The Best Way To Freeze Cookie Dough For Easy Baking Later

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There's nothing better than filling your house with the smell of freshly baked cookies, whether you're using store-bought cookie dough or mixing up your own. But if you're looking to bake a few cookies now and save the rest of the dough for later, you might be wondering about the best way to freeze it. Luckily, we've got answers from a top baking expert. 

Kat Buckley, the United Kingdom-based blogger at The Baking Explorer (@thebakingexplorer on Instagram) and author of "Bakes That Break The Internet," spoke exclusively to Chowhound about how to best freeze cookie dough so you can have your favorite treat at the ready whenever your next cookie craving hits.

So, what exactly is the best way to freeze cookie dough after you mix it up to avoid freezer burn and other mishaps? Buckley says it's best to freeze single cookie portions. "I would advise portioning it out, placing the cookie dough balls onto a flat tray, freezing until solid, then transferring to a Tupperware container or Ziploc bag," she recommends. "Then you can remove one or two cookie dough balls when that fresh cookie craving hits!"

She also says there isn't a type of dough that freezes best, so whether you're a fan of sugar cookies, chocolate chip, gingerbread, or peanut butter cookies, you can freeze any type of cookie dough you've prepared, using the above method.

Typically, you want to chill cookie dough before baking, a key step which develops the cookies' flavor. You can't trust the freezer to do the fridge's job in this regard; dough destined for the freezer still needs its 24 to 72-hour chill time. When scooping out your cookie dough for freezing, try portioning it out with an ice cream scoop instead of a spoon. That way, you'll have cookies that are uniform in both size and shape when you do decide to bake them. This can make your cookies look more professional and appealing, if that's important to you.

Just as you would bake your cookies on a piece of parchment paper to avoid the bottoms burning and to encourage the right degree of spread, it can help to scoop out your dough balls onto parchment or wax paper before tucking them away into zip-top bags for freezing, as Kat Buckley recommends. These perfectly shaped little balls of joy last for three to six months in the freezer.

You might be wondering if you need to thaw out the cookie dough before baking from frozen. The answer is no; generally, you don't need to thaw frozen dough beforehand. However, your cookies may need to bake a minute or two longer, and it's a good idea to preheat the oven about 20 degrees Fahrenheit lower than your recipe calls for; this ensures the frozen cookie dough cooks consistently throughout, leaving you with perfectly flavored and textured treats.