Yes, You Can Freeze Cookie Dough to Speed Up Your Chill Time—Here's How (2024)

FAQs

What can I use if I don't have time to chill cookie dough? ›

If you can't swing an overnight rest, we recommend chilling your cookie dough in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours before scooping and baking. If you really don't want to wait, shape your dough into balls and freeze them for 15 minutes, then pop them in the oven.

The taste will remain, but the cookies will not spread as large. If you want the spread to be the same, we recommend thawing the dough for 24 hours in the fridge. Some cookie doughs just don't freeze well. These are doughs that rely on egg whites rather than butter for volume and texture in the cookie.

Chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Place the solid and cold cookie dough balls into a labeled zipped-top bag– large or small depending on how much dough you have. Label the bag with the month and the baking temperature and place the bag in the freezer. Freeze cookie dough for up to 3 months.

Cool down your dough for a tastier, chewier cookie.

As little as 30 minutes in your fridge or freezer can help your cookie brown better, spread less, and develop a richer chewy texture. There's a few reasons why, but one important part is it gives the butter in your dough a chance to firm up before baking.

Refers to food that is thoroughly cooled in a refrigerator compartment, but is not frozen. Proper chilling of food is usually accomplished within a temperature range of 33°F to 42°F.

If you store it in your fridge, you can usually expect this cookie dough to last about 1 to 2 weeks past the “best by” date. In your freezer, frozen raw cookie dough can actually last 9 to 12 months, giving you plenty of time to use it before it goes bad.

If you start whipping up a cookie recipe only to realize you have to chill the dough for a longer amount of time than you have, there's a trick for speeding up the process: freezing the cookie dough. That's right, you can freeze it for a bit to shave quite a bit of time off the chilling suggestion in the recipe.

Most cookie doughs freeze well for up to 3 months. Remember to write the date, type of cookie, and baking instructions on the outside of the package. Drop Cookies: Shape the cookie dough into balls as you would when preparing to bake them. Place them on a silicone- or parchment-lined sheet.

There's no need to thaw frozen drop cookie dough in order to bake your cookies — in fact, we don't recommend it. Start by preheating the oven slightly lower than the temperature called for in your recipe — about 15 degrees F lower.

Chilling cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread.

Does it matter how long you chill cookie dough? ›

As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product, says Haught Brown.

This method reduces the amount of time you can store the dough without it drying out, but makes it so you can bake the cookie dough balls directly from the fridge. No waiting for it to come to room temperature!

Form the dough into one or two disks, each about an inch thick. Wrap the disks tightly in plastic wrap, then transfer the disks to a zip-top freezer bag or airtight container. The frozen disks of cookie dough can be stored in the freezer for up to three months.

Shape the dough into two disks roughly 1-inch thick. Package and freeze: Wrap the disks in plastic or wax paper and transfer to a plastic freezer bag or other freezer container. Press out as much air as possible, label the bag, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

In the food industry, freezing usually refers to deep freezing, or lowering the temperature of product below -18°C. In contrast, chilling refers to the rapid cooling of a food product from its manufacturing temperature down to refrigerated or cold temperatures, usually from 1 to 4°C.

Chilling is the application of temperatures in the range of 0°C to 8°C, i.e. above the freezing point of the food, while freezing uses temperatures well below the freezing point, conventionally below 18°C. The difference between the two processes goes beyond the difference in temperature.

Most recipes recommend chilling cookie dough for several hours in the refrigerator, but the good news is that you can use your freezer in a pinch. Better Homes and Gardens says that you can freeze cookie dough for one-fourth of the recommended refrigeration time with good results.

Why You Need to Chill Your Cookie Dough. For starters, chilling prevents cookies from spreading out too quickly once they're in the oven. If you use a higher fat butter (like Kerrygold), chilling your dough is absolutely essential. Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool.

To use a frozen loaf of dough, remove it from the freezer the night before you want to bake it. Keep the loaf wrapped in the plastic and let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Place the thawed dough in a greased bread pan, cover, and let it rise on the counter.

Take the dough out of the freezer bag, put it on a microwave-safe plate, and cover it with a bowl to protect it from direct heat. Using the defrost setting on the microwave, defrost the dough in thirty-second increments for two and a half minutes total.

Should refrigerated cookie dough be brought to room temperature before rolling? ›

It depends on your goals, it's not "wrong" to do it either way. i want it to be thin and chewy. Taking it out from the fridge and go straight to the oven making it thick and not spreading very much.

Homemade cookie dough should be stored in small containers in the refrigerator for two to four days or freeze for two months. Alternatively, small quantities of dough can be frozen and thawed in the refrigerator as needed.

So how long is cookie dough good for in the fridge? You can keep the leftover dough in the fridge for up to five days and in the freezer for three months. However, if they stay in there too long, they're likely to get hard and crumbly when you bake them.

Youngman says chilling the dough for at least one hour before baking is crucial. An overnight sleepover in the fridge is even better. But if you can't wait, shape your dough into balls and freeze them for 15 minutes before popping them into the oven. So yes, resting your cookie dough makes better cookies.

Storing cookie dough in the refrigerator: To store cookie dough in the refrigerator, cover the mixing bowl with a tightly sealed sheet of plastic wrap or transfer the dough to an airtight container.

As with most cookies, you can freeze sugar cookie dough or freeze baked sugar cookies. If you want to freeze the dough before baking, you can shape it into a disk (like pie dough) or log, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put in an airtight container before freezing.

As she says, not chilling the cookie and baking at 350 degrees can result in a more crackly cookie, since the dough hasn't had enough time to absorb the flour. Chilling it for half an hour, however, gives you thicker, chewier dough.

Chilling the dough is a key step in making sugar cookies, especially when you're making cut-outs. Even if you're tight on time, make sure to get the dough in the fridge, or even the freezer, even if it's only for a little while. Skip this step, and the dough will be sticky, and much harder to work with.

How Long to Refrigerate Cookie Dough. As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that, and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product.

How long should refrigerated cookie dough sit out before baking? ›

If all you're looking for is less spreading, a quick 30 minutes should suffice. For anti-spreading purposes, you want your dough to feel firm to the touch. This is how you know the fat has chilled and firmed up enough to prevent excess spreading.

Most cookie dough can be refrigerated, well-wrapped, for three to five days before baking. If you want to make it farther in advance, freeze the dough. See my previous post on freezing cookie dough for more information. If you need ideas for your holiday baking, see our collection of Cookie Recipes.

Q: HOW LONG SHOULD I CHILL THE DOUGH? Anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. The longer you chill the dough, the more flavor will develop. The flour will also absorb more of the moisture so the thicker and chewier the final texture will be.

At room temperature, cookie dough will thaw in about 1-2 hours, though many people find it takes even less time in a hot kitchen with the oven preheating.

Chilling cookie dough controls spread.

Chilling cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread.

Homemade cookie dough should be stored in small containers in the refrigerator for two to four days or freeze for two months. Alternatively, small quantities of dough can be frozen and thawed in the refrigerator as needed.

Freeze cookie dough to bake later on; it's easier than you might think. Freezing works best for cutout cookies, drop cookies and slice-and-bake cookies because the dough has a firm texture and can withstand more time in the freezer. Store it correctly and it'll keep for up to three months.