What To Consider Before Stacking Your Cookies For Storage

After hours spent in the kitchen making the most beautiful cookies, it's disheartening and frustrating for them to break after you pack them away to be eaten and enjoyed later. As much as you are tempted to bubble wrap each precious cookie, that's simply not practical, nor a good idea. Before you start stacking the cookies to be stored, Better Homes & Gardens says there are a few things to consider: Are they soft or firm? Do they have frosting or other decorations? 

It's important to store cookies properly because the right storage method will help them stay fresh, according to Martha Stewart. If you've baked different kinds of cookies and you have both crisp and soft ones, don't keep them in the same storage container. If you do so, the soft cookies could make the crisp ones soften. However, freezing cookies is a good option for storing them until you want to eat them or give them as gifts, according to Daisy Flour. They can be stored in the freezer for up to five months. Just remember to make sure the cookies have cooled to room temperature before putting them in the storage containers. So, you've got the cookies and the storage bags or containers, do you stack the cookies up or not?

By all means, it's fine to stack your homemade cookies, per Better Homes & Gardens, if they are: sturdy, unfrosted, or have firm-set icing. The cookies from a batter mix that are dropped onto the baking sheet, also known as drop cookies, like chocolate cookies and ginger cookies, for example, can be stacked up. Simply, take the cookies and place them between layers of waxed paper in airtight containers or plastic freezer bags. If the cookies are more fragile, only an airtight container should be used for storage with waxed paper in between layers.

Keep in mind, parchment paper can also be used to divide layers, according to Martha Stewart. The waxed or parchment paper will prevent the cookies from sticking together while also helping them to stay crisp. The experts at Allrecipes even suggest using plastic wrap or tortillas to keep them apart. However, for cookies that aren't being frozen, metal tins are preferred over plastic containers because they keep the cookies from becoming soft (via Martha Stewart). To avoid worrying about ruined frosting on cookies that have been layered for storage, wait to frost them until you are about to serve them, recommends Southern Living. 

Now, if you want to go old school and keep your cookies in an adorable cookie jar, go ahead and place them in, but crispy cookies will do best (per Allrecipes).