I want my cookies to be fresh when i mail them next week, but need to do the baking and decorating this week!!! is that possible? has anyone done it successfully? when i decorate with antonia's RI, it seems i can't even put saran wrap over the tupperware, as they dry with 'soft' or 'wet' spots. i'd love to freeze them but am afraid the results will be disasterous. anyone done this?

I have never tried it - but I have read a few posts in the past on the subject. This is what I remember.

Just bake the cookies and then decorate the cookies and let them dry for at least 24 hours. Then stack them in an airtight container- but make sure you put a piece of wax paper in beween each cookie. And then pop them in the freezer.

Hope this helps!

Oh I forgot to mention, I would think that you would want to lay them all out on a cookie sheet, so that they can defrost without messing up the frosting.

sounds good...maybe i'll try a practice batch first...and let everyone know if this actually works or not!
thanks for you reply!!!

make sure you let them dry completely first... then freezing should be fine.

here's some more information for you...

freezing cookies
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-633905.html

freezing & using RI
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-632656.html

I finished an order for 200 cookies last month, which I knew I couldn't do that week. I baked 1 batch every few days, iced and decorated (Antonia74's RI) the next day, let dry for 24-48 hours. Then I slid them into a large ziplock bag, put the bag into a large tupperware, and popped them into the freezer. They turned out beautifully and they defrost in no time (1/2 hour to 1 hour). Make sure they are completely DRY! I had a couple of bags that I put in prematurely and the design stuck to the bag. ALso, upon the advice of some of the cookie experts, I put in 5 drops of icing whitener per pound of icing sugar - apparently it helps to keep discoloured spots from appearing after the cookie is thawed. Good luck!! Hope this helped a little!

Dawn

Where can I find icing whitener?

thanks everyone for the replies and the great ideas! i will try the whitener with the RI, since 'discoloring' was a freezing side effect i am afraid of. i'm assuming whitener is just white coloring like all our other colors in our cookie pantry! thanks again!!

Icing whitener can usually be found near the gel paste colours, but I use Wilton (cause we can't get anything else here ) which is in a little white bottle. You can find it at Michael's too. Just add it to your Ryal Icing as soon as you make it, while it's still white. Then divide and colour as normal. My cookies were animals and consisted of black, white, tan, orange, different shades of brown, and gray. All the colours were perfect and there wasn't a single discoloured spot, so I would be afraid to do it any differently in the future. These cookie experts on CC really know what they're talking about!!

I froze my cecorated Halloween cookies -- NFSC and Antonia RI. I package them in a celophane bag first and they turned out great. No problems. Good luck.

You can absolutely freeze decorated cookies. stack with parchment paper or wax paper between each layer, put in a ziplock and freeze. when it's time to defrost, don't unwrap them. Just set them on the counter until defrosted, then you can open them.

Question: When your cookies are defrosting, if you have piped black outline details on a lighter colour will the black colour end up bleeding into the other?

I had no problem with my balck & white zebra cookies - absolutely no bleeding. My suggestions are....

1. Let dry quite thoroughly between applying the first and second colour
OR
Let black outline dry to the touch before applying the lighter colour - when filling in, be sure not to break the previous layer with you piping tip, this causes the soft RI in the middle to seep out, right into your white icing..

2.Make sure to use the icing whitener, before mixing your black.

3.Do not make your icing too runny, this can cause the moisture to seep into the next layer and then colours will bleed.

4. If your colours have not bled before thoroughly drying and putting them in the freezer, they will not ever bleed. What they look like going in, is what they will look like once defrosted.

Good luck!