One afternoon we were having a mega-playdate at our house, so I decided to make cookies. The kids love measuring, mixing, and scooping, with a little taste-testing in between. I figured this activity was good to occupy the kids for at least half an hour. We scooped two dozen cookies to bake, but I still had dough to spare. While the girls intently watched the cookies transform from mounds of dough into golden brown cookies, I scooped the remaining dough (which amounted to about another dozen cookies) onto a third cookie sheet and popped it not into the oven, but the freezer. Once frozen, I layered them with waxed paper in an airtight container (this way the dough is already hard and won’t stick when layered) and put them right back into the freezer again. I’d been inspired by the way one of my favorite local markets sells their raw cookie dough: not in a log or a tub, but as frozen, pre-scooped cookies. This way, when you’re in the mood for some spur-of-the-moment home-baked goodness, all you need to do is pop the cookies onto a sheet—no thawing or cutting required. The baking time almost doubles to account for the frozen dough (which for my chocolate chip cookies went from about 10 minutes of baking time to 20 at 375 degrees). Those extra minutes are still far fewer than you would have spent whipping up an entirely fresh batch from scratch.
So, the next time you’re making your favorite cookie recipe, scoop a batch for the freezer too! One day when you’re craving home-baked cookies but don’t have any time, you’ll be glad you did! (Warning: I find cookies in their raw-dough frozen form extremely addictive, so if you actually want these to hang around long enough to bake, hide them at the back of your freezer!)
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Season To Taste 