One thing I love to do is give people homemade cookies. I bring them to my daughter’s school, give them to friends, make them for my pediatrician’s office, and have them to offer whenever friends come over. People now look forward to my cookies and wait in anticipation for the next time they can enjoy each tasty morsel of these homemade delights. Let’s just say, everyone LOVES my homemade cookies—but really, who doesn’t love fresh baked cookies? The problem is that I don’t always have time to whip up a batch if someone is coming over on short notice or if I am going to see someone who I wanted to give cookies. The other issue is that I want them to be fresh, not cooked the night before, but warm straight from the oven. This is my solution for having fresh baked homemade cookies at short notice.
Next time you make a batch of your favorite cookies, form them into the correct size on a cookie sheet lined with baking parchment paper. Place the tray of cookies in the freezer for about an hour or as long as they take to set into a firm frozen state. Take them off the cookie sheet and put them in a zipper plastic bag so they are not touching. Keep them in the freezer until you are ready to bake them.
Follow the baking directions for the type of cookie you wish to bake—preheat the oven to the temperature required by the recipe and place a piece of baking parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Arrange the cookies on the parchment paper according the spacing required by the recipe and put them in the oven frozen.
There is no need to thaw them out. Just add about two minutes to the cooking time and they will taste as if you just mixed the batter that day. You will amaze your friends and family and they will ask you how you find the time to always have fresh homemade cookies.
