having a giveaway! Ok cookies you can keep the mixture in it's "resting" stage in the fridge for a couple of days before baking so you can serve them warm with icecream (children love it in our house). The traditional way of keeping any cakes or cookies in England is to put them into air tight tins. Some recipes are better with this than others. If you have a big enough freezer, layer biscuits on greeceproof paper so they don't stick together at all, then stack the layers up in a freezer proof air tight container- we have plastic ones in the UK.

    I hope that helps. Be sure though to have some dough to make them fresh for when your guests arrive so the wonderful smells greet them. A beautiful way to begin a Christmas visit- aromatherapy.

    I feel it would be an awful cheek to be included in your giveaway as this is my 1st visit when you have many dedicated followers.

    Best Wishes,
    Melanie

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  9. My advice is to either freeze between sheets of wax paper or to just freeze the dough! But I'd love to hear about any other good ideas you get!

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  10. i love ziplock freezer bags...make sure they are the freezer kind...getting the air out is important. also, make sure the cookies have cooled before you freeze them (my mom told me that, i don't know why). Lastly, get some teenage boys, then all you will have left in the freezer is some empty ziplock bags with one cookie in the bottom and some crumbs!

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  11. Hello.
    When I make soft cookies I put them in biscuit tin and put the tin in my freezer. I frees cupcakes with iceing in the freeser too. But I take the number of cookies I need out and lay it strait on the cake dish just when I make the coffee. Hard cookies I also put in biscuit tin, but I place a few lumps of sugar. It keep the cookies from soften. Good luck with your baking. ;-)

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  12. My grandmother always swore by double-wrapping. First with freezer paper, then with aluminum foil. Also, you can freeze just the dough for almost any cookie, and then thaw and cook closer to the holidays. For me, making the dough is most of the work! Probably saves energy, too, to bake them all at once. Good luck!

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  13. Hello Jane!
    Love that name!

    We freeze cookies weekly around here to save some from the voracious cookie monsters who would eat them all up the day they are made.
    Step 1. Make cookies.
    Step 2. Cool cookies.
    Step 3. Put in Ziplock Freezerbags.
    Step 4. Hide them near the back of the freezer. [oh, wait, you don't have to do this if you don't have "cookie monsters" at your house.
    Step 5. Take out and eat as they thaw to room temperature.
    D*E*L*I*C*I*O*U*S!!
    And I would be beyond THRILLED to win that wonderful fabric from Darlene Zimmerman!
    Have a great cookie baking day!
    JANE

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  14. My dad made literally hundreds of cookies every year and he just popped them in the freezer. He owned a 24hour cafe at a train switching yard and a lot of the guys were away from home over the holidays and he wanted them to have home made cookies and other goodies so they would know that someone cared and appreciated their work.

    The trick to successful freezing of a baked cookie is that they must absolutely be cooled off. In those days we didn't have ziplock bags, but any freezer bag should work. And I love to eat frozen chocolate chip cookies, it brings back so many memories.

    Happy Baking and Merry Christmas!!

    Shari

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  15. hi jane.....why is it things we used to love doing slowly thru the years become a chore. i used to start in august playing christmas music and baking sugar cookies by the dozens, spenting countless hours delicately decorating them. i would layer them in a suit box between wax paper..iced ones and all...proudly sliding them onto the freezer shelf...i never had any complaints and none left...now days...i use alot of recipes that the dough freezes well...you can just pull what you need at the time and they "really" are fresh baked....(sniff,,,) i haven't thought about my cookie making days in years.....thanks jane

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  16. I have always frozen my cookies. Just cool and put in ziplock freezer bags. Or airtight plastic containers...

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  17. Well Jane, I would love to offer you my own personal tried and true method of preserving home baked cookies, but the truth is that I don't ever freeze Christmas cookies. During the year, I do make a triple batch of my chocolate chip cookies at a time and freeze big zip lock bags full of them for my husband to enjoy as he pleases - 2 every night at 10:00...isn't that funny? But for Christmas baking, I do it just in time for the intended event and just save leftovers in containers. they never last too long around here anyway!

    But just to qualify for your most generous and delicious giveaway, I found this link for you with advice on exactly your dilemma. I hope it's good enough to get my name on a big sticky piece of paper so you can't help but draw it out of the hat! :)

    http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Freezing-Cookies-and-Cookie-Dough/Detail.aspx

    MGM

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  18. I bake and freeze the cookies. One thing I have done in the past is to mix the dough and flash freeze (prepare up to baking and freeze on cookie sheets in the freezer), then i put them all in baggies and cook what I need as I need the cookies. I have fresh baked cookies all through the year this way.

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  19. hiya,
    go to your local dollar store and get those inexspenive freezer containers. I like freezing suger cookies (no frosting)in layers with wax paper inbetween layers. I have a chest freezer and the container stack neatly in there.the containers help with portion control so I can have cookies just about all year long. This works with gingerbread men (with out frosting of course) too. I love 30s repros too...pcik me! (mauh) Liz Erzebatbat@aol.com

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  20. K here's a few tips... Freeze your dough. You can do this with almost all the cookies, expect for ones with sour cream or cream cheese. They separate and it's just a mess.
    If you actually cook them up, make sure you COMPLETE cool them before putting them in zip-lock bags. Any moisture from the heat will break down the cookie together-ness.

    If you have stale cookies, put them in a plastic container with a lid. Cut up an apple and place on top of wax paper inside the container. the moisture from the apple will go into your cookies.

    That works great too if you have to send cookies in the mail. It keeps them from falling apart and getting crumbly.

    Hope I helped. We always make and eat our cookies early around here. then we make our gingerbread house the day before. That's less work and the kids don't get so bored after 50 cookies!
    Thanks for the giveaway!!

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  21. Oh PS...this one doesn't count...

    If you bake them and throw them in your freezer...whenever you have a late night craving or need a chocolate fix or whatever, take one of the frozen ones, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and it's hot just like out of the oven!!

    You can do this too is you have unexpected guests that just called from around the corner. Your house will smell like you have been slaving away all day!! LOVE IT!!

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  22. What a lovely give away!

    I have frozen cookies ahead of Christmas for years. I have frozen iced sugar cookies, cookies with chocolate, jam, nuts, etc in them. I have frozen them in zip lock bags, tins, tupperware, etc. I haven't had problems with any of them. I would take care to make sure they are COMPLETELY cold before packaging up.

    One thing I have not done is use my food saver. I was too concerned the cookies would be crushed.

    Cookies are good to eat straight out of the freezer too! :)

    Happy Baking!

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  23. I keep all my Christmas Goodies out in my husbands shop...and since I live in South Dakota, I guess it's just like one huge walk-in freezer out there! I also have them in air-tight containers between layers of waxed paper.

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  24. Hi Jane,
    I grew up with my mother beginning her Christmas baking season with Thanksgiving. She would freeze them in air tight containers like Tupperware with wax paper between the layers of cookies. I do it exactly like mom. The wax paper is extremely important especially for the frosted ones. This was a great question--nice to read how many do it the same way.

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  25. My trick is to have my sister make all my cookies! She loves to cook and I don't!

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  26. Yup, the freezer between waxed paper is the way to go. Man, would I love to be a neighbor of yours. Cookies everyday! Your blog is wonderful. Thank you for the inspiration.

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  27. Oh cookies! I love them. My sister in law is the best cookie baker. She does freeze hers. They are wonderful and fresh tasting. Whenever she makes cookies she makes extra so she always has some on hand to take to a friend or an event. I wish I was that organized. I think you'd have to freeze them in an environment where there were no onions or something that could taint them. Ok, now I want a peanut butter cookie with a hershey kiss on top! I love those. I got kisses at Costco Saturday to make some. I'll get to it (maybe!) this week.

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  28. I also freeze my cookies. I cool them first, layer them in containers separated by wax paper and then freeze - never had a problem unless someone raids the freezer at night!! a.haun@sbcglobal.net

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  29. I layer them with deli wrap in between layers and then freeze them if it is really early, or just put a lid on if it's less than 2 weeks.

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  30. I usually layer them with parchment paper in either tupperware type containers or I also like the old tins for Christmas. Mine never last long enough to get to the freezer.

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  31. Hi Jane~ It is always fun to visit you! I love the 30's fabrics! :-)) I freeze cookies all the time~ freezer container with waxed paper between the layers. If you have teens in the house, be prepared to find empty containers of freezer paper in your fridge! :-)) I am going to try putting a few plops of dough on waxed paper and freezing them, then bagging them up so I can just pull out a few doughballs to bake when really hungry for fresh cookies~ it sounds like an interesting way to go. And I won't have to worry about the kids eating the dough because I put the 'fear of raw eggs' in 'em! ;-) Happy Stitchin' & baking! :-)

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  32. Jane - love your blog!

    I have only done this with tollhouse cookie dough.

    Make the cookie dough (all ingredients included). Then roll the dough into a thick log. Take a large piece of wax paper and grease it with butter or margarine. This will keep the dough from sticking to the wax paper. Put the wrapped dough into a large freezer bag and freeze. It should last in the freezer for several weeks.

    When you are ready to bake you can cut off what you want and return the rest to the freezer if you need to. I like to do it this way so that I am able to make up small batches and they are nice and warm when we eat them. This is making me hungry!

    I hope this helps.

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  33. Hello~ Lovely blog :0) I also find making a lot of cookies at one time a chore. Love the way the house smells though...lol
    I like to have fresh soft cookies as well, so I divide the chore. I make my cookie dough in advance, then I take my cookie sheet, layer with wax paper and lay out the dough as if I were going to bake, but instead of putting them in the oven I set them in the freezer just until firm then take them and place them in the labeled freezer bags. Now the first step is done and my cookies are in the freezer until I am ready to bake them. When you are ready to bake simply take them from the freezer, place on your cookie sheets and bake as normal...just add a few minutes to your baking time! Hope this helps.

    Many Blessings
    Shannon

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  34. I freeze my cookies on a cookie sheet and when they are frozen solid I stack them in a plastic (tupperware) container with wax paper between the layers. I also freeze my orange cookies which have frosting on them like this. Sometimes my choc chip cookies get too hard for our taste so I put a slice of bread in the plastic container that holds the cookies. The moisture from the bread actually goes into the cookies and the slice of bread becomes hard as a rock - at this point the slice of bread could be replaced but we have usually eaten all of the cookies by that time. I have put a slice of bread in peanut butter cookies that got too hard also and they softened up nicely.
    The only cookie dough I have frozen is for date pinwheel cookies that are rolled into a log and sliced before baking - I may try freezing some other cookie dough recipes now too.

    Rita E in AZ
    requilt (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  35. Cookies: my biggest weakness. I just freeze them in two ziploc bags. If you "need" to eat one quick, just breathe on it three times and you are good to go! What a great giveaway!!! I'm so glad I discovered your blog today! PBS recently had a spot on tips for making superb cookies.

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  36. This is a little tid bit that is nothing special but I've found it helpful. Sugar cookies are my favorite but they are time consuming. So if you can make the cookies a head of time then freeze them. Just before you want to serve them, take let them defrost and frost them. Basically you just don't have to deal with freezing frosted cookies. And they come out real fresh. Hope this helps. And thanks for the giveaway.

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  37. I bake my cookies, let them cool and then I usually just put them in an ice cream bucket (like my MIL used to do). we usually eat the cookies frozen. yummy!

    my email (should I happen to win your fabulous prize) is crazymomquilts@yahoo.com

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  38. Advice - I prefer making cookies that is meant to be soft and chewy early. The crispier one will be towards the end and I usually store it in air tight containers (works fine for me).

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  39. Many recipes work if you freeze the dough and then let it thaw in the fridge the day before you want to make them. I just found your site and love it!
    nicholestaceysmith@gmail.com

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  40. Awesome giveaway... so although you have gotten excellent advice already, I just have to throw my hat in the ring as well. *smiles*

    I completely cool unfrosted cookies and then layer them in either freezer ziplocs or plastic containers (this depends on the cookie itself, some are more fragile then others). Then before the day I am giving them out I remove them from the freezer and frost or decorate. I also freeze my holiday candies as well.

    Like the others have said we do eat a lot of cookies right out of the freezer. lol

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  41. Hi, I will give you my mom's tip, I grow up in Bulgaria and when we made cookies before the holidays we just store them in plastic bags and they get even softer and tastier. They didn't last more then a week, because we ate them. I learn how to make chocolate chip cookies in US and the last time I made the batch was huge and I got tired of baking so I put the dough in the fridge wraped in plastic till next day and then I cut it with the knife instead of spooning it like with fresh dough and they tasted great + it was easier cutting then spooning :)!
    zlatydd@gmail.com

    Happy Baking and Stitching!
    Zlaty

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