The Quest for MORE Cookies

I've decided I want to make some frozen balls of chocolate chip cookie dough to bake a few cookies at a time when we want them for dessert or a snack.  My first step, obviously, was to consult Pinterest for a recipe and some tips to ensure success.

It seems I just need to whip up a batch of our favorite cookie dough.

Can it really be that simple?

Seriously... where are the extra steps to make it work as an individually portioned freezer-to-oven treat?  Just the same cookie dough I would make anyway will work?

I don't know if to be impressed at its ease or miffed that I did not already know this!

I think this is the cookie recipe I'm going to use since we already have all these things in the pantry.

Except eggs.

I forgot to get them today.  So I do need to buy eggs tomorrow when I pick up strawberries for the dessert pizza we were requested to bring to the 4th of July party at Derek's sister's house.  We're also taking  baked 'smores... check for that recipe, pictures and a description of their heavenly yumminess to be posted tomorrow.

Before I get too far off track, the cookie recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

12 tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
2 egg yolks plus 1 whole egg
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips  (use your favorite - I have a predilection for milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine melted cooled butter, sugars, and salt, and mix on medium speed until mixture starts to look smooth, about 1-2 minutes.  Lower speed and add vanilla and eggs and continue mixing until well combined.  Add baking soda and flour to bowl and mix just until combined.  Add chocolate chips and give a final stir with the mixer to incorporate.  Measure out two tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place cookie dough on parchment paper lined baking sheets.  Bake cookies for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven when edges start to brown. The center half of the cookie will still be puffy and look undone. Firmly rap cookie sheet on countertop to promote wrinkly appearance. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Cookies will continue to wrinkle as they cool.

Not overstate the obvious or anything but since I'm wanting to freeze the dough we'll be stopping where it says "...two tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball."  The next logical step would be place on a lined cookie sheet and freeze, but there's a problem with that.

Actually 3 of them.

• my freezer is pretty small.  It's a side-by-side, which I love, but it does mean the space is too narrow to lay a cookie sheet flat.
• my freezer is very full at the moment.  Yesterday was our first big trip to Sam's Club.  And, yeah... we went just a teensy little bit over board.
• my whole kitchen needs a re-work.  The only place for the fridge to sit puts the freezer door against a wall which means it doesn't open all the way.  Anything wider than about 5 inches isn't going in there.

My solution?  Ice cube trays.

I'll use ice cube trays just like in this picture blatantly ripped from the boards of Pinterest!!  Right-sized for my freezer and perfectly portioned.

Score!!

Besides, by getting the ice cube trays tomorrow for the cookie dough I will have them Friday (or Saturday, or...) to make those frozen yogurt dog treats I've been promising my boys to help them beat the summer heat.  I'll post that over the weekend with updated pictures of Thunder and Lightning so you can see how much they've grown.

Ugh!  I'm distracted from telling the tale of my cookie quest again.

Once the dough is frozen, I'll pop them out of the ice cube trays and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer.  When we get that cookie craving, I'll just put half a dozen on a baking sheet and give them a few minutes in a hot oven.  And then... yum!