The holidays are just around the corner! As such, you may wonder when you should start holiday baking. Is it best to start holiday baking right before the holidays, or is it something that you can do in advance?

This depends on the type of baked goods you want to make! There are indeed some treats that you can make ahead of time and just pull out of the freezer when you’re ready to have them. However, there are other treats that don’t last very long, freezer or no. These, you’ll want to make within a day or so of when you want to have them.

Here is a general overview of when you should start holiday baking, as well as tips for storing cookies so that they last longer. Let’s jump into it!

Get A Head Start Holiday Baking With These Recipes

The holidays are usually busy as busy can be, with shopping, decorating, and fun events, such as catching a Nutcracker ballet. You can save yourself time by knowing what recipes you can make ahead of time – and what you can’t.

You’ll be pleased to learn that most homemade cookies keep well in the freezer. You’ll typically have better luck if you freeze the cookie dough rather than the cookie. However, many cookies can actually improve with age. 

Here are some of the cookies that you can start holiday baking with right away!

Cookies That You Can Freeze After Baking

Some of the popular holiday cookies you can go ahead and make, then pop in the freezer include:

• Gingerbread men.
• Shortbread.
• Mexican wedding cakes.
• Sugar cookies.

Generally, if the cookie is on the drier, crunchier side, it can be frozen for weeks, if not months at a time. However, if the cookie is on the softer, cakier side, these are best if you have them sooner than later. They can be frozen for a week or so. If you have a cookie that is custard-filled, you don’t want to freeze these.

• Important note: If your cookies have nuts in them, you’ll want to have these within a few days. This is because nuts can go rancid if stored too long.

Cookies You Can Freeze The Dough For

If you want freshly baked cookies without the time spent mixing the dough together, you can make the dough in advance, then freeze it. You can do this with many different types of cookies – so convenient!

Some of the popular types of holiday cookies that you can do this for include:

• Chocolate chip cookies.
• Gingerbread cookies.
• Shortbread cookies.
• Sugar cookies. 
• Peanut butter cookies.
• And many, many more!

Bear in mind that this doesn’t work for all cookies. The more liquidy the batter, the less likely the dough or baked cookie is to hold up well in the freezer.

Tips For Storing Cookies

So, you got a headstart holiday baking. Now, you want to know how to go about storing cookies that you made ahead of time for optimal results. We’ve got you covered!

We’ll break this up into two sections, one for cookie dough and one for baked cookies.

Tips For Storing Cookie Dough

Generally speaking, you can start holiday baking months in advance if you do this. Depending on the type of cookie, cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months at a time.

#1. Flatten It

To help your cookie dough both freeze and thaw faster, you’ll want to flatten it. You can roll out the dough into a flat disc, then pop it in the freezer on a sheet until it gets firm. This usually takes about half an hour or so. After the dough has become firm, you can then store it in a plastic bag in the freezer.

#2. Label It

You’ll see this tip pop up with storing baked cookies too. Make sure that you label when you made the dough and what type of dough it is. You may even put the baking instructions on the plastic bag to make baking the cookies easier on your future self.

#3. Put It In The Fridge Overnight Before Baking

This will allow the frozen cookie dough to thaw properly and help you avoid cookies that are too soft. If you don’t have the time to thaw the cookie dough overnight, you can thaw the cookie dough on the counter for a couple of hours before baking. Just know that they will likely be softer than you may like, depending on the type of cookie it is.

Tips For Storing Cookies

Some baked cookies you can store at room temperature or in the refrigerator, while others would fare better if you stored them in the freezer. If you start holiday baking in advance, it’s important to know how to properly store your cookies so that they still taste good when it’s time to eat them. 

Baked cookies will usually freeze for a couple of weeks, but depending on the type of cookie, they may last up to a month.

#1. Cool Them All The Way Before Freezing

If you stick your freshly baked cookies in the freezer when they’re fresh out of the oven, they’ll be more likely to stick together. 

#2. Store Them In Airtight Containers

This helps them to stay fresher, longer. This is true for both if you’re putting them in the freezer and for if you just want them to stay fresher on your counter for a few days.

#3. Don’t Mix Cookies

Labeling will help with this. While you may be tempted to store different types of cookies together, this can affect their taste. Instead, use appropriately sized containers for each type of cookie and label them properly. You’ll want to list when they were made, as well as what type of cookie they are. 

Kitchen Kneads is here to help you start holiday baking. We provide cooking classes to teach you new skills or how to hone your current skills. We also carry a wide selection of baking equipment and baking ingredients. Feel free to click around our site or to swing by our store in Ogden, UT. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Sugar cookies are delicious to eat and the perfect base for decorating. It can be challenging to decorate sugar cookies in a way that looks bakery-level good, though. Cookies can be edible works of art, and this blog will provide you with some easy tips for how you can decorate sugar cookies like the professionals do. There’s no need to go out and get all this fancy equipment in order to make beautiful cookies. Here, we’ll go over some simple tips that can have you decorating cookies like a professional with some practice. Let’s get started!

#1. Let Your Dough Chill Before Baking

Before we get to the decorating part, you need good, firm cookies that hold their shape. After finding your perfect sugar cookie recipe, stick it in the fridge for about half an hour. When your dough is chilled as you roll it out, this keeps the butter from melting, which prevents the issue of your cookies spreading and losing their shape in the oven.

#2. Roll The Dough Out To Even Thickness

You don’t want sloping cookies or cookies that have uneven thicknesses because they won’t bake the same and they will be harder to decorate. You generally want to roll your dough out to either ¼ of an inch or ⅜ of an inch. Many rolling pins have measuring capabilities to assist you in this, but if all else fails, you can always use a ruler.

#3. Prepare Your Icing Before You Start Decorating

Before you begin the decorating process, you want to ensure that all of your icing is prepped beforehand. That way, you don’t need to pause to make more icing and potentially mess with your desired designs. If you want a more forgiving icing that is thicker, buttercream is great. If you want to decorate sugar cookies like the pros do with fancy designs and all, finding a good royal icing recipe is a must. 

If you want to use royal icing, you can go about this in several ways. You can make a thicker batch for piping consistency so that you can make more defined details and a thinner batch that is good for flooding your cookie (covering it with icing smoothly). Or, you can make a batch that’s right in the middle. If you are new to this, it will likely be easier for you to have a thicker batch and a thinner batch. 

You can use a ziplock bag and cut out the corners to pipe your icing, but if you want some more precision, you can get a kit of piping bags and decorating tips.

#4. Use Gel Food Coloring

Liquid food coloring can mess with the consistency of your icing, causing it to not set how you wanted it to. Instead, use gel food coloring that can still give you vibrant colors, but that won’t mess with your end results. 

#5. Outline Your Design

Now that your cookies have cooled and your icing is ready, it’s time to decorate sugar cookies! Use your thicker royal icing to outline your design. This way, you’ll be able to fill (or ‘flood’) your cookie with icing without needing to worry about it spilling over the edges. Squeeze your bag gently and pull it up off the cookie about an inch. When you reach corners or angles, dip the tip of your piping bag closer to the cookie’s surface and then bring it back up once you’ve passed the corner or angle. 

#6. Flood The Cookie

If you want to decorate sugar cookies with a smooth, professional-like surface, flood the cookie with your thinner icing after you’ve outlined it. You don’t want to start and stop as you do this, as this can cause your cookie to not have a smooth surface of icing. If you have any air bubbles, you can use a toothpick to pop them before the icing starts to harden.

#7. Use Icing On Wet Icing For Defined Designs That Are Level

Do you want to decorate sugar cookies with different designs but want it to look like the icing is all one smooth surface? This is called the ‘wet-on-wet’ technique. While your initial layer of icing is still wet, use your piping bag to lay other designs down. This will result in designs that are defined, but level.

#8. For Details That Stand Out, Take It Slower

If you want to decorate sugar cookies with more defined details that stick out above the base layer of icing, let the first layer dry before you add more details. When you let the icing dry at least partially before adding more, this creates more dimension.

#9. Remember To Have Fun

They’re just cookies, after all! If your attempt to decorate sugar cookies like a pro don’t turn out, they’ll still taste good. Just eat up and try again later. 

If you would like to learn more about how to decorate sugar cookies like a pro, including other methods such as with sprinkles or other types of icing, Kitchen Kneads is offering a hands-on cookie decorating class on September 17th, 2022. Get your ticket today!

Scratch baking includes making recipes from scratch ingredients. This means no pre-processed ingredients or frozen ingredients. Most commonly, this is probably what type of baking you saw your grandma using while you were growing up. Not only is scratch baking fun, it is healthier for you. If you have an interest in scratch baking, here are the top recipes you should try. 

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Mayo may not be the first ingredient you think of when making a cake. But adding it to this recipe makes for a decadent cake. Mayonnaise is basically just oil and eggs, which is used in just about every cake recipe so don’t be scared to try it out in your next dessert. 

A scratch recipe that doesn’t require active yeast might be a good place to start in your scratch baking journey. This cake can be made with just a few simple ingredients including cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, vanilla, flour, mayo and water. 

Yeast Rolls

One of the most popular scratch baking recipes is using yeast to make homemade bread. Yeast rolls are a great addition to a winter soup or for a summer BBQ. If you are feeling adventurous, adding applesauce to your recipe can add a unique tangy flavor to your rolls. 

Homemade bread of any kind will require kneading and will need time to let the yeast rise. Plan accordingly to let your bread rise for about an hour. 

Skillet Herb Bread

Once you have started making your bread from scratch, you can try adding other ingredients and testing your skills with that. This herb bread recipe can include celery, peppers, sage, thyme, onion or whatever else excites your taste buds. 

This particular recipe could be made with active yeast or without. Cooking it in a skillet in the oven helps it to have a crust and will ensure that the middle, which can feature some extra wet ingredients, gets cooked thoroughly.

Banana-Zucchini Bread

This recipe is a great one to make this summer because zucchini is in season. Banana bread and zucchini bread are great recipes on their own, but put them together and you have an amazing combination of flavor. The loaf can be great to serve with a meal or as a homemade snack for your kids. 

Zucchini can be used in other scratch recipes as well, if you find yourself with an abundance of it. Cupcakes can be an interesting one to try your hand at. 

Breadsticks

Breadsticks can be simple, or dressed up to impress your taste testers. Homemade breadsticks are similar to homemade bread in the fact that you will need to let the dough rise, then just shape them into thinner shapes. Breadsticks can be made with herbs added to the dough, cheesy garlic on top or served with a homemade dipping sauce.

The trick to this recipe is to make sure your breadsticks come out fluffy and not too dense. Another tip is to not follow the measurement of flour as the end all be all. Some temperatures can affect how much flour the bread will need. The best way to tell is to just look at your dough, if it is lifting from the sides of your bowl when mixing, then you have used enough flour. Correctly floured bread will be soft, smooth and slightly tacky. 

Spinach and Artichoke Quiche

A properly made quiche is sure to impress at a summer brunch. Making a quiche is another basic from scratch recipe that doesn’t require yeast. Making the bottom crust just requires flour and the filling is made with creamy parmesan, artichoke hearts, 6 large eggs and tons of seasoning. 

Butter Biscuits

A popular comfort food and simple baking recipe. Biscuits are more known for being dense, but they can still be tender and fluffy and have those biscuit characteristics. Getting golden tops on your biscuits comes from brushing the tops with either an egg wash or butter. 

When mixing your dough, the key to fluffy biscuits is to use chilled butter. This will help it not to melt as quickly into the dough and keep the biscuits from being greasy. Higher temperatures for your oven will also help the dough to rise evenly. 

Pita Bread

If you have some extra time to prepare, this bread recipe can be great for you. Pita bread dough can be made ahead of time and even left in the freezer. Made from scratch pita bread is way better than store bought and can be made fairly easily. You can cook pita bread in the oven or in a skillet on your stove top. 

Pita can be made with other flavorings and oils that can make it more interesting. The flat bread is usually dipped in something, but adding garlic or Italian seasoning can be delicious. 

Upside Down Cake

Pineapple upside down cake is a great summer treat and uses cake flour instead of regular flour. Before you try to flip your cake, you will need to let it cool for at least 20 minutes before you invert it. If your cake comes out dense, don’t worry! These cakes will be more dense because of the fruit and weight of the topping. 

Keep in mind that you need to remove the cake before the fruit totally hardens and sticks to the pan. 

Scratch Baking With Kitchen Kneads

We want all people to experience the joy of baking. Scratch baking may seem intimidating but we are here to give you all the tools you need to make it work for you. With any new hobby comes some stumbling blocks and a learning curve. Kitchen Kneads offers cooking classes to help bakers of all skill levels to learn a new recipe. 

Kitchen Kneads works hard to listen to our customers and continue to offer quality ingredients nationwide. Our goal is to help people across the nation enjoy cooking and bring quality dishes to their families. We continually improve our standards and share our love for our products and store with you. Contact us today or check out what cooking classes we are offering here.