I love a good weekend project, especially when that project involves my fingers in loads of cookie dough.
I’ll admit that I may be waaaay behind the times on this trick. It’s the sort of trick that super moms have on lock to make them look even more awesome than they already are. Since I haven’t yet produced other people with my body, this trick is just now hitting my radar.
The idea is this: one day… (say, maybe a lazy Saturday morning) whip up a couple batches of your favorite cookie dough. Dollop that cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, all close like. Throw the entire cookie sheet into the freezer. Freeze the dough balls, then throw them into a zip lock bag and back into the freezer. You know what that means? All you have to do is flick on the oven and throw in a few dough balls anytime you want fresh baked cookies! Dang this livin’ is easy!
This frozen dough ball situation is key and here’s why:
You and the family can have fresh baked cookies any and every night.
Surprise guests? No problem at all… you just happened to be whipping up a batch of fresh cookies. Taaadaaa!
Bake ‘em directly from frozen…. do it!
Frozen dough balls in the middle of the night? I won’t tell a soul. Can I be honest? I eat the dough balls more often than I actually bake the cookies. In fact… be right back. Dough ball for breakfast.
Full disclosure: I’ve eaten three cookie dough balls in the writing of this post. I’m not done yet.
You might also try these recipes for you cookie dough freezing pleasure:
Oatmeal Cherry White Chocolate Cookies
Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
White Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from King Arthur
makes 2 dozen cookies
2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour, or regular whole wheat flour if you’re feeling extra nutty
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1-2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts, again… if you’re feeling nutty.
Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl, whisk it together and set aside. Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar and softened butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition. Add dry ingredients all at once and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts if using.
Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Drop cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Place them very close together so that as many cookies balls as possible fit on the tray. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer and chill dough balls until frozen through, at least 3 hours. Remove the sheet from the freezer and place dough balls in a freezer safe bag and place back in the freezer until ready to bake.
When ready to bake cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place frozen dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave a few inches in between the cookies, giving them room to spread. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden and irresistible.
{ 87 comments… read them below or add one }
beautiful!
great tips, and thanks for doing a ww cookie recipe!
I did this when I was pregnant — I made huge batches of molasses cookies and froze the dough. Then I impressed the bejeezus out of people who dropped in to see my brand new baby by serving them fresh baked cookies. It’s an excellent party trick.
this is like music to my ears. i’m so ready to change the way i make cookies forever! the freezer is my new best friend ;)
fantabulous. Although, I’m already totally addicted to freezing almost everything in sight. Every dessert or snack I make, I feel as if i stash a few in the freezer. But… no raw cookie dough yet. No better time than now :)
Yummy! Another great way to store them in the freezer is in an washed out ice cream tub. :)
This is such a great idea! I am such a loser and I always buy those big, premade hunks of dough that you break off and bake. But I am sure that these are way better. This is on my to-do list for next week!
I’ve been meaning to freeze cookie dough for a while now, but I never thought of making cookies with whole wheat flour! Unfortunately, I don’t think my freezer is large enough (or at least it is too full…) to fit an entire cookie sheet in it. I’ve got to find a solution to this problem!
Saw your images and link to your blog on Cupcakes Take the Cake today. Neato! Congrats!
I have frozen my favorite cookies before…what is really fun is if all the cookies take the same amount of time to bake, I can take several different kinds of cookies. A dozen of 3-4 different kinds of cookies, right out of the oven, does make quite an impression!
I grind my own wheat and have yet to include it in my cookies/baking. I’ve heard that soft (pastry flour) is better if you want a light, soft product. What is your experience with this?
Yeah! This is one of my favorite things to do, I always have cookies of some sort in the freezer. Sometimes I come home and my husband is washing off a baking tray with a guilty expression… a sure sign he has been in my freezer stash since otherwise he does NOT bake. ;)
I am the queen of flash freezing cookies. I love it. At any particular time in my freezer, you’ll find about 5 different kinds in there. The only problem….is that I love frozen cookie dough almost as much as I love the freshly baked cookies.
YUM!
Trader Joe’s sells frozen cookie dough balls and it’s like a dream. At any given moment when you want a cookie straight from the oven you can have one aaaaaand making them homemade is even better.
I’m excited to do this!
You’re one smart cookie!
What a great idea! I’m busy working full time and going to grad school at night, so this is a great trick for me. Also I love the king Arthur flour website, it’s a phenomenal resource. I’m planning whole wheat zucchini quick bread for this weekend.
Oh no! You’ve discovered my magic secret!
Frozen cookie dough balls are also GREAT for if say…. you and your friends are renting a fully furnished cabin in the woods for 4th of July! On the morning of the 4th as we were all getting ready to go out on the boat for the day, I pulled out my bag of frozen cookie dough, baked them up, and put them in a container to take out on the boat! At lunchtime everyone DEVOURED the freshly baked cookies and proclaimed they were MUCH MUCH better than Chips Ahoy!
I have an entire bag of chocolate chip dough balls in our freezer. I’m convinced my husband sneaks one every night… but with two kids at home, it’s WAY easy to make fresh cookies without having to buy the stuff they pass off as “cookies” in the store. :)
I’ve always wanted to do this, but have been wary since I don’t know how long it would keep in the freezer. Any ideas on that??
Freezing cookie dough in balls is what we do all the time! Saves so much time when all you want is a fresh cookie. Plus, you can avoid eating 5 dozen in one sitting. :)
This is death to me – I have unfortunately discovered that I like to eat frozen cookie dough balls better than fresh baked cookies. It’s safer for me to bake them all at once and give them away.
ME TOO! In fact I quit freezing dough because of my tendency to eat it all.
In addition to the WW goodness going on here, I add ground flax. Clearly I like it nutty – and then I feel less guilty loading the neighborhood kids up on sugar.
This is so AWESOME!!! I was just thinking about doing this, but haven’t gotten around to it. We love having warm cookies from dessert, but usually pull frozen baked ones out of the freezer and microwave them for a bit. They would be WAY better fresh from the oven!!!
Can’t wait to stock the freezer!!!
Frozen dough is a great idea…thanks!
Seriously great idea!! And love the full disclosure :)
I live by this. If you have a toaster over, then you don’t even have to heat the whole kitchen. I also do this with slice and bake cookie doughs. I keep them in the freezer, wrapped and stuffed into a tube from a roll of paper towels.
This is also a great idea for a cookie exchange. Let people take the frozen, ready-to-bake dough to bake at their leisure, instead of a box of cookies hat have to be gorged on immediately, lest they go stale.
I just started doing this. I do about 3 or 4 batches at a time, flash freeze on a baking sheet then stick in a labeled ziploc bag. It’s so easy and they taste so much better than store bought. Plus, if we’re having a party, I can pull out cookies and instant food.
Great idea, I would need more room in my freezer though :) I’ve never attempted a whole wheat cookie dough before.
I have been using this technique for a few months now for my little baking business and it has been a total life saver! Thanks for the yummy new recipes for my arsenal.
love. this. idea.
but wait: FROZEN dough balls bake normally into a regular cookie without burning??? that’s amazing if true. (and scary for me) :-O
no kitchen rut here! sweet…
Joy, I see your frozen cookie dough balls and raise you homemade cookie dough ice cream.
As a gluten-free kinda girl, this idea is music to my ears (and death to my pancreas). Vanilla ice cream with chunks of cookie dough is one of those pleasures that’s fully lost on the gluten-free, but this just might bring it back into my kitchen.
Just… remind me how it’s okay to eat a little raw egg every now and then….?
I’m ALWAYS freezing cookie dough! It’s just sooo much more convenient! And I’m usually substituting whole wheat flour in everything, but never thought to do so in cookies!
I’m a huge fan of frozen cookie dough, and I’m definitely not a mum… uni student, anyone? If you can’t eat a frozen cookie dough ball for breakfast as a student, when can you?
I like them best when you put them in the microwave for a few seconds from frozen, and the outside goes soft and gooey and the inside’s still frozen. Try it, for real.
…Maybe this is where my freshman fifteen came from, now I think about it.
Snack-sized cookie dough available at anytime, day or night? This would be absolutely dangerous in our house!
I love the idea of the frozen dough and always plan on doing it but family and friends seem to have implanted a sensor in me so that when I bake there always seems to be people around eating them as fast as I can take them out of the oven. BUT I cant get over the fact of raw eggs and people eating the cookie dough. Yeah when I was a kid I licked the batter off the mixer beaters but times have changed and the “production” of eggs have changed. Our eggs are just not the same (sorry, but I went to a farm that provided eggs to supermarkets in NJ/PA area and was told maybe way too much). Most of us are using eggs from the super market not the “special” eggs Martha Stewart and the like talk about. I really dont want to be a buzz kill but at the very least small kids, people with gastro issues, etc. shouldnt indulge. My niece and nephew, grew up with the drill of no raw eggs, only lick the beaters if what I made had no eggs (frosting) and they still have tons of fond memories of baking with their aunt (who amazingly is still young!)
That is so smart! I started freezing some already baked cookies to just pop in the microwave but this idea is even better!!
This is what I do for when my nephews come over. Aunt Coco always has cookies ;) How does the whole wheat flour taste in these?
Everytime I bake something with whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur brand) it has a weird/completely different aftertaste. How do you change that? Thank youu!
Ariella- I would say that you can either use White Whole Wheat Flour which has a lighter wheat taste, or you can mix whole wheat and all-purpose flour together… half and half.
I roll my dough into a log wrap it in wax paper and a zip lock bag. Usually I have two boys climbing on me for the cookies and it’s faster to roll and just throw it in the freezer. I’m lazy that way!
Ariella – Try 1/2 whole wheat 1/2 white flour. I find there are some things that just don’t taste right with all whole wheat.
Yes, love to freeze cookie dough. Great to make more than you want to start and then have extra leftover! I love how you have used whole wheat flour here. I have to admit, that’s not something I’ve used before in chocolate chip cookies.
I love your website! The photos are awesome, I love just looking at them, the things you make look so yummy! Thanks for the recipes!
This is my first visit to your site and may I just say, you are lovely! This is a beautiful blog and I am loving it! I’m a mom of 3 and I had yet to discover frozen cookie dough…in the shape of cookies! Until today, that is. Thanks for the awesome recipes. I’ll definitely be back.
I will have to look for white whole wheat flour and give it a try. I do 1/2 and 1/2 with pretty much anything that calls for flour.
New to the site and enjoying it so much!
first vegan cake with avocado frosting, now whole wheat cookies? are you going healthy on us?
omg smart! thanks for the tip ;)
interesting cake you have btw.
never thought of using avacado on a cake!
I sneak whole wheat flour and shredded zucchini into our cookies and bars to get veggies into my Daughter… I will put whole grain anywhere!
Hi Joy,
I have been your blog follower ever since I started blogging, love your work! To say thanks, I have just send the Kreativ Blogger Award to you. Can you please go to my blog for more details, thanks! Actually you always have so many comments to read…I wonder if you will read mine, haha!
Lovely! I like to use whole wheat pastry flour cut with regular whole wheat if I want something to stay fluffy light, like cookie dough. Since all the butter and shug makes the cookies turn brown regardless, it works like magic!
I’m not sure whether anyone has ever asked you this, but do you eat everything you bake?! I’ve been spending the last half hour going through all your recipes and I’m just wondering where it all goes!!!
Beautiful site by the way. You helped salvage my buttercream frosting (from one of your earlier posts on why the frosting curdles).
Or the best is baking a pan of frozen cookie dough balls and then transforming them into ice cream sandwiches. Mmm….many hot evenings made more bearable by cold ice cream between two warm chocolate chip cookies.
i always laugh out loud when i read your posts joy! i love this idea!!!!!!!!! totally gonna steal it :)
Yup, have been freezing dough for years! Had to ban the children from eating them though LOL
I love freezing cookie dough. It’s always nice to have it on hand. I’m always looking for new cookie dough recipes so thank you so much for this wonderful blog post!!
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