Even though there are plenty of tricks for storing already-baked cookies, let’s be honest. Nothing competes with the goodness of a just-baked cookie.
That’s why I ALWAYS have a stash of frozen cookie dough in my freezer.
(Secret confession: I pretty much feel naked without cookie dough stashed somewhere in my freezer).
Having frozen cookie dough on hand means you can whip up a batch of homemade cookies any time in just minutes. This comes in handy when:
I’ve got lots of tips for freezing cookie dough included in the pink box below. Be sure to watch my video below to step into my kitchen with me as I show you step by step how to freeze cookie dough!
How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Equipment You Need to Freeze Cookie Dough:
Which Kinds of Cookie Dough are Best to Freeze?
Pretty much ANY drop-style cookie can be frozen successfully. Whether that be chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal, peanut butter, double chocolate… or anything in between. Notes on what to do with cookies rolled in sugar are below. Believe me, I wrote an entire cookbook about cookie baking so I’ve frozen my fair share of recipes!
If you’re making cut-out cookies, such as sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies, where you roll out the dough and cut it into shapes with a cookie cutter, those cookies are best frozen after baking.
How to Freeze Chocolate Chip Cookies or Any Cookie Dough
- Make the cookie dough as the recipe directs.
- Use a spring-loaded cookie scoop to portion out balls of dough in a single layer, onto a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet.
- BONUS TIP: If the recipe calls for chilling or ‘marinating’ the cookie dough (which does WONDERS for your cookies!!) then be sure to allow the dough cookie dough balls to chill in the fridge for 24-72 hours before freezing – learn why here.
- Place the tray of cookie dough balls flat in the freezer. Freeze until firm and solid.
- Remove the balls of cookie dough to a labeled and dated airtight storage container or freezer-safe bag.
How to Freeze Cookies Coated in Sugar
For cookies like snickerdoodles, which are rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking, you want to wait until just before baking to roll in sugar.
- Freeze the uncoated balls of cookie dough.
- Once ready to bake, roll in the sugar and follow the directions below for baking.
- If you find the sugar doesn’t stick as well to the frozen dough, allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge or at room temperature until slightly more pliable, then bake as directed by the recipe.
Can You Freeze Glazed or Iced Cookies?
Glazed or iced cookies will get sticky, tacky, and mushy and will no longer look nice. For best results, freeze the dough as directed above and wait until baked and fully cooled before icing or glazing. You can also freeze the baked cookies as directed below, and wait until thawed and at room temperature before icing or glazing.
Can You Freeze Sandwich Cookies or Filled Cookies?
Freeze the dough as directed above and wait until baked and fully cooled before filling, or freeze the baked cookies as directed below, and wait until thawed and at room temperature before filling.
How Long Can You Freeze Cookie Dough For?
You can store cookie dough in the freezer for up to 6 weeks. Se sure your airtight container or ziptop bag is well-sealed, to prevent freezer burn.
Does Freezing Cookie Dough Change The Softness Or Thickness Of Cookies After Baking?
Generally, the colder the dough is when it enters the oven, the thicker the cookies will be. This also makes them softer!
How to Bake Frozen Cookie Dough
You can either let the dough completely defrost overnight in the fridge or for a couple of hours at room temperature and bake just as the recipe originally instructed.
OR, if you’re impatient like me, you can bake from frozen. Here are the steps:
- Preheat the oven to about 20 degrees lower than the original recipe temperature.
- Remove however many balls of dough you need from the freezer and place on a parchment-lined baking pan.
- Bake the cookies for 2 to 5 minutes longer than the original recipe instructions, or until the cookies are golden at the edges but still slightly ‘wet’ looking at the very center.
Why Do You Have To Lower The Temperature When Baking Cookies From Frozen?
Using the above technique helps the cookie dough melt and spread out evenly from a frozen state. If you bake as the recipe directs normally, you’ll likely get cookies that spread and crisp too much at the edges but stay super thick and undercooked in the center.
How to Freeze Baked Cookies
Practically all unfrosted, unglazed cookies can be frozen. Cut-out cookies (like sugar cookies) freeze particularly well in airtight containers for up to 1 month. I like to place pieces of parchment paper between each layer, for easy removal later. Defrost to room temperature before decorating or serving.
If you’re enjoying something like chocolate chip cookies, you can also defrost and refresh in a 300°F oven for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until warmed through. An oven works better than a microwave, which will usually result in mushy cookies.
See how easy it is? Freezing cookie dough is the BEST. I hope you found this helpful!
I am looking to make frozen cookie dough balls as a gift. Will it be ok to coat them is sugar before freezing as I want it to be a simple process to bake the cookies?
Hi Sarah! Yes, that should be fine – just let the lucky person receiving the cookie dough know that the cookies will need to be baked from frozen and provide the directions Tessa outlines on this page, as allowing them to thaw can melt the sugar. Happy baking!
Thanks for your amazing site. Your recipe “Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies” is the favorite in our house. But this will be my first time freezing the dough balls for storage.
My question is if there is any difference in the results, whether the dough marinates first and is then scooped and frozen, or if scooping then marinating then freezing?
Hi Dave! Ahh, freezing dough is about to change your life 🙂 So handy!! There doesn’t seem to be much difference in results between chilling then scooping then freezing, vs. scooping then chilling then freezing. Tessa personally prefers to marinate in one large batch, then scoop, then freeze – she believes you get a little more depth of flavor this way, but it’s so small that if scooping first is easier, she says to go for it. Either way, you just want to allow the chill (‘marination’) period to happen before freezing, as Tessa explains above. The rest is whatever is most convenient for you! Happy freezing and baking 🙂
Thank you so much for the response and information. Can’t wait to fill the freezer with cookies 🙂
I have some store-bought cookie dough in the freezer. I’d like to take them out and bake them right away or let them thaw overnight. I would like them to come out of the oven spread out as thinly as possible, but not be crispy but rather chewy and floppy.
One idea I had was to poke a hole in the center of each chunk prior to baking and drop some melted butter into each hole of each cookie…not a lot of butter, just a few drops to make them spread.
If they are still frozen, I’ve been told to turn down the recommended temperature to let them spread.
What do you suggest?
Hi Ted! Pre-made cookie dough is well outside our area of expertise, but I would say that there is not much you can do to ensure pre-made dough turns out a certain way, as the vast majority of those factors are determined by the ingredients. I don’t believe your butter trick will do much, other than creating a lot of grease and potentially burn the bottoms of your cookies as the melted butter escapes out. If you want the dough to spread out thin, but not be crispy, I would recommend thawing the dough in the fridge overnight, then allowing it to come to room temperature for an hour or so before you bake it. The warmer dough will encourage spread. Bake on a light-colored metal pan (darker metals scorch the bottoms faster). Then be sure to pull them from the oven while they still look a touch underbaked (set at the edges, but still a little damp in the middles), which will allow the cookies to be softer. I hope that helps!
So helpful, thank you! When baking from chilled versus frozen, what do you recommend? I noticed that my cookies aren’t spreading at all when baked from the fridge.
Hi Stacy! When baking dough straight from the fridge, you shouldn’t have to change anything (timing or temp). Chilling cookie dough in the fridge does result in thicker cookies, but there should still be some spreading! Have you noticed this happening with a specific recipe? Typically if cookies aren’t spreading in the oven, it’s due to due much flour being added. Do you use a digital scale to measure your flour?
Have you ever tried baking a few cookies in the air fryer? I don’t have a toaster oven and don’t want to heat up my big oven for a couple cookies.
We haven’t! Please let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
Hi! At my first attempt with heating up the cookies without seeing this post, adding an additional 15 degrees F, my cookies puffed up as if there was an increase in baking soda (although when I baked them right after making them, they were spread out). Do you have any idea why this is? Thanks!
Hi Dez! Just to confirm I understand you correctly, did you reduce or increase your oven temperature? When baking cookie dough balls directly from frozen, the cookies will puff up as they bake due to their cold inner temperature, though they should flatten out once they sit on the cookie sheet after baking. I hope that answers your question!
Can you freeze Carmel covered chocolate pretzels
I’m not sure, we haven’t made those!
So I am doing a bake sale with my siblings on Saturday, and we are pre-making the dough on Thursday. So basically what your saying is to make the dough, put it on a cookie sheet, freeze it for an hour, take it out and put it in ziploc bags then freeze until ready to use? And then when it’s ready to use, let it thaw, and I can bake it normal right? I’m using the crisco recipe, will that change anything? Also any extra tips and tricks will be helpful. Thanks!!
Hi Alyssa! I’m actually thinking you might be interested in chilling your dough instead as it’s such a short period of time between when you’re prepping the cookies and baking them! Check out our article HERE for more details and tips! “Marinating” your cookies as discussed in that article is a GREAT way to increase the texture and flavor of your cookies. If you’d rather freeze them, please check out the tip titled “How to bake frozen cookie dough” in the pink tip box in the article you commented on (How to Freeze Cookie Dough) for details. You are correct in your question, but you can also bake your cookies directly from the freezer 🙂 Hope this helps!
Great information! Thank you. Cookie balls in the freezer is such a sweet move!!
Definitely makes it a lot easier during the week to satisfy cookie cravings! Glad this helped 🙂
Hi, Can you scoop the cookies first (easier to scoop just-made dough), then refrigerate, then freeze? Won’t that give the same result as refrigerating, scooping, then freezing? Thanks for any info!
Hi Julie, the directions say to scoop just made dough and then freeze! Or are you asking about cookie dough that needs to marinate in the refrigerator first?
I loved this recipe and I recommend it to everyone who wants to learn it too. padeiroseconfeiteiros.com
This recipe is AMAZING! I followed this recipe to a T and I made sure to weigh the flour and the sugar. I chilled it for 4 hrs then baked 3 cookies to test and then I baked 12 more cookies after 24 hrs of marinating, both times they were delicious! The consistency, size and softness of the cookies were perfect! I’ll see how long it stays soft & chewy after baking, I also froze the rest of the cookie balls so I’ll be curious to see if they are as good after being frozen. Thank you!
Perfection!
How long typically does it need to freeze before storing in bags?
1 hour, as the written recipe indicates!
OMG….really great, it makes me feel alive again after hard working days, the taste is great and quite strange.
I think it’s hard to do fnhuwng nor too hard its taste is very good
Hi there, I was wondering if you could explain the reasoning behind lowering the temp. by 20 degrees? I’ve also read on other sites to bake at original recipe temp. but increase baking time.
Lowering the temperature helps the cookie dough melt and spread out evenly from a frozen state. If you bake as the recipe directs normally, you’ll likely get cookies that spread and crisp too much at the edges but stays super thick and undercooked in the center. Hope that helps 🙂
Hi,
Do you know if you can freeze baked cookies if you baked them from frozen cookie dough?
In other words could you make the cookie dough, freeze it, cook from frozen, let them cool and put them back in the freezer again?
Does the baking process make it so that the first freeze no longer counts?
Many thanks.
I like my cookies soft, Will freezing the dough change that?
It shouldn’t change the texture of the dough once baked!
This was very helpful. I was wondering if you had any recipes for sugar free cookies.
This is how we made cookies at the bakery I used to work at. Always cooked from frozen. Except we did not leave space between each dough scoop as you showed here. Pretty muched shoved as many on a sheet tray as possible. Never had any problems with them sticking together, thougmanye freezing time I’m sure was longer. We stored them on the sheet tray in a loose plastic sleeve/bag, and they probably were used up in a week or two.
I love how easy this can be, and with guests coming for Christmas, I can start early. I’m making peanut butter kiss cookies, and I roll each ball in sugar before I stick them in the oven. Do I roll the balls in sugar before or after I freeze them? Thanks!
I am told I make the best snickerdoodles ever. I am wondering if freezing the dough will make a difference in the texture and softness of this particular cookie. I would sure hate to mess a batch up! Thanks!
I have always froze cookie dough, and have several bags ready to go for this years Christmas Baskets and Trays I give away, however, QUESTION: Can I bake the cookies from the frozen dough and then refreeze the cookie till its time to give them away?, Is that possible? Just wanted to get ahead of the game and have the cookies baked., if not I will wait until a few days before handing out my baskets and trays and make them then. In the mean time I will continue to freeze dough, but use the above method for the dough.
ALSO: can I freeze baked cookies? If I make them now, I think I did this years ago, but t was so long ago, I cant remember now.
THANKS!!
Yes, you can freeze baked cookies, but they won’t last as long in the freezer. I prefer to freeze the dough!
I was wondering if I could do this with any cookie , I am doing white choc chip with cranberries and also a white choc chip with vanillla pudding and m&ms. Tying to get a jump start on my Christmas baking. Thx
Not sure why you ask for my web site but no mind. I found when baking frozen cookies…just put the baking pan with the frozen lil plops on it in the over while it’s preheating. Then they will be perfection.
I have froze my cookie dough before because I use to make a lot of sugar cookies and chocolate chip but never thought about making the balls first then freezing them until I read this my oven just quit on me co I’ll be using the toaster oven to make cookies for the 2 of us .
Thank you so much for your advice of freezing raw dough.
Wow, I think my life is changed. This makes everything so much easier. I actually did this yesterday and they taste good baked from frozen and they taste amazing just as frozen cookie dough balls. Great to make smaller balls and crumble them into some ice cream. Thanks for the tips!
Hi. You think the cookie dough can get spoiled if frozen for over 3 months? I just baked my chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and they smell a bit sour…
Thanks.
I don’t bother with the initial freezing stage, I use strips of grease proof paper to wrap the balls of dough in and drop them straight into a zip lock bag , there’s absolutely no sticking together. Thanks for the tips about cooking from frozen, when I’ve tried this in the past it didn’t do so well, now I’ll follow your tips!
This is awesome!
This is great! I like to freeze my chocolate chip cookie dough, but I’ve always done it in one ugly, messy lump! I will definitely be trying this method next time. Thanks!
I’ve never froze my cookie dough before.
I was wondering if by freezing the cookies, does it in any way change how they bake?
I.e. The softness of them or how fluffy they would typically bake without freezing them.
I guess what I’m asking is does the quality of the cookie change?
Thanks! ?
Love this! I used to do this all time when I worked at a bakery. It was like a “DUH” and an ‘A-HA” moment all at the same time. And glad to see I’m not alone on having frozen cookie dough in my freezer at all times! 🙂
Right!? It’s crazy how many things are made ahead of time in a professional kitchen that most of us don’t even realize!