Why You Shouldn't Freeze Cookies With Icing On Them

Ah, the wide, wonderful world of cookies. These sweet tooth-satisfiers are, for many of us, a favorite snack from a young age, adding some sweetness and crunch (or chewiness) to many a mid-morning lull, afternoon snack plate, or midnight glass of milk. Whether your favorite cookie is a classic peanut butter, a spicy molasses gingersnap, a soft, puffy snickerdoodle, or any other type, if you love cookies, chances are you've tried your hand at baking them at home.

While it of course depends on the variety you choose to whip up, cookies are generally a great option for home baking, rarely calling for expert levels of baking know-how or even for special equipment. And even if you choose to prepare a complicated cookie — such as jam-stacked, chocolate-iced rainbow cookies – the good news is that once you've achieved your masterpiece, you can make sure it sticks around for a while by freezing it. 

Most types of cookies freeze exceptionally well, according to Taste of Home, which is a particularly attractive option when you're baking huge batches of cookies for holiday cookie swaps and you want to make sure to keep some of the spoils to yourself. But bakers beware: Not all kinds of cookies freeze well and those that are already iced or decorated are among those that do not.

If you're planning to bang out dozens upon dozens of Christmas cookies or have the baking bug at any other time of year, freezing can be a great option for keeping some of the treats on hand for later, when your cookie cravings strike yet again. According to Taste of Home, frozen cookies can last for up to six months and often don't need any special defrosting treatment other than letting them come to room temperature on the counter. But if iced, sprinkle-bedazzled, or jam-thumbprint cookies are among the types you want to freeze, stop right there.

According to Kitchn, already-iced or decorated cookies just don't freeze that well. Delicate decorations can mar as the cookies inevitably get jostled around in the freezer or when you pull the cookies out to defrost; And the same goes for jam-thumbprint or sandwich cookies, according to the outlet, as well as chocolate-coated or powdered sugar-sprinkled types (via Taste of Home). 

If you want to freeze sugar cookies, for example, simply freeze the baked cookies and proceed with icing and decorating them after defrosting; Apply the same rule for cookies that call for jam, chocolate dips, or dustings of powdered sugar. The good news is, icing, jamming, or chocolate-ing thawed cookies will go quickly, so those stored cookies will still arrive in your maw pretty fast a few months down the line, after their sojourn in the freezer.