Freezer-friendly baked goods (bars, cookies etc.)

Hello all, I am looking for recipes for freezer-friendly bars, cookies, and other types of sweets that would do well on a casual sweet table. I will have an old-ish stand freezer that doesn't get opened frequently, and of course will wrap meticulously. I hope to start baking soon for a Memorial Day bar mitzvah.

Thanks for any suggestions.

In my experience, just about any baked goods freeze well, provided they are properly wrapped and sealed.

If you want to freeze something delicate, freeze first on a sheet pan, then wrap and seal.

How to Freeze Cookies looks like it offers some sound advice. A different site recommended against freezing cookies containing cream cheese...

Thanks! I did this for my daughter and wrapped everything well, but I'd love to try new stuff.

I am the queen of freezing. Well, now that I think about it, my mom is the queen....I guess that makes me a princess. How lovely for me.

My mom makes about 15-20 cookies and bars are Christmas. Very few do not freeze well, like Dromar and Almond Lace. Most things are fine.

What would you normally serve? That might be the better way to decide. If you tell us what you would normally do, we can answer if we've had experience with that.

One of the biggest problems with frozen food is food that is not wrapped properly or put in air tight containers. Personally I'd freeze baked goods in plastic containers or zip locked bags only. My mother tends to put things in the freezer that are wrapped in foil and then acquire a "freezer taste" which means in my house they get pitched in the garbage.

Mhays wrote:How to Freeze Cookies looks like it offers some sound advice. A different site recommended against freezing cookies containing cream cheese...

Thanx the article is very good.

I seem to recall reading a study that showed plastic allows more air to get through than foil. They recommended wrapping with plastic, then foil. In my own experiments, foil wrapped foods have less ice crystals in them than those things wrapped in plastic. I've noticed that when using plastic bags, I remove all air when I close them, but a few weeks later, they have air in them. That tells me oxygen is passing through somehow and that's bad as it means that other flavors can be affecting them as well as causing freezer burn. Foil is harder to seal, however.

I searched a bit about this recently and didn't find much definitive regarding what works better. Alcoa, needless to say, says foil is the best barrier for keeping out things. This article at Real Simple seems to echo that. The combo of plastic first, then foil, seems be the most suggested.

Freeze what you want on a baking sheet. Once frozen, use a vac/sealer. Works perfect!

ViewsAskew wrote:I am the queen of freezing. Well, now that I think about it, my mom is the queen....I guess that makes me a princess. How lovely for me.

My mom makes about 15-20 cookies and bars are Christmas. Very few do not freeze well, like Dromar and Almond Lace. Most things are fine.

What would you normally serve? That might be the better way to decide. If you tell us what you would normally do, we can answer if we've had experience with that.

For my daughter's bat mitzvah 2 years ago, I baked a variety of brownies, cookies, biscotti, some great flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I also tried some lemon bars which didn't travel so well. Most everything was eaten mind you, I was just hoping for some fresh ideas.

I did do most of my wrapping in plastic, understand about the foil around it. My vacuum sealer is not working for some reason, I keep thinking I need to find the box and/or receipt and get it back to costco. The foam thingy isn't staying put, so the vacuum isn't, well, vacuuming. I do like the idea of freezing first, then vacuuming, wouldn't want to crush all those cookies LOL.

Thanks to everyone.

I'm making pignoli cookies for the first time tonight (almond paste, powdered sugar, egg whites, and honey). Can the dough be frozen then baked at a later date, or would it be better if I baked them then froze the finished cookies?
I'm trying to recreate the cookies sold at that little Greek bakery on Lawrence avenue just west of Rockwell (across from Harvestime).

mimieats wrote:I'm making pignoli cookies for the first time tonight (almond paste, powdered sugar, egg whites, and honey). Can the dough be frozen then baked at a later date, or would it be better if I baked them then froze the finished cookies?
I'm trying to recreate the cookies sold at that little Greek bakery on Lawrence avenue just west of Rockwell (across from Harvestime).

Both methods work: We typically freeze about a dozen dozen cookies around Thanksgiving, and continue to eat them through, well, yesterday, depending on the number of holidays and parties we bring them to.

Be very sure they're wrapped tightly in several layers of plastic, waxed paper and/or foil, and it shouldn't be a problem.
The only cookies I've noticed any degradation on are colachkys -- the flaky layers gum up a bit after being frozen.