Coupons, cupboards, and cookie dough
Kathrynne and I ran out to do a little bargain shopping at Kroger, CVS, and Walgreens before we picked Jesse up from a three-day business trip last night. I only had a short amount of time, but we managed to spend $6 out of pocket to save $125 and we'll be getting $41 back in rebates from CVS and Walgreens. Not bad I say.
Most of our loot was in the form of toothpaste, deoderant, and shampoo. I had to rearrange cupboards last night to be able to fit it all in, though! But, the good thing is that it forced me to finally break down and make up an organization system for my stockpile. One cupboard for toothpaste, one cupboard for hair stuff, one cupboard for cleaners, etc. It feels better to have a place for everything and everything in it's place, rather than trying to stuff it all into two cupboards!
On a different note, do any of you make up cookie dough and freeze it for fresh cookies later? Kathrynne and I made some up yesterday as a trial run and just used our normal whole-wheat oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was wondering if I was supposed to do anything differently if I were freezing it. Anyone know? I guess we'll find out!
Most of our loot was in the form of toothpaste, deoderant, and shampoo. I had to rearrange cupboards last night to be able to fit it all in, though! But, the good thing is that it forced me to finally break down and make up an organization system for my stockpile. One cupboard for toothpaste, one cupboard for hair stuff, one cupboard for cleaners, etc. It feels better to have a place for everything and everything in it's place, rather than trying to stuff it all into two cupboards!
On a different note, do any of you make up cookie dough and freeze it for fresh cookies later? Kathrynne and I made some up yesterday as a trial run and just used our normal whole-wheat oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was wondering if I was supposed to do anything differently if I were freezing it. Anyone know? I guess we'll find out!
posted by Crystal Paine at 1:40 PM
19 Comments:
Crystal,
Hi from Texas! I've been enjoying reading your blog recently. Thanks so much for all your info about coupon shopping. Just before you started the couponing series on your blog, my mom had given me some information from the Coupon Mom website which I've been trying to put into practice. I want to lower our grocery bill, so all your tips are a huge help! By the way, I've frozen cookie dough several times. (It helps keep me from eating too many since I can just bake up a few at a time). Just shape the cookies and freeze them on a cookie sheet, then transfer the raw cookie dough blobs to storage containers. You can bake them right from the freezer. If the cookie dough is formed into balls, you might want to thaw it a little first (so your cookies don't get mushy middles and burnt edges).
God bless!
Rachel M. <><
Hi, Rachel! Nice to see you here. Glad the coupon shopping stuff was helpful. A word of warning: Once you get started, it's addictive! I sort of have to pace myself or I could spend a few hours finding deals and shopping every day - which might save us a LOT of money but it'd be at the expense of the house, the laundry... :)
Yeah right, like you need to worry about eating too many cookies. :) Oops, though, I froze the cookie dough in small bags, not in shaped balls. Did I ruin my dough? I didn't even think of that. I can be so dense sometimes!
I've frozen cookie dough in a "log" - then you can just cut slices off with a sharp knife and put right on the cookie sheet and into the oven - or into your mouth.
Sara
As for the cookie dough - I just freeze premade balls of dough and pull a few out at a time. They thaw out a bit while I wait for the oven to heat. I don't do anything different in the mixing though.
I'm sure you didn't ruin your dough, Crystal. :) I've both frozen and refridgerated cookie dough for later baking, usually just in the bowl I mixed it. I'm a pro at ruining things in the freezer, but I've never had any problem with cookie dough. I just dig out a lump with a sturdy spoon and put it directly on the sheet (freezing it in cookie-size lumps is such a good idea!). The cookies sometimes end up in a weird shape because of the shape of the frozen lump, but they always turn out well.
Crystal, ANYTHING with fat in it freezes beautifully. You can rely on that one.
I always keep frozen cookie dogh on hand so that I can have cookies ready for church/friends at a moment's notice. Freeze away!
Having the dough ready at hand to just bake and serve is a great idea. I already freeze excess fruit (or buy extra when it's a good price) as well as kaffir lime leaves for thai cooking (they last ages in a snaplock bag).
Thanks for all the tips about freezing te cookie dough too ladies - I think I may have to try it now!
Diana
Two things, first yes I do freeze my chocolate chip cookie dough all the time for fresh cookies later. Second I would love it if you would share your recipe! Thank you for your wonderful blog and newsletter! I thoroughly enjoy both!
I've frozen cookie dough too. I pat it out into a 1" thick rectangle on waxed paper. Then I put it in a freezer zipper bag with the baking info writen on it.
When I want to cook it I cut the rectangle into a grid that makes the right amount of cookie squares, say 6 x 6 if the recipe calls for 36 cookies. I also use this method to make meatballs(not with frozen meat though).
Crystal,
Since I don't attend movies, drink, go dancing or participate in any of the worlds entertainment I certainly do consider coupon shopping to be an excellent hobby!
Freezing cookie dough is a wonderful thing to do....as a matter of fact, I usually begin my cookie making for the holidays at the end of Novemeber and I freeze it all and then the week before Christmas I pull out a different dough each day to make. Then all the grunt work is done and I can just turn on the carols and bake, bake, bake to my little hearts content!!!!
What I do is wrap each dough variety in plastic wrap, being sure there are no air bubbles and then I wrap it in another layer of foil and then off to the freezer it goes. If your making a lot of different varieties at one time it's alway good to label the outside so that you'll remember what you've made and so on.
When you pull it out it may have to sit on your counter just long enough that you can easily shape your cookies and get them ready for baking...for each cookie you may want to roll dough in a ball, place it on your cookie sheet, and then even slightly flatten it....the drop cookie method doesn't always work as easily with dough that's been frozen!
Happy baking!
Heather
Crystal-
I freeze cookie dough in a big ziploc bag. Just the big hunk of dough without making little balls. I learned this from my mom and it works great. You have to use the whole bag when you take it out to use though. I just bring it to room temp and bake them as usual. If you only wanted to bake a few, you could freeze small portions of dough in little bags.
Hi Crystal,
I freeze mine cookie dough in log form and slice and bake. Once the sliced pieces are on the tray, I let them set out for about 5 minutes before putting in the oven. They turn out great every time.
Trixie
I've frozen cookie dough many times and it always turns out great. A lady at a former church always froze her dough. She said the cookies puffed up better after being frozen? I've frozen it in individual balls as well as a log. It depends on how much time I have. If I've got a few extra minutes, I go with the balls because as someone else said, its very convenient for drop in company.
Crystal,
I just want to know your recipe for "whole wheat" chocolate chip cookies! Can you tell it's whole wheat? My six year old can sniff out a healthy cookie or muffin with her eyes closed!
BTW, thank-you so much for you coupon series. I wanted to let you know that in the past week and a half I've purchased approximately $110 worth of groceries (including meds and personal items) for about $47.00! My sweet hubby is so pleased. I'm looking forward to shopping now. It's a challenge rather than a chore! :) God Bless!
Anonymous Heather -
We do the same thing in our house! Being a graduate student is hard on me at the Holiday times, as I don't always have time for "extras" that aren't in my rigid schedule. I love to cook from scratch, and my hubby can't cook to save himself. Often, I'll freeze batch after batch of portioned out cookie dough the weekend of Thanksgiving, so we've got cookies to give all season long. And the portioned out batches help the culinary-challenged husband...he can make cookies whenever HE wants! :) Then again, I do this with lots of food, so if I'm not around, he's not ruining anything or starting small kitchen fires. ;)
I have done the same thing as you Crystal, where I froze it in a lump. It thawed beautifully, it just took a little longer.
It was actually my DH who suggested I freeze them in logs and you can just slice what you need and put the rest back in the freezer.
I know eating raw cookie dough is bad for you because of the risk of salmonella (sp?)but does anyone know if freezing dough frist maybe kills the bacteria and then it's ok to snack a little while baking?
Jenn
Jenn -
I don't think that freezing kills whatever it is that causes salmonella. But I look at it this way...its not like you eat cookie dough every day. And anyways, most of us ate mud or worse as children...what's a little raw egg gonna do? Honestly? But check the USDA's site for safe food handling to be sure...they have all sorts of nifty info there!
(Here in Milwaukee area -WI we say..."I survived cryptosporidium...I can handle a raw egg.)
People used to eat raw egg all the time, according to old recipes books and recipes I've seen which call for raw eggs - but that was probably when they were farm-fresh. From what I've read, farm fresh eggs are usually pretty safe to eat raw. However, personally, the thought of eating raw eggs is not real delightful so I'm not a big cookie-dough eater. Now, give me some cookie dough icecream or chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake (neither with raw eggs) and I'm a very happy camper!
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