A Better Way to Keep Your Cookie Dough Fresh

 

It is easy to buy a tube of pre-made cookie dough in the grocery store when you want to have an easy-to-make dessert on hand, but I like to make my cookie dough from scratch. Homemade cookies generally use better ingredients and you have complete control over the “mix-ins” that you add to your cookie dough base, which gives you a lot more flavor options than the few pre-made choices out there. I don’t always have time to make cookie dough from scratch when I’m in the mood for some homemade cookies, so I try to plan ahead.

Slice and bake cookies are the perfect type of cookie to make in advance. The dough needs to be refrigerated or frozen before baking, so you can fill your freezer with a few batches of dough and they will be ready any time you want to bake. The one problem with this technique is that the dough won’t stay fresh in the freezer unless it is carefully wrapped. The pre-made cookie doughs are packed in airtight tubes, so they never get frostbite or dry out, which can happen if you are using foil or plastic wrap.

Lately, I’ve taken to vacuum packing my slice-n-bake dough with the FoodSaver® System. The FoodSaver® brand gave me a free FoodSaver® System to try out. The FoodSaver® System vacuum seals my cookie dough in cut-to-size baggies and allows me to keep that dough fresh for as long as I need to – that that means that my cookie dough will last for months in the freezer instead of just weeks and I will always be ready to bake on a moment’s notice!

The FoodSaver® System comes with both bags and rolls that you can seal, using the machine, into bags of any size you like. I always use the custom bag option because it gives me complete freedom over how much – or how little – dough I store at one time. I highly recommend dividing your dough into small portions before freezing it. Not only does this mean that you will be able to bake a half dozen cookies (a perfect snack for two!) at a time instead of having to bake a few dozen (better for parties than everyday!), but it also means that you can turn one batch of dough into multiple flavors by adding different spices, extracts, chocolate chips and nuts to your dough for variety. You definitely can’t do that with the pre-made stuff!

Of course, there are all kinds of things you can do with the FoodSaver® Vacuum Sealing System besides packing and portioning cookie dough so that you always look like a domestic god or goddess. You can portion out meat, veggies and berries that you might want to keep fresh in the freezer until you need them. You can quick-marinate meats and mushrooms. You can also pack up snacks that you simply want to keep fresh. The system is pretty fun to use and I admit that I have vacuum sealed things just for the heck of it a few times.

As part of a unique experiment, the FoodSaver^® brand is currently running a live fridge where you can see how long food lasts. And you can win one of these systems for your own kitchen as part of the #FoodSaverFridge Experience Live Contest. Here is what you need to know:

• Winners will receive a FoodSaver® System valued at $200.
• There are two ways to enter (1) Fans can upload an image to Instagram of their fridge organized with FoodSaver bags and containers, use the #FoodSaverFridge and tag at FoodSaver (@FoodSaver) Instagram handle to be entered via social or (2) Fans can also visit the FoodSaverFridge page by visiting livefridge.foodsaver.com and enter their email address.
• The contest runs 9/8-10/18. You can enter once via social and once via email.

 

If you can’t wait for the results of the contest, you can purchase your own at FoodSaver.com, at Amazon.com or at other select retailers

In the comments below, let me know if you try my vacuum-packing cookie dough method – and tell me about anything else you’ve tried to vacuum pack! One lucky commenter will win a $100 Visa gift card!

Entry Instructions:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post with the hashtag #SweepstakesEntry

2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post or with the hashtag #SweepstakesEntry, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 9/24/2015 – 10/31/2015

Be sure to visit FoodSaver® Brand’s page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!