Sorry, It’s been a while. Actually, I feel like I have been saying that a lot to people lately. My routine has been thrown in the air a bit in recent days – but 2012 finally seems to be getting settled.
One of the things that I have been trying to do lately is eliminate pre-packaged foods from the house. Right now, we still have a lot of it around mostly because in the moment, it makes life so much easier. Pre-packaged food always has a bunch of random weird stuff in it (and TONS of sodium) and by making it myself, I can have more control to make sure that things are as healthy as can be around here.
So to start my little pre-packaged by you – so it’s still homemade! series, I bring you Convenience Cookies.
This isn’t an original idea by any means… One of the greatest things about the cookies in the refrigerator section of the grocery store is that they are easy to pop into the oven when you want them, especially when you don’t have the time to make them from scratch. This is also why thousands of school-aged children do so well at selling frozen cookie dough for fundraisers at school. People love convenience and they especially love when things still feel homemade without the hassle.
For a fraction of the cost – you can do this yourself and it’s really simple. I love having these around for nights when we have friends in town or over for dinner. It also makes me more on top of my game – and I like that feeling. Thinking ahead makes this worth it for whatever reason you might need them.
Directions –Please excuse the mix of phone photos and real camera photos. I forgot where the camera was when I got started.
Follow the recipe for your favorite scooped cookies – I usually use the Original NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and it freezes really nicely. My only change is that I use 1/2 the chocolate chips and I use the mini chips if I can find them.
After you get the dough together, put the bowl in the fridge for about 5 minutes. This makes the cookie dough easier to scoop.
Scoop the cookies onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (make sure this will fit into your freezer first). They can be as close together as you wish, since you will not be baking these.
Stick the entire sheet into your freezer for 20 minutes or until you can pick up the cookies without leaving any chunks of dough left on the paper when you pick one up.
Ready.
When the dough balls are ready, toss them into a freezer bag or container. It is important to use a freezer-safe container so that the cookies don’t get freezer burned and ruined before you can bake them.
There you go! I like to use Ziploc Smart Zip bags. I use these for lots of stuff in the freezer and I always have really great results.
When you are ready to bake them, place the frozen cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 1-2 minutes beyond the normal baking time listed on the original recipe.
Do you have anything that you put together like this ahead of time? Share it with me, please!
<meta name=”p:domain_verify” content=”pinterest-0ea17.html” />
Autumn & Rob 