Realizing the best way to retailer vacation cookies and candies makes it a cinch to stash your creations upfront for safekeeping–each from deteriorating over time and from stray cravings–in order that they final long gone the second you made them.
Relaxation assured, busy bakers who produce other issues to do with each spare hour in December apart from bake, that almost all embellished Christmas cookies, in addition to caramels and sweet cane bark and brittle, will be made upfront 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 just JUST slaved over a scorching range for the cookies and candies that you just’re gifting. You merely must pay thoughts to a couple commonsense tips.
Storing cookies and sweet at room temp
First, be certain that the sweet itself or the icing in your embellished cookies is totally 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’ll be able to 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 even freeze unbaked cookie dough that have to be chilled earlier than rolling out, resembling sugar cookie dough or gingerbread dough. These will 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 normal.
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, resembling shortbread cookies, gingerbread cookies, and fig rugelach, will be formed and frozen earlier than baking after which baked straight from the freezer, including a couple of minutes to the baking time.
