Freezing cookie dough is a great way of having an always-ready sweet snack recipe whenever you need it. After all, these are best fresh out of the oven with that fresh soft texture, and who doesn’t love cookies? It’s not a complicated culinary task, but if you’ve never done it before, you are probably wondering – how to bake frozen cookie dough?
That’s why this guide will lead you through the preparation of frozen cookie dough, as well as everything about thawing it at room temperature, and then on with how to bake frozen cookie dough.
We’ll also go over some tips and tricks for getting that gooey cookie texture!
First Things First – Let’s Make Frozen Cookie Dough
The final goal is to get the ready-to-go cookie dough balls that you just shove right into the oven. Still, to get there, we’ll have to prepare the cookie dough first. Here’s what you’ll need for the ultimate sugar cookie dough you can put in a freezer:
- Soften butter
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda
- Flour
- Topping flavors
You’ll need one large bowl to start, and a mixer or stirring spoon. I prefer using a mixer for cookie dough as it makes everything much easier. The important thing is to use the mixer the entire time while adding the ingredients.
This prevents creating flour balls in the dough and makes it more uniform. You can start by adding a half cup of softened butter to the bowl and start mixing on slow to moderate speed. Remember to go through the edges of the bowl and scrape the bottom several times.
It’s important to do so as you’ll prevent the dough from sticking to the bottom. As you stir the butter, it’s time to add two cups of sugar into the mix. I like to do it half a cup at a time while continuously mixing to blend the sugar nicely with the butter.
Next, add 4 eggs into the mix and make sure that they are at room temperature. As I said, you want to get a nice uniform blend, so also add one egg at a time while stirring or mixing.
At this point, you’ll notice your cookie dough getting that nice golden color and starting to gain the texture we’re looking for. I like to add a bit of vanilla extract, two tablespoons are just enough to give the dough one additional flavor note.
Now, you might be surprised by this, but let’s mix it all up with one small spoon of salt. Adding just a tiny bit of salt will bring all the ingredients together to blend in nicely. it also balances the flavors and helps preserve that oily butter texture that we’ll need even after getting the dough out of the freezer.
Add two tablespoons of baking soda and 5 cups of flour, one cup at a time while slowly increasing the stirring speed. You need to make sure that the flour has blended in nicely to prevent any flour lumps that could devastate your cookie texture.
You can also choose from several flavors, since this recipe gives you about enough dough to fill two baking sheets, maybe even three depending on the size.
Bakers’ All-Time Favorite – Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you want chewy chocolate chip cookies, the good news is you can also prepare this dough and freeze chocolate chip cookies! The recipe is slightly different than the previously listed one for sugar cookies.
You can start by mixing up white and brown sugar. This is the trick to making a solid chocolate chip cookie dough, and I like to add a bit more brown sugar. Chocolate chip cookie dough requires about half a cup of white sugar and slightly more brown sugar to give it that rich golden color.
Once again, we’re going to add a small spoon of salt to boost and blend in all the flavors nicely. For the next step, make sure to add half a cup of butter that has previously been softened.
You can either do this by taking it out of the fridge about an hour before making the dough, or by using a microwave for about 10 seconds.
Add one egg, and a tablespoon of vanilla extract and stir all the time as you add each ingredient. Right at this moment, you’ll instantly be able to tell the difference between this recipe and the one for sugar cookie dough.
The final step is to add one and a half cups of flour and a bit of baking soda and stir until you get a uniform mass. The dough will be different in texture and color when compared to sugar cookies.
One last thing you’ll want to do is add at least 4 ounces of dark chocolate, or you can even combine dark and milk chocolate for an extra flavor.
Choosing Your Cookie Flavors
Once you go through the dough preparation, the result should be a golden cookie dough that we can put right into the freezer. But you don’t want to skip the sweetest step of the process, do you?
For most cookie lovers, myself included, adding a bit of topping flavor is my favorite part. It makes no difference if you are instantly baking the dough or using frozen dough as we’ll do in this guide – you can still choose various flavors.
For most of us, chocolate chip cookies make for a dream-like mix.
You can use our original recipe’s instructions or even add chocolate chunks into the sugar cookie dough – it’s up to you to choose.
One of the obvious options besides chocolate chip cookies is oatmeal and cranberry flavor. You can combine other fruit that is generally used as frozen fruit to complete your flavors and they can last frozen for as long as your dough lasts.
The Next Step – Storing Frozen Cookie Dough
Before you freeze cookie dough, you’ll need to know the best way to store them and make them last for a while. I like to use regular plastic wrap and spread it around with a double layer to make sure that the dough is tucked in nicely.
Just place a scoop of the dough (enough for one cookie) at the center of your plastic wrap and roll it while sealing the wrap on all sides.
With the recipe for sugar cookies, you will have a dessert just waiting to be pulled out of the freezer and oven-baked from the raw dough which should last 3 to 4 months in the freezer.
You can also place your cookie dough balls in a freezer bag instead of plastic wrap.
On the other hand, the golden brown chocolate chip cookie dough can last for up to 6 weeks.
Now, let’s get to the fun part – baking the frozen cookie dough!
Baking Frozen Dough Cookies
Baking cookies from a frozen dough is easier than you think, especially once you use the right dough recipe beforehand. Many of you will probably be wondering if you need to thaw the cookie dough before baking it.
The good news is – you can either thaw it by leaving it at room temperature for an hour or two or simply put the cookie dough balls in while still frozen and bake it right away!
If you bake them frozen, the only difference will be in the texture of your cookies and you can tackle this issue by underbaking them and returning them to the oven for as long as they need to bake completely.
The only thing you’ll want to avoid is overbaking them since there’s no return from this point.
Let’s take a look at the baking temperatures depending on whether you thaw them or bake them straight from the freezer.
Thawing Frozen Cookie Balls
There are two ways of thawing your frozen cookie dough – you can either leave it on the countertop for a few hours or transfer it from the freezer to the fridge overnight.
You can line them up on a parchment lined baking sheet, and leave them to defrost.
The difference between thawed cookie dough balls and the frozen dough is only a few minutes of baking. You’ll have to bake the frozen dough slightly more, but both ways work just fine.
Don’t Forget To Preheat The Oven
The oven temperature is crucial when baking frozen chocolate chip cookies and other frozen cookie dough. Many bakers like to preheat the oven to 20 degrees F higher than the baking temperature.
If you have a convection oven, you should preheat to 350F, and if you have a non-convection oven, preheat to 375F. You can lower the temperature by 20 degrees before you place the frozen cookie dough inside.
Once the oven temperature is set and the oven heats up, the next step is to line up the frozen cookie dough and bake your cookies!
Frozen Cookie Dough Baking Temperatures
The final step in the matter of how to bake frozen cookie dough is to adjust the temperature so that your cookies don’t burn. Also, you don’t want to overbake your cookies and fail to achieve that gooey texture now, do you?
Line up the frozen chocolate chip dough balls or cut your rolled sugar cookie dough into pieces. Line them up on parchment paper and bake the cookie dough at 350F if you have a convection oven.
The baking time is crucial here, so it’s best to pull them out after 15 minutes. This way you can see if the cookies are baked or if they need some more time.
You’ll notice this by the shiny surface of the cookie crust. If there are a lot of shiny surfaces and the cookies are not gooey all the way, you can return them to the oven for another two minutes.
Also, if you are baking cookie dough balls, you need to flatten the cookie dough until there’s no lump in the center.
At this point, it’s crucial to closely observe the baked cookies if you return them to the oven. Underbaking is fine as you can always put them back in the oven for a minute or two.
Once you see that the cookies have flattened out and there are not so many shiny surfaces, the ice has melted and the cookies are probably done. Try to pull them out and gently press them to see if there’s a uniform gooey texture. If you still feel some lumps, put them back for another minute or two.
Overall, a total of 15 minutes of baking time should be enough to bake frozen cookie dough, while you can pull them out at least a few times to make sure not to overcook them.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this guide can serve as a perfect indicator of how to bake frozen cookie dough and bake frozen cookies without having them underbaked or overcooked. It always comes in handy to have frozen cookie dough that you can pull right out of the freezer and bake away.
It’s easy to bake frozen cookie dough as long as you follow the instructions and frequently check the doneness to get the crispy texture outside and a gooey texture on the inside.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Can you bake cookie dough straight from the freezer?
Yes, you can pull the frozen cookie dough from the freezer and bake it without having to thaw it. It might take a few minutes more and you should observe the shiny surface closely to make sure that the ice has melted and the dough has baked properly.
What’s the best temperature for how to bake frozen cookie dough?
Baking frozen chocolate chip cookie dough or sugar cookies at 350F should be enough if you have a convection oven. If you have a non-convection oven, you should bake at a slightly higher temperature around 375F to 380F.
How much time does it take to bake frozen cookie dough?
It takes from 15 minutes to 20 minutes to bake frozen cookie dough, and it all depends on your oven and whether you’ve thawed it or not. Baking for 15 minutes and pulling out to check the cookie dough texture is the best way to prevent overcooking.
How can I know when the cookie dough is baked?
As you bake the frozen cookie dough, pulling it out to check the doneness a few times can’t hurt, You can gently press the crust and if it feels evenly gooey on all sides, your cookies are ready to go!
