I'm wanting to make iced cookies as favors for my sons birthday party next Sunday (11 days away). I've never iced cookies before, so I wanted to at least practice with the icing. How far in advance can I make the icing and if I make it ahead of time, how do I store it? How far in advance can I make the cookies?

Thanks for helping a newbie out!

Cara

bump....i'd like to know this too. my best friend's wedding is next sunday and i'm making cookies as favors and would like to know how far in advance i can make nf's before they start tasting stale. and when i make them in advance, what's the best way of storing them?

you can freeze them very easily..........I've never frozen them fully decorated but others on here say that they do.........royal icing on the other hand....make sure you give yourself at least 24 hrs. of drying time if you're using royal icing......I just put a damp paper towel over the top of my royal icing and then put a lid on the container. If you're putting the decorated cookies in a bag or something they will stay yummy tasted for about a week believe it or not.

If you are going to do the Antonia's Royal Icing, you can make it at least 5 days ahead. Just store it in an airtight container in a cool spot . . . and re-whip it for a few mins before you use it again. I've done this a few times without a problem. You can also make your dough ahead of time and freeze it . . . or roll out your cookies and freeze them on waxed paper for quick baking. I like cutting them out earlier because it saves a bit of the mess in the kitchen if I do things in stages.

khalstead - when you say plastic bags, do you mean zip lock bags or the clear bags that you use to put favors in?


katietaylor77 - so if i roll, cut, and freeze my cookies on wax paper, do i just bake them as i normally would or would i have to let them thaw first?


and one more question - does antonia's RI get really hard when it dries? i've never made it before and i'm not sure if its like regular RI.

If you thaw the dough out the cookies will be more likely to spread and distort slightly . . . . cooking them frozen gives you an almost perfect shape!

great! well i think i'm going to start on that tonight. i was worried i wouldn't be able to do much with her order since my oven broke last night but this is perfect!