Help! Why did my cookies spontaneously combust?

D

deb-in-mi

Well-known member
Okay - maybe I exaggerated a bit. But two weeks ago I put 24 'blow dryer' decorated sugar cookies in my freezer. (and 24 'nail polishes'). For a customer (event at her salon). Today when I went to take them out almost every blow dryer cookie was broken - and all in different places. A couple of things:

1) to my knowledge the freezer hasn't been opened since I put them in

2) I've done a couple of thousands of cookies, froze/stored them, and never have had breakage (well, one cookie that has a very thin 'stem' but it went in broken)

3) These are big, sturdy cookies.

I was horrified/baffled/embarrassed/scared/etc (event is tonight). Thank goodness I have lots of great bar cookies in the freezer (different one) and I am making her an extra plate of these.

Any ideas?

 
Oh NO! I do not have ideas, but sharing in your last minute anxiety. Glad you had spare bars

Do you have any other cookies in the freezer? Did they have the same breakage?

Such a bummer. BUT, I am sure you can salvage them. Sounds like it was cosmetic (Broken) vs. in crumbles.

Maybe you can doctor them up and use them???

 
Maybe slightly damp going into the freezer?

I dunno, I've got nothing, but that might do it if the moisture in the cookie expanded when frozen?

Otherwise, earthquake in freezer?

I feel for your panic when finding them on the day of the event though. Yikes! Glad you had something you could use as a back-up.

 
No other breakage. Just the two (flat) bags of the larger cookies:(

Some weren't fully broken just cracked.

 
I don't think damp (maybe?) - good guess though! Thankfully some that I thought were totally broken

had 'cracks' and were still able to be put out (the display did look nice) and the staff scarfed down the broken one. To make up for my disappointing drop-off to the salon (they were LOVELY about it) I came back with a BIG tray of 4 different decadent cut bars:)

 
Could the flour have absorbed moisture from the freezer? I like to leave my dough overnight

in the refrigerator to hydrate the flour. I'm wondering if your flour wasn't 100% hydrated, but the icing "sealed" the baked surface? That might mean if the flour absorbed more moisture and expanded in the freezer, the baked dough would have nowhere to expand other than outward (I recalling my Cake Ball cracks).

What a panicky thing to happen, right before a delivery to a customer. And to have never had it happen before, no less!

 
Deb, have you always frozen the bigger cookies? Because the center "area" may not have been as baked

as smaller cookies....think how a large diameter cake pan (like 12-14") has to have a metal pin in the middle to ensure the middle ends up as baked as the outer edges.

How big are we talking?

 
oh, that's not very thick, so I don't think center area is an issue. Mine have

been as thick as 3/4"...they end up kind of chewy.

I'm trying a new one from SweetAmbs that supposedly will stay fresh for several days. I'll let you know soon.

 
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