Today you will get a “how to” article. The main question this article answers is how to bake many different cookies for a cookie box. The short answer is, best is if you have a large freezer. If you don’t, you will need a lot of cookie boxes to store them airtight. It also helps to pick cookie recipes that keep for a while. If you want to ship a cookie box, check out this article, but that aside, let’s get started.
#1 Make smaller batches
This may sound silly, but if you think about it, you don’t want 5 baking sheets full of German vanilla crescents, but each baking sheet with another cookie as you want a lot of different recipes. I would say you probably need recipes with only 200 to 250 grams of flour per recipe, not more.
#2 Pre-calculate the amounts
I would suggest you will put about 5-7 cookies per type in your cookie box. Depending on how many different cookies you want to have per box, this already helps you to calculate. It also doesn’t hurt to try out how many cookies you can stack in your cookie boxes and how many fit, filling it completely. This all should be calculated and done before you start baking.
#3 Check recipes for chilling periods
Many recipes are based on sugar cookies, which means, they will need to be chilled. Just one example is gingerbread, which does need to be chilled. This in turn means that you may make the dough one day, but roll it out and bake it on another.
Cute gingerbread houses, which need to be chilled
My popular brownie cookies also require chilling
#4 Bake your cookies over a few days or weeks
I am not a big fan of baking all cookies on one single day. I have a colleague who does it every year with her mom. If I recall correctly, it is at least ten different cookies. That’s not my style. She usually mentions that it takes longer than expected and something goes wrong. I prefer doing it in chunks. I also bake cookies in the evening after work, I may do it for one or two weeks. Usually I prepare the next dough that needs to be chilled and then roll out, cut out, etc. the dough from the night before. This means me investing an hour or less per night. Heidesand cookies are typical slice cookies, so this will be much faster. I prefer this method to one marathon day. You need to decide when and how you want to invest the time.
#5 Freeze undecorated cookies immediately
Once your cookies have cooled, freeze them immediately. This will ensure that they taste super fresh. As a blogger I have to start very early with my cookie baking, usually in October. This means if I want to gift a cookie box to anyone, I better make sure I freeze them so that they do not taste stale. I usually pack the cookies inside a plastic tin or metal tin, seal with the lid and that’s it. I find that more sustainable than platic wrap or similar. Do not forget to put stickers with the name and date of your cookies, it is crazy how quickly you forget.
You see here lemon crescents and maple walnut cookies
#6 You can keep cookies in cookie tins/cans
If you do not have space in your freezer, it is also possible to keep the cookies at room temperature (ideal is in a cooler basement). Make sure you only place one type in one box and also label each box. This method works if you give away your boxes within a few weeks and make sure none of your cookies have wet fillings.
#7 Decorate your cookies shortly before gifting
These alfajores are my favorite cookies from Latin America. They are completely covered in chocolate, therefore it is possible to freeze them as such. If you have cookies with a jam filling, such as Linzer, you can also freeze with jam and all. However, if you have to dust your cookies with icing sugar, I recommend doing this shortly before gifting as the sugar will be absorbed and melts away. Sugar cookies with royal icing shoudly also be decorated shortl beforehand. But as the decorations needs to dry (ideally for a night), you can plan accordingly.
Alfajores can be frozen as a whole
Any cookie with royal icing should be frozen undecorated
#8 Choose cookies that need to be made in advance
One of my favorite German cookies is quince paste (pictured on the left) or tablet from Scotland (on the right), which can be described as a fudy caramel. Both cookies will keep for months and can be made long in advance. You may also go for hard toffee or Springerle cookies. The latter need a few days before you can bake them.
Last, but not least I wanted to present to you my cookie plate from 2025. Many of the cookies pictured I decided to freeze. If you would like to win a cookie box with cookies baked by me, please check this blog post. You will see the number and matching recipe for each cookie below. Have fun baking and let me know if any questions.
#1 Tablet, Scotish fudgy caramel
#2 Hard toffee
#8 Gingerbread
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