There is a lesson to be learned here. Don't set deadlines or goals that add to your feelings of guilt or defeat (another great reason to bake early). Goals should only challenge us, NEVER defeat us. Goals improve our lives; when we don't meet the goals we have set, we should just re-evaluate and start over. Therefore, I will make my bars and candy this week and still finish strong and well ahead of schedule!!
Let me share some thoughts with you about cookie baking:
• You should not over bake your cookies. If a recipe tells you to bake for 10-12 minutes be sure to set the timer for 8 or 9 minutes to prevent over baking. Do not bake a cookie until it is well done. Dry hard cookies are not allowed...burnt cookies just don't exist. If you burn a cookie, throw it away!
• One more thought I want to share is the oven rack phenomena. Yes is it true, same oven, two very different racks. Cookies do not cook the same on different racks even if they are in the same oven. So, you must stand in the gap. Rotate your cookies, figure out your racks and how to use them to your advantage. Do not let them defeat you. You are better off using only one rack if you are unable to cook them evenly.
Now onto the storing:
• It is important that as you bake holiday cookies you know that any cookie that requires frosting is frozen before it's frosted. NEVER freeze an iced cookie! Frosting does not freeze well, it does not stack well, and it certainly doesn't thaw well. So, forget about the frosting until the week before Christmas, the holiday gathering you are planning, or the gift giving that you made them for.
• Cut sugar cookies are easily bagged once cooled and placed in the freezer. As long as you keep your cookies sealed in airtight containers they should be as fresh as they were the day you baked them.
• Remember that you cannot store different types of cookies in the same container. For example, you cannot store peanut butter cookies with other cookies because they will all taste like peanut butter. So remember to keep every cookie with its own kind. Even in the freezer flavors can mix.
• It is usually best to freeze the cookies before bagging or stacking them. If they are completely frozen before you stack them there is less chance for breaking, smashing, or having them stick to one another.
We are starting the Thanksgiving countdown. Don't miss it...we want to be very Thankful this year!!!