Frozen Cookie Balls

I like to have fresh baked cookies on hand, but I’m not always in the mood to go through the long process of baking an entire batch of cookies. Frozen cookie balls are the answer! Each time I bake cookies, I freeze some of the cookie dough for later. This method works great for any drop-type cookie… just take a spoonful of the dough or whatever amount you would normally use to form this particular cookie and use your hands to quickly roll it into a ball. Place the balls of dough on a cookie sheet. If your recipe calls for the dough ball to be slightly flattened, go ahead and do that now too. Once you have filled the trays with these cookie balls (and because the dough isn’t going to expand in the freezer as it would in the oven, you can place the balls close together so a lot of cookie balls will fit on each cookie sheet), put the trays in the freezer until the dough balls have completely frozen. Then transfer the frozen balls to a plastic bag (I like to double-bag them) and keep them frozen in your freezer until the next time someone has a craving for cookies. By freezing a few cookie balls each time you bake cookies, you will soon have a nice variety of ready-to-bake cookies in the freezer to choose from.

Bake the FROZEN cookie balls at the normal baking temperatures, but allow extra baking time. You can even combine different kinds of cookies to bake on one pan, and having this frozen cookie dough already formed into cookies and waiting in the freezer means you can have fresh baked cookies at a moment’s notice!

Filed Under Good to Know, Making It Easier, Frugality