Do you bake goodies then freeze them?

[maslex]

I have always been the type of person who likes to bake goodies on the day they're intended for. Meaning if we have a picnic on Saturday afternoon, brownies are made Saturday morning. If I need to make cupcakes for Christmas dessert, then I make them after we open our presents. I have NEVER and I mean NEVER baked anything then wrapped it up and threw it in the freezer for future use.

I know a lot of people who bake like a month or so ahead of time for the holidays and freeze everything. They say the stuff comes out fresh once it's thawed but I've just never done this. This year for Thanksgiving I'm making a chocolate cheesecake, vanilla cupcakes, chocolate/cream cheese cupcakes and a pumpkin pie crunch. I cannot make all of this on T-day because I will be working until early afternoon and we're having dinner at around 2pm. I do however have a 1/2 day on Wednesday and had planned on making it all after I get out of work. But I was THINKING (not positive if I'm going to or not) of making a couple of the things either today or tomorrow and freeze them to see if they come out but I'm skeeeeeered. LOL Out of the things that I'm making, what freezes well?

Any tips of HOW to wrap these things before freezing? And how long would they take to thaw out?

[lovemygoofy]

With all the cupcakes, why not just make the cupcake portion and then frost on the day of if you are worried about them not being fresh, though I don't think that is the case at all.

You can freeze a cheesecake but it needs a solid bottom, think cardboard or the bottom of the springform pan. Let the cheesecake cool completely and then wrap with saran wrap. After that I wrap mine in aluminum foil and then can freeze. Take out and let thaw overnight in the frigerator. Add topping before serving.

I personally think if you make the cheesecake Tuesday or Wednesday, you can just leave it in the frig and not worry about freezing.

[bas71873]

I've never frozen cakes or cheesecake, but I make & freeze my cookie dough all the time. Then I bake as I need because I love a warm cookie . I do have a sugar cookie surprise (snickers) cookie that I tried last year and actually froze the baked cookie and man, those things were a huge hit. I will go ahead and bake those again. I plan to start my cookie dough freezing after Thanksgiving

[dbogen]

Originally Posted by bas71873

I've never frozen cakes or cheesecake, but I make & freeze my cookie dough all the time. Then I bake as I need because I love a warm cookie . I do have a sugar cookie surprise (snickers) cookie that I tried last year and actually froze the baked cookie and man, those things were a huge hit. I will go ahead and bake those again. I plan to start my cookie dough freezing after Thanksgiving

Do you bake the dough as one solid piece, or do you freeze it in a ready to bake form? Let me explain, It sounds like you would roll out and cut the cookies and then bake the individual cookies. How do you keep them from freezing togther.

I have always wondered if this would work, and how I would do it. It would be great if I can do all the prep work soon and just bake like crazy closer to christmas.

[lovemygoofy]

Originally Posted by bas71873

I've never frozen cakes or cheesecake, but I make & freeze my cookie dough all the time. Then I bake as I need because I love a warm cookie . I do have a sugar cookie surprise (snickers) cookie that I tried last year and actually froze the baked cookie and man, those things were a huge hit. I will go ahead and bake those again. I plan to start my cookie dough freezing after Thanksgiving

I do the same thing. Hoping next week will be quiet and I can make my list of baking for the month. I make several balls of sugar cookie dough and then wrap individually to freeze. I grab out one and then bake that afternoon or whenever. I will also bake up batch of cookies and freeze and then pull out when I know I need them and whip up frosting or whatever while they are defrosting.

[aprilgail2]

I have not ever frozen cookies or anything that was baked- don't htink I would either but I would freeze the unbaked dough so you can still have a jump on the baking but still have them fresh. I really hated when my mom would buy bread and then freeze it- it always tasted so nasty after it had been frozen so I don't think I would chance that with cookies or cake! Our local food store bakes cupcakes and freezes them and defrosts them as needed and you can certainly taste the difference!

[The Mystery Machine]

I always make my desserts the day before so that is when I would do it.

[JoanGirardi]

We usually visit my family in the summer, and a lot of years my mom pulls a container out of the freezer filled with various already baked cookies that she froze at Christmas time. They are awesome!

[bas71873]

Originally Posted by dbogen

Do you bake the dough as one solid piece, or do you freeze it in a ready to bake form? Let me explain, It sounds like you would roll out and cut the cookies and then bake the individual cookies. How do you keep them from freezing togther.

I have always wondered if this would work, and how I would do it. It would be great if I can do all the prep work soon and just bake like crazy closer to christmas.

I just freeze it in one big lumpy ball, or oval, or whatever shape it is . Then when I'm ready to bake, I take out for about 30 min and then cook by the spoonful, roll into balls. Whatever

[Feralpeg]

I freeze baked cookies all the time. Since I don't want a huge amount, being the only one home most of the time, I put them in small amounts in freezer bags. When I get a craving for cookies, I pull out one of the bags. Once, thawed, you'd never know that I hadn't just baked them.

[KNJWDW]

I also freeze goodies that I have baked. What is really yummy are chocolate chip cookies right out of the freezer! The cookie itself is crunchy and the chips are hard, but really good.

Amy