Baking: Tips for Making Cookies Last Longer

by Jen Tilley on November 24th, 2015 | No Comments »

Baking—You find a cookie recipe, run up to the store, buy all of the ingredients, and return home to start the cookie prep work. After sifting, stirring, mixing, and baking, the cookies have come out of the oven perfectly delicious.

However, what happens when you go to all the trouble of baking cookies but find that you can't eat them fast enough?

How To Make Cookies Last Longer

If you ever get the urge to bake cookies but worry about preserving them in order to last longer than just a few days, be sure to follow the steps below:

Make the cookie dough, shape the dough into tablespoon-sized balls, bake what you know you'll eat within the next three days and store what you won't eat into air-tight containers in the freezer. The next time you have a cookie craving, simply preheat the oven, prepare the baking sheet with parchment paper, place the frozen dough balls on the baking sheet and bake until the cookies are done. Note: Avoid freezing cookie dough that has a cake-like or liquid-based batter.
Allow the baked cookies to completely cool before stacking or storing. Warm cookies, when stored, will stick together and create a mess when you try to eat them later.
Store cookies in an airtight container or on the baking sheet tightly covered with plastic wrap or foil. Place a slice of bread in the container to help the cookies maintain their moisture.
Store cookies that have a cream cheese or yogurt frosting in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Place baked cookies in the freezer for up to three weeks. Simply pop them in the microwave or oven to warm them up and return them to their soft state.

What is your favorite type of cookie? How do you store cookies after baking them? What are some of your tried and true ways to get cookies to last longer?

Jen Tilley has an insatiable appetite for all things related to baking and cooking. She is the author, photographer and recipe developer on How To: Simplify, a blog that shares tips, tricks and recipes to simplify life in the kitchen. She enjoys sharing recipes that require very few ingredients and only a small amount of prep and cook time, all of which make time spent in the kitchen simple and enjoyable. Find her online at How To: Simplify, @HowToSimplify, and Jen Tilley Photography.