Cute Gingerbread Men Cookies!
I love baking but during the holidays it can quickly become overwhelming. Over the years I've come up with a simple game plan that helps me space out the work of Christmas cookies and makes holiday baking enjoyable again! Here are my steps for easier holiday baking:
1.) Pick Two or Three Cookie Recipes That You Want To Make. Get all the ingredients together so that you will be ready to make dough. Nothing is worse than getting in the middle of a recipe and discovering out that you are out of eggs! I find that it's just as easy to double or triple most cookie dough recipes and since I'm going to have everything dirty, might as well make a whole bunch!
Make And Scoop Cookie Dough For Freezing.
2.) Pick A Day For Making Dough. I find it easiest to set aside one day to just make all my different cookie doughs. Most electric mixers can easily handle a double batch of dough, but beyond that and you risk breaking the mixer. After all each batch of dough is made, scoop out each cookie portion and place on a cookie sheet in the freezer until hard to the touch.
Place semi-frozen dough balls into labled zip-lock baggies to go in freezer.
Transfer the semi-frozen dough balls to zip-lock baggies with the name of the cookie written on the outside of the bag. I like to use sheets of waxed paper to separate layers of dough balls. Place all sealed zip-lock bags into the freezer. If you are making some cut-out cookies just cut out the shapes, freeze until hard and transfer to a zip-lock baggies to store in the freezer.
Baked gingerbread men.
3.) Pick A Second Day Dedicated To Baking. Preheat your oven to the desired temperature and bake your frozen cookie dough straight from the freezer– no thawing needed! You may need to bake your frozen cookie dough a few minutes longer than called for in the recipe, just make sure to check them just before they are supposed to be done. Set all your baked cookies aside to cool completely before storing or bagging for gift-giving.
Decorating gingerbread men.
4.) Pick A Third Day to Decorate Cut-Out Cookies. If you've baked some cut-out cookies and are planning on decorating them with icing, make sure to have all your decorating tools, icing and piping bags ready to use. Start decorating your cut-out cookies in an assembly line fashion (outline all the cookies, go back and fill in the sections, etc.) and the process will go much faster. Make sure to let decorated cookies dry overnight before storing or bagging for gift-giving.
Making cinnamon roll dough to freeze.
5.) Make & Freeze Cinnamon Rolls Dough! Cinnamon rolls are so terrific for Christmas morning (or any morning!), hot, spicy and sweet and if you make and freeze the dough ahead of time they are a breeze to bake! Up to a month in advance, make and roll the cinnamon rolls dough into logs, wrap in plastic wrap, foil and place in a zip-lock baggies in the freezer.
Cinnamon roll logs, semi-frozen wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, placed in labled ziplock baggies to go in freezer.
When you want to bake the rolls, take the frozen log of dough out of the freezer the night before baking and cut into rounds. Place rounds in baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and let thaw in fridge overnight. In the morning, transfer dish with rolls to the kitchen counter while you preheat the oven. Remove plastic wrap and bake, will probably take 5-10 minutes longer than original bake time. Make the icing while your rolls bake. Enjoy fresh, hot cinnamon rolls!
Freshly baked cinnamon rolls made from frozen dough! Easy and delicious!
Hope these hints help and happy holiday baking!
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