Master the Art of Cookie Dough Storage (Comprehensive Guide)

Do you often end up with more cookie dough than necessary for a batch of cookies?

Rather than toss the excess, you can store it for another day.

With proper storage, the cookie dough will hold up well for a few days or even weeks.

However, it uses perishable ingredients and hence doesn’t hold up at room temperature for too long.

So, how to store cookie dough?

9 Ways to Store Cookie Dough

Recipes for cookie dough include both wet and dry ingredients.

The dry ingredients are flour and sugar, while egg, oil, and milk are wet ingredients.

Dough made with these ingredients will not last forever.

To prevent it from growing germs and becoming unsafe for consumption, you should store the dough away.

Here are some great ways to store cookie dough for later use.

1. Keep It on The Counter for Immediate Use

Cookie dough doesn’t last for too long at room temperature, regardless of whether it’s store-bought or made from scratch.

You can leave cookie dough out on the countertop for two to three hours at the most.

This will allow you enough time to make cookies using the dough. Beyond this time, the dough can spoil.

Cookie dough has a lot of moist ingredients like eggs, milk, and oil.

The moisture in these ingredients supports the growth of bacteria.

Once the bacteria in the dough start multiplying, the dough becomes unsuitable for consumption.

Eating it raw or cooking it can cause issues.

To avoid risk, use the dough within two to three hours.

If you can’t make cookies during this time, either refrigerate or freeze the dough.

2. Refrigerate It in The Mixing Bowl

The easiest way to store cookie dough is in the same mixing bowl that you make it.

In this case, you add all the dry and wet ingredients into the same bowl and mix them to make the dough.

Remove the amount of dough you need for the cookies you want right away.

Put the rest away by just covering the bowl with plastic.

The plastic will stop contact with moisture and air. So the cookie dough will not dry out or become soggy.

Place the entire mixing bowl in the refrigerator. It will hold up for two to three days.

We don’t advise storing cookie dough in this manner beyond three days since it can spoil.

Related: Freezing Sugar Cookie Dough | How Long Can Cookie Dough Sit Out?

3. Store the Cookie Dough in The Shape of Balls

Storing the cookie dough in the mixing bowl may not be suitable for all cookies.

The texture of chocolate chip cookie dough, snickerdoodle dough, or oatmeal cookie dough will change if you store it in the bowl.

So you need a different approach.

For all these types of dough, use a spoon or cookie scoop to separate chunks of dough. Shape this dough into balls.

Flash-freeze the balls for an hour on a sheet of parchment paper.

Once the balls are hard and firm, put them in an airtight container or bag.

You can also separately wrap each ball in plastic and refrigerate the balls in a single container or bag.

You can keep the dough balls in the refrigerator for short-term storage.

However, if you want them to hold up for several weeks, consider freezing them.

4. Store Cookie Dough as Logs

Another way to shape the cookie dough for storage is in the form of logs.

To make logs, roll the cookie dough between your palm and a flat surface. This will make it resemble a log.

We recommend chilling the dough for half an hour before shaping it into a log.

You will find it easier to make the log in this case.

Once you make the log, wrap it in plastic. Alternatively, you can place the cookie dough in an airtight bag.

Get rid of the excess air before placing it in the refrigerator.

Tightly pack the dough into a log and seal the ends.

You can then place the log inside a container or bag and put it in storage.

This method of storing cookie dough as logs works best for delicate cookies like shortbread cookies.

You can also store the logs in the freezer for a longer duration.

When it’s time to use the cookie dough, take the log out and wait for it to soften.

It should be malleable in half an hour.

Then, you can cut the cookie dough to the desired thickness and bake it as usual.

5. Roll the Dough Into Sheets and Store Them in The Refrigerator

If you prefer to lay your cookie dough flat in storage, the easiest way is to roll the dough out.

Flatten the dough into a sheet. Then, transfer this sheet into an airtight bag or cover.

If you have more than one sheet of dough, separate them with parchment paper and store them together.

Place them flat inside the refrigerator and use them within two to three days.

Alternatively, you can also place it flat in the freezer.

In this case, you should thaw the cookie dough for a few hours before use.

6. Store the Dough in The Form of Disks

Whether you store cookie dough in the refrigerator or the freezer, it’s important to secure the dough from moisture and air.

Wrapping it will prevent moisture from reaching the dough when you store it in the refrigerator.

If you choose to store it in the freezer, wrapping the dough will prevent freezer burn.

One of the best ways to store cookie dough without wasting any space is in the form of disks.

For this method, you roll the cookie dough into disks of desired thickness.

Then, place them inside plastic bags or containers that will hold them comfortably.

If there are several disks, separate them with parchment paper.

Then, place the disks in the bag or container and put them in the refrigerator or freezer compartment.

The main benefit of storing cookie dough as disks is you can retrieve just the quantity you need at a time.

It will help you retain the rest of the dough for later use.

7. Cut the Cookies out And Store Them in The Refrigerator

If you want to get most of the work done ahead of time, cut the cookies out right away.

You can roll the cookie dough into a flat sheet. Then, use cookie cutters to cut the cookies out of the dough.

Stack them up with layers of parchment paper in between each cookie.

Then, place the cookies in the refrigerator till you need them.

They can also be stored this way in the freezer, where they will hold up for two to three weeks.

8. Freeze the Cookie Dough on A Parchment Sheet as Balls

For chunky cookies, freezing the dough as balls works best.

You can use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for freezing.

Prepare the dough as you usually do. Then, separate it into portions.

Shape the cookies into balls and place them close together on the parchment sheet.

You can crowd them together, but they shouldn’t touch.

Flash-freeze the cookie dough balls for four to five hours. They will become hard and solid.

At this stage, you can transfer them into freezer-safe bags or boxes.

Tightly seal the bags or boxes and place the uncooked cookies in the refrigerator or freezer.

Related: Can Cookie Dough Go Bad and How to Preserve It?

9. Bake and Store Meringue Cookies

Most types of cookie dough store well in the refrigerator or freezer.

However, meringue cookie dough doesn’t last well in the refrigerator.

Meringue cookie dough is made of egg whites and sugar.

The texture of these ingredients changes over time, making it difficult to store.

So you shouldn’t consider refrigerating or freezing these cookies.

The better option is to bake the cookies right away and refrigerate them.