If you love to always bake cookies like me, then you must be wondering how long you can keep your cookie dough in the fridge to be ready to bake them.
Having cookie dough in the fridge Is a great way to bake cookies immediately, when you craze them or when there are unexpected guests at home.
You can make huge batches of cookie dough and then put it in the fridge so that you always have some gooey goodness ready to be popped into the oven and enjoyed.
However, to keep it in the refrigerator, you must know how long you can store it and how to do it to avoid spoiling your cookie dough.
This guide will help you learn all about refrigerating your dough.
Chilling your dough before baking is necessary for most recipes that you follow. However, chilling and refrigerating it for longer durations are two different things. But how long can you do that?
Well, as a cookie enthusiast, you will be happy to learn that your cookie dough won’t go crazy liquidly when you put it in the fridge.
You can refrigerate it for at least 1 hour before baking, but when you don’t want to use it, you can put it in the refrigerator, and nothing will happen. The only thing that you should ensure is that you store it properly.
When you tightly wrap it and put it in an airtight container, then, it will last up to a whole week. However, if you put it in the fridge without covering properly, then it will last only two days.
Your raw cookie dough will not absorb any odors or will not get dry when you have packed it in cling wrap, keeping it fresh for longer.
Your cookie dough can go bad if you refrigerate it for too long or if you don’t pack it properly. It can become harmful and even cause food poisoning. And to identify a ‘gone bad’ cookie dough, here are a few pointers:
- The dough becomes dry and crumbles to the touch.
- It is moldy and squishy (watery)
- It has a sour and bad smell.
- It changed color
- The edges are hard
These five indications are enough to tell you that your dough has gone bad, and now nothing can save it.
The best thing to do is discard it because it can be a severe health hazard. Don’t keep bad Doug in the fridge too long, as it can contaminate other foods.
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Cookie dough CAN go bad even if it is in the fridge. Because many recipes call for raw eggs, raw eggs are one of the top hazards when it comes to leaving them in the refrigerator for too long.
It will take the dough longer to go bad compared to putting it on the counter for long durations. But it will still go bad.
Apart from this, if you incorrectly store your dough (not covering or wrapping it correctly), then it can develop E. coli bacteria or salmonella, which can cause diarrhea.
Everything has a life, if you pack your dough properly, that life will be extended, but if you don’t do It properly, your dough will go bad.
The best way to keep your dough good for a long time is to either plastic wrap your dough, put it in an airtight container, or put it in the refrigerator.
Or you can also make cookies and then store them in an airtight jar. Cooked ingredients go bad later than raw ones.
Freezing cookie dough is the best way to keep it fresh for longer. There are many ways you can use to freeze your cookie dough. But the method depends on you and how you want to bake them in the future.
You can make balls of your cookie dough on a baking sheet and then freeze them; once they are frozen, you can put them in an airtight bag and put them in your freezer.
You can also cut out various shapes and put them on a baking sheet, then freeze them flat in the freezer to freeze them; once frozen, save them in an airtight bag.
Or you can place all your dough in an airtight bag and put it in the freezer. However, with this method, you will have to wait for it to defrost so that you can make balls and then bake them.
Then you will have to refrigerate them again to harden the butter. The change in temperature 2-3 times can alter the taste of your cookies. So choose wisely. Whichever method you choose, ensure that you mention the freezing date on it.
As you already know, almost all cookie recipes tell you to freeze/ refrigerate your cookies before baking to get the best results; freezing your cookies will also give you good results when you decide to bake them.
When you freeze them, you preserve all the flavors and deliciousness of cookies in the cookie dough, and then when you decide to bake them, you get the same deliciousness and freshness that your freshly made batch gives you.
So yes, you can say that freezing cookie dough does make your cookies taste better.
Well, first, you need to determine how long is too long for you. Because if by long you mean a week, then your cookie dough will be perfectly fine to use (that is if you packed it properly before refrigerating).
However, if by ‘too long’ you mean 1-2 months, you will have to check the dough for signs of going bad.
If your dough is delicate (there is a very thin chance that it will be edible), then you can bake it and make cookies. But remember to check for indicators that we discussed above to tell you whether or not it is edible.
Final Verdict:
Refrigerating cookie dough and then finding it in the fridge is like a present from you to you. It is always a wonderful surprise, and it becomes even better if you have premade frozen cookie balls to pop directly into the oven and enjoy.
Now after reading this blog, you must be feeling pretty confident about freezing your cookie dough, right? Right. That’s what I thought!
