Has anyone successfully frozen filled peanut butter cookies?

M

marilynfl

Moderator
I'm making 100 of the Dahlia Bakery "Nora Ephron" Peanut Butter Sandwiches for my brother's retirement party and am not sure how to finalize them.

Party isn't until June 27 and I'll be flying to Pittsburgh with these and three other cookies. I'd like to fill and freeze, but don't want them degraded. I won't have a lot of time between arriving and the event.

Any suggestions? What to do? What NOT to do?

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/peanut-butter-sandwich-cookies-aka-the-nora-ephron-51129000

 
PS: I channeled Pat, Karen & Maria and emailed Dahlia Bakery this same question, but

since they bake in bulk (and probably use a convection oven) I'm not sure it's comparable to a small batch production baked while singing "Don't Fear the Reaper."

(Thank you, OITNB, for a great season finale.)

 
Could you make the sandwich ahead, then fill a day or so before going?

Freeze/do ahead the cookie not the filling. I've never frozen this type of cookie, so that's what I'd likely do.

 
I have no experience with mailing cookies, but I do know how us foodies think

I always feel I have to provide food or at least "something" when I go to family events. It is also expected of me because everyone knows I like to cook and do it pretty well. I think it is very difficult transporting foods, and taking cookies on a plane may not be the best idea. The airport confiscated food from my daughter she was taking back to Ohio with her from CA.
Could you make the dough, then take it in an ice pack to put together and bake off there? Are you planning on keeping the cookies with you, on your lap in flight?

Would you entertain the idea of looking for a bakery in the town you are going visiting and ask them to make you up a batch of several kinds? It would be a shame to have something happen to all those cookies during the trip.

 
I mailed p'nut butter sandwich cookies. Not the same recipe. Took two days

to arrive and they were soggy. Sorry.

 
I had half a jar of pb confiscated. A pb sandwich is ok, but apparently the quantity

I had was enough to build a major explosive device.

 
old GS Savannahs!! all time favorite. seems to me the filling would thaw out fine with the butter

and pnut butter in it and only 2 T powdered sugar. do you have time to make a test batch to freeze/thaw?

 
I frequently have frozen filled cookies and have never had a problem.

I wouldn't be concerned if the event is the same day as your travel. If they were going to sit awhile then maybe, per Cyn's comment, there is reason to be concerned.

How generous of you!!

 
wow...thanks for all the great & helpful comments. I asked my brother if I could bake him a treat s

this is my gift to him. The doughs are already made: my ramped up version of Dorie's chocolate chip cookies, my no-longer martyr oatmeal cookies, and the peanut butter cookie. I'll also be making a half-sheet of brownies to round out the mix.

I could express mail the frozen doughs up there, but I'm a tad concerned my mom might be using her big oven to make studels. She said NO last week, but has been known to change her mind at 3:00 AM. I can definitely see that happening. Plus I'll only have 3 hours before the event starts so I can't see finishing off all the cookies by then. This is me being disappointed that folks won't have freshly baked cookies.

OR I could bake them in FL and either ship overnight or carry on the plane. Both scare me because that means taking them out of my control (when did I get so nervous about this kind of stuff?). Will the post office get them there? Will the airline lose them between FL and Pittsburgh since it's not a direct flight? How well do I have to package them to make it through either of those gauntlets?

And if I bake them here, should I bake them NOW and freeze until the event. Or wait until the day before and bake them...that throws in the whole "will they be cool enough to package" quandry.

I know the chocolate chip, oatmeal and brownies will be okay--it's that filled peanut butter one that's making me a bit nervous. And by the way, WOW...that is one good cookie. I ran a test run to see size...they specify 1 oz balls and that sounded huge. My scoops are sized for ice cream and the purple was too small and the red was too big. I used the 1.5" diameter purple and the cookie bakes to a perfect 3" diameter. I felt that was going to be too big since it will be a double cookie so I tried a 1" diameter scoop, which gave me the perfect flat 2" diameter. THAT'S what I'm goingi to use. I took the suggestion above to freeze a sample--will test that in a few days. Even the 3" cookie filled is filling by itself, so I can't image what their larger version is like.

 
orchid, I still haven't decided yet how to get them to PA. Carry-on is one option.

I usually travel with just a backpack, so it's been years since I've checked a bag--HATE standing around waiting for it to come down to baggage.

 
I'm with ya on that! When we lived in Saudi we traveled and I

mean traveled! We would go off on 3 week trips and only traveled with a carry on bag, you know the little bag that is just wide enough to roll down the isle. It easily fit under the seat in front of me. I learned that if clothes are rolled they take up a very small amount of space and don't wrinkle like just folded. It's summer time so no big bulky clothing. You might be surprised how much space you might have for your cookie lode. And you would be put at ease that they wouldn't be roughed around so they would arrive in great shape.

 
You could call the airlines and ask.

I would also ask if there's any problem bringing onboard already filled cookies. If they can't see something to identify it they usually confiscate it. Ask me how I know that!

 
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