Stunning Checkerboard Christmas Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How long before Christmas should you make Christmas cookies? ›

As for the cookies—made for cookie swaps, church potlucks, household snacking, and Santa's plate—there is one little cheat: make now, freeze for later. You'll find that most of your favorite Christmas cookie recipes can be made anywhere from a month to six months before the 25th of December.

Wrapping and Freezing

In general, any cookie dough containing fat, like butter or shortening, tends to freeze well. But cookie doughs that rely on whipped egg whites for volume and texture will be tough to freeze. For example, meringues and macarons will not freeze well.

A great way to relieve a little pressure is to have something on-hand you can reach out for at a moment's notice. Frozen chocolate chip cookies are a fine example because they freeze very well, and will suit any occasion.

As a general rule of thumb, 'drop cookies,' which include oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, and 'cut-out cookies,' such as gingerbread and sugar cookies, are freezer-friendly.

Shortbread and spritz cookies are longer-lasting cookies, which means they are perfect for holidays when there is some competition on the table. After all, Christmas in many homes is celebrated with a variety of dishes and sweet treats.

Delicate cookie doughs/batters don't hold up well in the freezer. For example, I avoid freezing French macarons batter, madeleine batter, lace cookies batter, and chocolate-swirled meringue batter. Even if you let the doughs/batter thaw first, the results will not be the same.

Schreiber likes to bake cutout cookie dough straight from the freezer, so they keep their shape. If the sheets are uncut, you should thaw them in the refrigerator until they're soft enough to cut, then bake.

For best results, freeze the dough as directed above and wait until baked and fully cooled before icing or glazing. You can also freeze the baked cookies as directed below, and wait until thawed and at room temperature before icing or glazing.

Baked cookies will keep in the freezer for up to 3 or 4 weeks. After baking, allow cookies to cool completely. Place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet to freeze them, then store them in a freezer-safe zip-top storage bag labeled with the name and date.

The scent, the texture, and the flavor—all incredible straight out of the oven. But what if you baked too many cookies, or you're hoping to bake dozens ahead of time so you can have treats on hand whenever a craving strikes? Once they're baked, most cookies freeze very well.

Do Girl Scout cookies freeze well? ›

Whether you store them in the freezer in order to maintain their shelf life (a pro move considering Girl Scout cookie season only lasts about four months out of the year), or you just like to leave them in there to get an ideal taste and texture, it's safe to say you simply can't go wrong by serving your Girl Scout ...

The best cookies to freeze are sturdy and simple, like drop cookies, cutouts, and cookie bars. Overly delicate treats—like light and airy meringue kisses—generally don't hold up to freezing well. Cookies made with jam, fresh citrus juice, or zest don't freeze well either.

If you're a stickler for fresh-baked flavor, you can also make the dough and freeze it, but it is best used within three months—so you can get started in October and have plenty of dough on-hand for December.

“Homemade sugar cookies should ideally be consumed within two to three days, but can last up to one week at room temperature if stored properly in an air-tight container in a dry, cool place,” Mok says.

If you have the willpower not to eat the cookies immediately, store them in an airtight container with a slice of bread. This will help him stay stale longer. If you want to keep cookies fresh for an extended period, put them in a ziplock bag and place them in the freezer.

Stick with room temp

“If you store cookies in the fridge, they will dry out,” Amanda says. The dry, cold air sucks the moisture right out of them. Instead, keep your cookies at room temperature, or freeze them for later.