Freezer Friday: Sugar Cookies Made Easy

Sugar cookies are such a festive cookie adaptable for as many occasions as you can invest in cookie cutters or decorations.  Rolling out the dough and frosting them can be such a fun family activity too!  Most times, I get them rolled out, baked and decorated with the butter cream frosting and stand back and think "now what?"  I can't stack them up on a tray or storage bag or all the frosting will get mashed up.  I could throw them all in the freezer and then stack them and freeze them - but they just wouldn't be as good frozen and thawed later.

A couple years ago I came upon a great frosting recipe that sets beautifully and dry on the surface but moist underneath.  Bingo!  That takes care of part of the dilemma.  But what about the mess of mixing, rolling, and cutting?  This year I decided that I could mix, roll and cut all in one big party, and then freeze the cut out cookies before I bake them.  Pull what I need for a given occasion and bake them.  Mix up frosting and voila! Ready to go with half the mess.

So, here's how it breaks down:

1.  Make a batch (or 2) of your favorite sugar cookie recipe.  I use The Best Rolled Sugar Cookie recipe and it has always turned out great.  When I mix two, I'll mix the first, empty the bowl, and then mix the second - in my world of dish loathing there's no point in washing in between if you're making the exact same recipe.



2.  Roll, cut, layer, freeze.  Repeat. Repeat.  Repeat.  Until the dough is gone.  A round cookie cutter (glass) will give you an all occasion shaped cookie.  I am working with pumpkins and fall leaves as I have three parties coming up for which fall theme will be appropriate.  Once the cookies were frozen between layers of wax paper, I stacked them in a plastic container before they found their somewhat temporary home in the freezer.



3.  Pull and bake what you need and mix up an adequate amount of icing.  I love this recipe because you can dip your cookies in and it dries glossy.  Take a bit of the remaining icing and add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it up and it pipes on nicely for accents.  If you don't have a pastry bag or decorating tips, no problem.  Put the frosting in a freezer zip top bag and cut a tiny opening in one of the corners.  Decorate away.

4.  Once the frosting has set, your cookies can be stacked and displayed on a tray - party perfect!



Then, the next time you need a cookie tray, repeat steps 3 and 4 until your freezer stash of cookies is gone.

This post is linked up at Life As Mom's Frugal Friday: Gearing Up for the Holidays.