How To Freeze Holiday Baking Ahead Of Time

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How to freeze holiday baking and keep it fresh and tasting great! Save yourself a lot of time in the kitchen and still have home baked holiday treats ready.

I love baking lots of Christmas cookies and other holiday treats with my family each year.

But the truth is the holiday seasons can get a little busy right? Ok, sometimes crazy busy!

There are places to go, and family and friend get-togethers. Sometimes things just move so quickly that you feel stressed about getting all your holiday baking done on time.

But what if there was an easier way?

There is!

Instead of stressing over baking holiday treats at the last minute, take some time to start baking early and freeze them to enjoy later.

Simplify your holiday baking by having a plan for freezing and storing holiday baked goods so that you don’t need to do all the baking in one day.

First, start by gathering your supplies that you will use. To properly freeze and store baked goods you’ll need parchment paper, plastic wrap, freezer bags, and freezer safe plastic containers.

Sistema KLIP IT Utility Collection Bakery Box Food Storage Container, 118.0 oz./3.5 L, Clear/BlueKomax Hikips Food Storage Containers – 2 Piece Cookie, Muffin, Cupcake Set

 

Thankfully there are so many baked goods that are easy to make ahead of time and freeze. Some of the easiest are pies, cheesecake, cakes, quick bread, cookies and cookie dough, brownies, and yeast bread.

Each of these needs different methods of freezing to keep them fresh and at their best quality when it’s time to thaw and eat.

Yummy Christmas Cookie Recipes You’ll Love

• Scottish Shortbread Cookies
• Dutch Butter Cookies
• No Bake Coconut Snowball Cookies
• Ginger Molasses Crinkle Cookies
• Old Fashion Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies

How To Freeze Holiday Baked Goods

Freezing Iced Cakes

It’s easy to freeze freshly baked cakes before they have been decorated but did you know you can also freeze fully made cakes?

It takes a little more work, but can save you a lot of time during the busy holiday season!

Once your cake has been decorated place it into the freezer until it’s frozen solid. This will take at least 4 hours.

Then remove it from the freezer and wrap it with a layer of plastic wrap. After that add a second layer of tin foil, making sure to turn the cake 90 degrees so the seams of the plastic wrap and tin foil are opposite of each other.

Place the cake back into your freezer until needed. Unwrap the cake completely before thawing.

Freezing Cheesecakes

Cheesecakes are a holiday dessert favourite and thankfully they are very easy to make ahead of time and freeze.

Before freezing your cheesecakes allow them to fully cool.

On The Pan

You can freeze cheesecakes directly on the bottom of the spring foam pan bottom. Place it into the freezer until it’s fully frozen. Then remove it and wrap it with a layer of plastic wrap.

Finishing with a layer of tin foil and put inside a freezer bag. Place the cheesecake back into the freezer until ready to use.

On Cardboard

You can also freeze cheesecakes on cardboard cake rounds.

To make it easier to remove the cake from the cardboard later you can either oil it lightly with cooking spray or cover the cardboard with foil.

Slide the frozen cheesecake onto the cardboard. Then wrap the entire thing with plastic wrap. Cover with another layer of foil and then place into a freezer bag.

Frozen cheesecakes will keep well for up to 7 months.

To thaw the cheesecake place it in the fridge until thawed.

For fruit covered cheesecake, make the topping at the time of serving.

Freezing Pies For Holidays

Fruit pies are so easy to make ahead of time and freeze to enjoy on your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

To freeze a fully baked fruit pie, place it into the freezer until it has completely frozen.

Then remove the pie from the freezer and place it into a freezer bag or wrap it with plastic wrap. Then place it back Ito the freezer.

A fully cooked fruit pie will keep frozen for up to 4 months.

To serve, remove the pie from the freezer and unwrap it. Let it sit on the counter for 1 hour to thaw. Then place it into your oven at 375F for 30 to 40 minutes, or until warm.

More Tips For Freezing Holiday Baked Goods

Cookie Dough

Cookie dough is really easy to freeze and I love making up big batches of cookie dough in my boche mixer then freezing them to use later.

You can make up large batches of cookie dough, then separate it into serving sizes and roll into a long log. Wrap it with 2 layers of plastic wrap and place into a freezer bag until needed.

You can simply slice off the cookie dough to bake.

You can also form cookie dough into balls, place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and place in the freezer unto frozen.

Then remove the cookie balls from the freezer and place into a plastic container or freezer bag and place it back into the freezer.

Cookie dough can last in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Yeast Dough

Bread dough and other yeast doughs freeze really well.

Allow the dough to have its first rise, then shape it into what you want to bake.

So you’d shape it into a log for a loaf of bread, a ball for a dinner roll, or 3 small balls for a clover roll etc.

Place the dough into the freezer until frozen and then remove the dough, wrap the dough with parchment paper. Then place into freezer bags and return to the freezer.

When your ready to use the dough, remove it from the freezer and place it back into the pan. The dough will rise as it thaws.

You can place it in the fridge to thaw and rise overnight or place it on the counter for 3–5 hours the day you’re going to bake.

Freezing Baked Cookies

If you want to save even more time you can also freeze fully cooked cookies!

Use a large freezer container and place a layer of parchment paper on the bottom, then a layer of cookies, then another layer of parchment paper. Continue adding layers until the container is full.

To thaw, simply remove the cookies to a serving tray to thaw 2 to 3 hours before eating.

Quick Bread & Muffins

Allow your quick bread or muffins to fully cool after baking. Then wrap them in parchment paper or freezer paper and then in a layer of plastic wrap and place them into a freezer bag.

This extra layering helps to keep your bread moist after thawing.

When ready to use, unwrap and thaw on the counter for 2 to 3 hours, or in the fridge overnight.

Tip: If your wrapping coffee cake use tin foil instead. Then after thawing, you can place it into the oven in the foil to warm it up.

The holiday season can be really busy, but freezing your holiday baked goods and storing them for later is a great way to take the stress out of your holiday baking rush.

You can simply pull what’s needed from the freezer, thaw and serve, leaving you lots of time to enjoy spending time with your family and friends this holiday seasons.