I want to bake cookies before Christmas to give as gifts. What’s the longest time they will stay fresh? I want to do this as for in advance as possible.

After baking the cookies, let them fully cool. Then put them in an airtight container. You may choose them to freeze them. You may also consider freezing them in little cookie size shapes or freeze the complete dough. Then spend a cookie day, spend a day baking and packaging in holiday tins or Rubbermaid containers Doing this a month advance shouldn’t compromise the quality of the cookies Have fun!

Bagged cookies are also known as pressed cookies and must be made with a soft dough. The dough is piped in various shapes and sizes. Some bagged are Spritz, thats all I know.

Rolled cookies are refrigerated, rolled out and then cut. They are very labor extensive and the scraps become tough when reused. Some examples of these cookies are gingerbread men.

well, it’s a rolled thing, but its not like gingerbread. its VERY yummy though.

Russian Teacakes

1 cup softened margarine or butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 and a1/4 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
A LOT of powdered sugar!

Pre-Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter/margarine , 1/4 cup powdered sugar, and the vanilla. Mix in flour, salt, and nuts until dough holds together.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake until set but not brown.(About 10-12 minutes.

Roll in powdered sugar while warm. Let cool. Roll in powdered sugar again. Makes about 48 cookies.

Money is tight this year, so I want to give away home-baked cookies to family for Christmas. If I were to start baking soon (say next week or so), would the cookies still be OK come Christmas time if I freeze them? I am going to be making chocolate chip cookies, ginger cookies, frosted sugar cookies, chocolate candy cane truffle cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies if it makes any difference.

ALSO, what is the best way to store said cookies for freezing?

My Mom (almost 70) starts her Christmas baking right after Thanksgiving every year for as long as I can remember.
Nowadays she will wrap the cookies in either paper towels or newspaper ( i know, strange isn’t it ?) place them in a plastic bag, squeeze as much air out as possible with out crushing them, then place them in tupperware/glad containers to stack in the freezer.
Ive ate her cookies after they were 6 months old and they were still good.

I’ve tried to make chocolate chip cookies twice since we moved to Arizona. They keep turning out almost cake like. My five yearold calls them mountain cookies because they are thick and peaked like the mountains where we live. I keep wondering if maybe it has to do with the elavation? I have never been much of a baker. How can I keep this from happening?

I live in the White Mountains of Arizona. (A small little town called Snowflake) and we are over a mile high here in Snowflake, so you have to adjust your baking to accommodate for the altitude. I always add extra flour to my baking recipes to compensate for the altitude.
Check out www.highaltitudebaking.com for more information on what to do exactly. Some recipes call for more this and less that so reading up on it since you live here now, would be the best bet!!
Do you live near Snowflake?