I am writing this in October which I think is the perfect time to do a few make ahead recipes for the very busy upcoming holidays. By making a few batches of slice and bake cookies and putting them in your freezer, you will be be ready with some easy holiday cookies. You can also give the rolls of dough as part of a gift for a busy neighbor or coworker.
You may wonder why you want to do this over just buying the cookie dough at the store. For me there are several reasons:
1) The cost: The price of ready made dough is expensive and it is usually quite a bit cheaper to make your own.
2) Control the ingredients: If you want to control the preservatives or watch out for nut allergies, then making your own is the way to go.
3) Saves time: Each recipe makes 4 rolls ( or about 12 dozen total cookies). In the time it takes you to make one batch from scratch, you can make 4 batches at once and roll them into logs and freeze. in about 10-15 minutes you have 12 dozen future cookies ready to freeze for future baking!
I have several recipes so will post 2 of them now and post a few more in a future post. Today's recipes are:
Slice & Bake Chocolate Chip and Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies
Slice & Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups butter or margarine
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 2/3 cups packed brown sugar
1 tablspoon vanilla
4 eggs
5 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons each: salt & baking soda
2 cups semsiweet chocolate chips
Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts
Directions:
Cut four 14 " x 12" pieces of waxed paper or plastic wrap and set aside. In a bowl, cream butter or margarine, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy. IN a bowl, combine flour, salt & baking soda. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture until blended. Add chocolate chips and nuts.
Divide dough into 4 pieces shape each piece into an 8 -1 10 inch roll. Wrap rolls in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Place in a gallon sized freezer bag and label. Store in freezer. Use withing 6 months.
Makes 4 rolls of dough or about 12 dozen cookies.
To bake a roll of cookie dough:
1 roll frozen cookie dough, slightly thawed
1 roll frozen cookie dough, slightly thawed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut dough into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange cut pieces on an ungreased baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 10 min. until browned around eges. Remove and cool.
Slice & Bake Sugar Cookies
Jan's tip: these cookie rolls can be thawed, rolled out and cut with cookie cutters into fun shapes for decorating!
Ingredients:
2 cups butter or margarine softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Directions:
cut four 14" x 12" pieces of waxed paper or plastic wrap adn set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter or magarine and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a large bowl combine flur and baking soda. Gradually add flour into egg mixture until blended.
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Shape each piece into an 8-10 inch log. Wrap rolls in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Place in a gallon sized freezer bag and label. Store in Freezer. Use within 6 months. Makes 4 rolls of dough or about 12 dozen cookies.
To bake Slice & Bake Sugar Cookies:
1 roll of frozen cookie dough slightly thawed
granulated sugar if desired.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 large baking sheets. Cut dough into 1/4 inch slices (or rollout dough with rolling pin and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes). Place slices on prepared baking sheets about 1/2 inch apart. Sprinkle slices lightly with granulated sugar if desired. Bake 8 -10 minutes until edges start to brown. Remove cookies from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
Makes about 36 cookies.
