How to Freeze Cookie Dough

Last fall I read a casual mention online about freezing cookie dough balls. It was like a great big lightbulb had gone on.

Why make 48 cookies at once when there are only two of us?

Why worry about racing home to get dough prepped when we want to take cookies to a party?

Why not have fresh, just out of the oven cookies ready a moment's notice?

Why not indeed.



This has made a huge difference for us. Not only can you prep dough in advance of big events (hello Christmas baking) but you can also keep a variety of dough in the freezer ready to bake up as thank yous or for last minute company. (Or just for you. That's what we do with it most of the time). I'm sure there are a million methods for doing this, but this is what has worked for me. Feel free to change to work best for you!

Come inside for the 5 step method


Step 1. Drop your dough balls* onto a plate or cookie sheet (whatever will fit in your freezer) and freeze for about 5 minutes.



Step 2. Once the dough has set up enough to be firm, transfer onto plastic wrap. Roll the plastic wrap around the dough balls to create "logs".



Step 3. Use scissors to cut between the dough balls, and wrap the ends under. This should give you nice little wrapped dough balls.



Step 4. Use a sharpie* to label ziploc bags. You will want to include the date, type of cookie, and baking temp and time.



Step 5. Transfer your wrapped dough balls into bags and place in freezer***.



When you are ready to bake, remove from the bag and the plastic wrap and cook directly from frozen. You do not need to defrost, just make sure the oven is already preheated.


*If you would rather store your dough in logs (either for slice and bake or just to save time on the prep end), follow the same steps but for each log instead of each dough ball. You will need to let these defrost in the fridge before baking, so be conscious of that.

**A friend turned me onto Industrial Sharpies recently. These are amazing for writing on plastic if your bags don't have those little white labels, or if the labels are too small for you.

***What I have seen indicates that frozen cookie dough will keep up to 3-4 months in the freezer. We made one batch at the end of November and ate it through March with no problems. I expect most cookies won't make it to the 4 month marker. : )