Relaxation assured, busy bakers who produce other issues to do with each spare hour in December moreover bake, that the majority adorned Christmas cookies, in addition to caramels and sweet cane bark and brittle, might be made prematurely and stashed for as much as every week earlier than gifting them or noshing on them with some wine at your swanky soiree. Which implies you can simply faux that you simply JUST slaved over a sizzling range for the cookies and candies that you simply’re gifting. You merely have to pay thoughts to some commonsense tips.
Storing cookies and sweet at room temp
First, make sure that the sweet itself or the icing in your adorned cookies is absolutely set and dried earlier than storing in an hermetic container at room temperature. You’ll be able to layer candies or cookies between sheets of parchment paper or waxed paper, stacking the cookies not more than three layers excessive since an excessive amount of weight can injury the decorations or the shapes of the candies towards the underside of the tin.
Storing cookies within the freezer
For longer storage, you may freeze baked however undecorated cookies in an hermetic container for as much as 3 months. Cool utterly earlier than freezing. Merely thaw them at room temperature earlier than serving or adorning.
You can too freeze unbaked cookie dough that have to be chilled earlier than rolling out, corresponding to sugar cookie dough or gingerbread dough. These might be fashioned right into a disk, wrapped in plastic wrap, sealed in a freezer bag, and frozen for as much as 3 months; let the dough thaw to a cool room temperature earlier than rolling it out, baking, and adorning as standard.
Identical goes for icebox doughs, that are fashioned right into a log previous to chilling, slicing, and baking. They are often tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for as much as 3 months. Simply thaw at room temperature earlier than slicing and baking.
Moreover, any unbaked rolled or formed cooked dough, corresponding to shortbread cookies, gingerbread cookies, and fig rugelach, might be formed and frozen earlier than baking after which baked immediately from the freezer, including a couple of minutes to the baking time.
