Hints for Packing, Freezing, and Storing Cookies

Back again with more hints from Grandma Bess’ archives. As I mentioned in the Hints and Short Cuts for Baking Cookies blog, Grandma Bess, while teaching a cooking/baking class at the Wausau Technical Institute way back in 1964, prepared and gave several hand-outs to her classes regarding her best tips and tricks for baking. This one happens to be Hints for Packing, Freezing, and Storing Cookies.

It is really fun to read these hand-outs from way back in 1964 (the year I was born :))! Some of the hints make good common sense and some don’t make any sense at all ? Regardless, I think everyone can learn something from Bess’ Hints!  I know I sure did!

As I mentioned in the Hints and Short Cuts for Baking Cookies blog, I found this and the other hand-outs in an old scrapbook my Grandpa Abe put together. This book has so many memories of Grandma Bess and all the marketing she did for Cookies by Bess. It also has newspaper articles, pictures, letters, and even some of Bess’ favorite recipes! What a treat to read all these amazing things!

Here are Bess’ Hints for Packing, Freezing, and Storing Cookies…

1. All cookies should be thoroughly cooled before storing.
2. Store soft or chewy cookies in an air tight container to keep them from becoming hard.
3. To keep crisp cookie from becoming soft and limp, store in loosely covered container in a cool dry place.
4. Always use wax paper between layers when storing or freezing cookies.
5. Cookies can be frozen before or after baking. Either method will give excellent results.
6. Coffee cans, shortening tins, gift tin containers – or moisture vapor proof containers are excellent for freezing cookies.
7. Bar and crisp cookies are best if defrosted in their own wrappings. Other types may be thawed unwrapped.  Baked cookies thaw at room temperature in about 15 minutes.
8. Unbaked dough should be molded into shaped you desire. Rolls or in baking pans of different shapes and sizes.
9. Allow from 3 to 6 hours after removing dough from freezer before slicing to bake. Let thaw in refrigerator.
10. Cook dough that is stored should be used within 4 to 6 months.
11. Baked cookies can be frozen from 9 to 12 months.
12. Do not freeze doughs that contain large amounts of egg whites, or that are highly spiced. Spiced cookies and doughs undergo a flavor changing during freezing.
13. Take time in handling your cookies—haste makes waste.
14. Always have cookies on had for gifts, for a hospital call, or just a treat for the family or friends. Make them by the hundreds—They go fast!

I have been baking Grandma Bess’ Cookies for as long as I can remember. During this time, I’ve always let my cookies cool completely before storing and I’ve always used wax paper between my cookie layers when freezing. It’s nice to know I have been doing things correctly and to learn new tips after all these years!  It’s so wonderful to be able to learn from my Grandma all these years later…Bess’ cookie baking legacy lives on for sure!

Along with the hints, Bess always included several of her favorite cookie recipes. I just think it’s awesome that Bess was so willing to share her recipes. I’ll bet she would even have come to your house to help you bake them, if you asked…

Bess loved to bake cookies, and so do I. It is so much fun to bake and think back about Grandma Bess and Grandpa Abe. They certainly left me with some awesome memories and I also think I got the baking gene!

Until next time…I hope you enjoyed these Hints for Packing, Freezing, and Storing Cookies from Bess herself! More to come soon!

XXOO!

Janet