Thanks to an idea I found on Pinterest and my newfound love of using the ice-cream scoop for making cookies, I’ve started using a new method of sharing homemade cookies with friends. There is really not much better than a homemade cookie (especially, it must be said, if it’s this chocolate chip cookie recipe) and fresh-out-of-the-oven homemade cookies are the absolute pinnacle of such pleasures. If I bring cookies over to someone I like them to be quite fresh, made the same day preferably, and that can be challenging to plan around delivery. On the other hand, bringing raw cookie dough still requires some work on their part and if they are truly quite busy, it may not be helpful. Finally, for folks who had a new baby or may otherwise be inundated with lots of food at the same time, they may not need or want extra baked goods at that moment.
The perfect solution to all these problems is to pre-roll the cookies and bring them over frozen!
I spent a couple hours one afternoon making two batches of cookies – chocolate chip and Ina’s wonderful oatmeal raisin cookies (the perfect blend of crunchy and chewy). Since I had all the ingredients and equipment out, it took just a few minutes more to make two instead of one. When the dough was all pulled together, I used the ice cream scoop to make the cookies on the sheet pan and then put the whole pan in the freezer. Once the balls of dough were completely frozen, I took the pan out and let it sit for a couple minutes to release the cookies from the pan a bit, and then plucked those little frozen balls of doughy goodness off the pan and popped them into a freezer bag.
(I thought it would be helpful to include specific directions on how to cook them directly on the bag so that a paper wouldn’t get lost.)
Then, all my friends need to do is turn on their oven, lay as many cookies as they want to cook at that time on the pan, and they’ll have hot gooey buttery homemade cookies in just a few minutes!
Having a supply of these bags in the freezer means that I can easily grab them to run over to someone on a moment’s notice – and if I need them for us or company and don’t have time to bake, they are ready for me to use on demand as well! I’ll be keeping my freezer stocked with cookie dough from now on.
As the recipient of a batch of these cookies from Naomi, I will attest to their fabulousness! It was so fun and easy to pop a few of these in the oven at a time during my first week back at work, and very much appreciated.
So funny – a variation of the Jacques Torres’ recipe is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, too! Also, I do the exact same thing – I think I still have a few frozen balls of this cookie dough in my freezer right now. Though I admit I am not as generous as you and usually hoard the cookies for myself (the chocolate in that recipe costs a freakin’ fortune). Sometimes I will bake just 2 cookies for us so that we aren’t tempted to eat the whole batch at once.
When do I get to receive some of these?