Whether you've converted your kitchen into a Christmas cookie factory or are just baking a single batch of treats to satisfy a sudden dessert craving, you'll need to know the best way to store your cookies to preserve their flavor and texture. (Unless you plan on eating all of them straight off of the cookie sheet&#;no judgment!)
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The best way to store cookies depends on the type of cookie you're baking and how long you want to keep them fresh. Read on for our best tips.
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How to Store Crunchy Cookies
Moisture is the enemy of treats like gingersnaps, shortbread, biscotti, and crunchy-edged chocolate chip and sugar cookies. While you might think an airtight container or zip-top plastic storage bag is the way to go, it will actually trap moisture inside, making the cookies soften. Instead, leave the bag partially unsealed. The cookies should stay fresh for several days.
If you want to enjoy the cookies later on, your best bet is to make and freeze the unbaked dough. Shape the dough into logs, wrap them in plastic, place them in a zip-top plastic freezer bag or airtight container, and freeze. You can also flash-freeze individual scoops of dough on cookie sheets then place the frozen balls of dough in a zip-top plastic freezer bag and freeze.
How to Store Soft Cookies
For puffy and tender treats like snickerdoodles, soft chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, or sugar cookies, a little moisture will help them retain their soft texture. If you are planning to eat the cookies within a few days, place them in an airtight container or zip-top plastic bag. You can also place a slice of sandwich bread inside the container, which will absorb excess moisture and help keep the cookies soft.
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How to freeze soft cookies
If you are pre-baking cookies to enjoy later on, let them cool completely before freezing the cookies on cookie sheets. Transfer the frozen cookies to an airtight container or zip-top plastic freezer bag.
To defrost the cookies, place them on a paper towel-lined plate at room temperature.
Cookie Storage Tips
No matter what type of cookie you're working with, these tips will help keep them fresh as long as possible.
Let the cookies cool completely
While you may be eager to get your creation into an airtight container, don't rush the cooling process. If your cookies don't cool completely before storing them, the container will trap heat and condensation, making your cookies a flimsy mess.
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Avoid icing cookies before storing
Iced or frosted cookies take up a lot of space in your fridge or freezer, and the additional moisture may make your cookies softer than you want. The frosting can also begin to lose flavor if you decide to decorate too soon. Rather than worrying about the mess of stacked and frosted cookies in your fridge or freezer, store the baked goods before adding any creamy toppings for the best results.
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Crisp days-old cookies in the oven
If you are ready to eat a stored batch of cookies (or even just one!), revive them in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes. The crispy edges will return, and what is better than a warmed cookie with a glass of milk?
It&#;s begun. The moment December arrives, the competition is on for the most beautiful, adorably packaged cookie boxes. Is it really Christmas without a flurry of cookies of complementary tastes and textures? No. Can you get away with baking just one kind? Also no.
It poses a perpetual logistical challenge: How can you bake the cookies as far in advance as possible to save those precious last few days before Christmas for wrapping gifts and dusting off the punch bowl? And how can you store them in the interim so that they stay beautifully intact and decidedly crunchy?
If you&#;re giving away cookie tins or sending people cookies in the mail and you don&#;t want the treats to arrive as a shower of unrecognizable broken shards, matters become even more complicated. As we enter the biggest baking season of the year, I asked a few pros for their best advice about keeping holiday cookies as fresh and picture-perfect as possible in the days and weeks after the baking session.
The USDA website says that generally, cookies can be stored at room temperature for two to three weeks or refrigerated for two months. If you find yourself with more cookies than you can eat in that time frame, consider putting the baked cookies in a sealed container in the freezer.
If you&#;re trying to get an even earlier head start on holiday baking, consider making and freezing the dough a few weeks ahead of time and baking your cookies closer to when you plan to gift and eat them.
While you can usually count on a couple weeks&#; shelf life for baked holiday cookies, some styles of cookies lend themselves more to keeping around for that long. If your ideal chocolate chip cookie is cakey and melty, you&#;ll enjoy it more in the hours right after it&#;s baked. But if your baking session involves crisp cutouts, sables, and shortbread, there&#;s no rush.
Abi Balingit, the author of the upcoming cookbook Mayumu, started baking and curating boxes of treats during summer of to raise money for organizations like Bed-Stuy Strong and Send Chinatown Love. &#;Shortbread cookies tend to have better shelf lives,&#; she&#;s learned. &#;Chewier and softer cookies tend to get dry and stale as multiple days pass and don&#;t travel as well.&#;
If you&#;ve just finished baking and decorating your cookies for the season, it&#;s not time to carefully compose that beautiful assortment quite yet. Laurie Ellen Pellicano, a former pastry chef at Tartine who now runs an online bakery, tells me that it&#;s a good idea to store different types of cookies separately until you&#;re ready to give them away or ship them.
&#;Definitely invest in good locking-lid type containers,&#; Pellicano says. &#;Plastic bags are not ideal because of things jumbling around, but also the layer&#;s just not thick enough to seal things in. I also think that plastic can sometimes give off some odor or absorb some odor, so it&#;s a little bit more sensitive.&#;
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Balingit agrees, &#;If possible, it&#;s best to keep cookies in airtight containers at home before having to transfer them to boxes or bags to give to friends. I prefer Pyrex glass containers with lids to plain Ziploc bags because I find they keep cookies fresher for longer periods of time.&#;
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