There are few things that are more frustrating than baking a delicious batch of cookies only to head to the cookie jar a day later and find every one of them has gone stale. Fresh cookies don’t typically have much of a shelf life. Fortunately, though, there are a few things you can do that will help them last quite a bit longer than you might expect.
An Airtight Container: One of the most important steps you can take to make certain your cookies last longer is to seal them in an airtight container. While Mom’s prized cookie jar may hold quite a bit of nostalgic value for you, choosing to seal them in a better container could mean you get a shelf-life of five to seven days out of your fresh cookies. In most cases, a zipper-locked plastic bag should work fine, as should a container with an airtight seal. You can even get cookie jars these days designed to keep your baked goods fresh a bit longer. If you’re making your own gourmet cookie bouquet, you’ll want to wrap each cookie in cellophane to keep them fresh.
Make Sure They Are Cool: Before you put those cookies in that airtight container, though, make sure they’re actually cool. Nothing will encourage cookies, or any other baked goods, to go bad quite as quickly as moisture, and one surefire way to inject moisture into an environment is to put hot cookies in an airtight container. Let them sit on a cooling rack until they’re completely cool, then seal them up tight.
Climate Means Everything: When you’re talking about crisp cookies, the climate is essential to the way you store your cookies. In a humid climate, crisp cookies will go bad quickly if you don’t get them in an airtight container as soon as possible. In a dry climate, you may actually want to keep your crisp cookies in a container with a looser fitting lid.
A Slice of Bread: Want your soft cookies to stay extra soft? Grab a slice of bread and add them in with the cookies. Bread actually has the perfect amount of moisture in it, and once you place it inside the airtight container with your cookies, it will begin to offer that moisture to the cookies themselves. The result is cookies that stay perfectly soft and fresh. If the bread starts to go stale, replace it with a new slice. While you can use other foods for this trick, like a slice of apple, bread tends not to add any additional flavors to the mix.
If All Else Fails, The Freezer is Your Friend: Not sure your cookies will last long enough for those special guests? Go ahead and pop them in the freezer for a bit. That can help lengthen the shelf life considerably (up to three months), then you’ll have them to serve when the time is right.
You could keep fresh cookies in your house as long as you need to with these tips. Chances are, though, that once they come out of the oven, the cookie monsters in your house will have them eaten before you can even worry about storing them!
Author : Pinkchic18 is an avid writer who has a passion for baking. She also regularly contributes to the Gourmet Cookie Bouquets Recipe Blog, where you can find more tasty recipes.
http://www.gourmet-cookie-bouquets.com/design/