Can this be done? - Page 2

If you do freeze them after you decorate them make sure that you lay them out flat AS SOON as you take them out of the freezer so that they can dry.

So sorry about your situation! One thing I wanted to add, is based on what I have been told, if you do freeze them you should let them defrost completely in the freezer bag before taking them out. You will likely have humidity there in HI and need to be careful. If you wanted to freeze them after decorating, I would make sure that they were completely set before freezing, heat seal them in cello bags (not plastic) that you are going to use and then place them in freezer bags. Again, I have not done this officially. This is one test I did just to see how it worked. The taste was 'okay', but not as good as fresh, which is what I needed. However... I was not trying to do 200 and living at my in-laws.

Can you do a test run with a few cookies, freeze them as mentioned above and see what you think? I like the idea of trying to do a test run also as you mentioned that you are newish to cookie-ing and 200 is a large number. Any time I plan to do a large number, I find that doing prototypes so that I can work out the steps ahead of time really helps. I think your design ideas sound so very cute, but just be careful not to overextend yourself. You might be biting off a pretty big chunk here and that would be my only concern as I did that back when I was starting out. If you find that 200 with a variety of designs is too much, might I suggest focusing on one simple design? Again, what you are doing sounds so cute, but you might want to keep that idea as a back-up. Just a thought. So I would try freezing in cello, sealed in freezer bags, bring to room temp in the bags. Take them out, tie on your ribbon or tag and you would be good to go. Again, I haven't done this 'officially', but if you are going to freeze after decorating, this might be a good option. Again, just my thoughts.

A test run is the best way to go if time permits and when you do your planning calendar, allow extra time. That always helps me. If I ever do freeze, I will freeze the unbaked cookies, bake them and then decorate. It only mentioned the 'freezing after' idea as I see it mentioned. I just thought the cello bag and defrosting completely in the bag first would help.

I have to agree! Are you sure you want all this added stress? Will you be able to enjoy the party, or will you be too frazzled? 200 cookies is A LOT of cookies! Even simple designs will mean hours of work for you. All my best to you, whatever you decide.

I wish you the best of luck on this! I know what it's like to REALLY want to do something for your child's birthday but not to be in the ideal situation. I lived with my in-laws for a few years at first, too, but fortunately they were like a second set of parents - always supportive, which was nice, since I was only 22 and in a new country! I agree with others here that you need to see where you can cut out some steps and there have been some very good suggestions for doing that in this thread. My question is do you really need to freeze them again after decorating them? It seems to me that in Hawaii your biggest problem would be that they might absorb moisture, so maybe the ideal thing would be to put them in airtight containers after the decorations dry. Decorating them with fondant would also help no end, since it doesn't contribute as much moisture as other icings do, and you can cut out the basic shape with the same cookie cutter and just plunk it on top of the cookie with a little piping gel or jelly. Whatever you decide to do, I hope everything turns out just the way you wanted it to!

Glace tastes a million times better! If you put a ton of powdered sugar in it then it will get thick enough to use for outlining.

I wish you much luck and look forward to hearing about your test run. And hey, if it all works well in the end, you get to prove your fil wrong!! No greater pleasure, huh?

I had to do the bake & freeze scenario not too long ago. Same situation - my very first cookies (i normally just do cakes) and an order for 200 for a baptism. I have a small kitchen and little ones, so I work at night. You can safely freeze twice as long as the first freeze is uncooked dough and the second freeze is baked. I only froze once though. This is the method I used and it worked great! I made all my dough, wrapped and refrigerated. Next day, I rolled it all out onto parchment sheets, cut out my shapes and layered them on cookie sheets, between parchment, and back in the fridge. Next day, I baked. One after the other, into the oven (still on the parchment). As they came out, I let them cool and then started flooding in glace (it tastes better than RI) and let dry. Keep in mind, I'm still baking, but there are cookies everywhere! Then I decorated with RI. Once dry, I placed in ziplock freezer bags, with a layer of parchment over top, sucked the air out and sealed, placed in the freezer and left them for a few weeks. I took the frozen cookies out 2 days in advance of the party and let come to room temp (a couple of hours) then bagged and tied. Everyone raved about how fresh they were and I didn't say a word about the month-long process!! A couple of things - whether you use glace or RI, if you are freezing, make sure to add about 8 drops of icing whitener to your batch (per bag of PS) before colouring - this will prevent discoloured spots from forming on your decorated cookies once you thaw them. The second thing is make ABSOLUTELY sure that your cookies are dry before freezing - I lost a couple of bags where the design tranfered onto to the ziplock (hence the reason I would lay a piece of parchment over top of the cookies inside the freezer bag). Also, when you cut your shapes, fill your cookie sheet with the same shape on one sheet - this way, when you're decorating, you will require the same colours over and over and you'll get faster and better as you go. Hope this helps and much luck to you. You will feel so amazing when your IL'S hear all the wonderful compliments you'll be getting on your beautiful cookies!!

Wow, DetailsByDawn, what an undertaking! But it seems your careful planning and execution carried the day. Congratulations!

I LOVE them the way they are! So bright and fun and cheery! They'll be the talk of the party! And I would opt for the wet-on-wet. It'll be quicker, and it looks very nice.

Hurray for you!!! These look great!! I agree with GeminiRJ. Wet-on-wet will be faster. Just make sure that the consistency of your icings is the same to prevent bleeding. Don't go too thin on them. Once done, put them under a fan to get them drying faster as well. You have the humidty factor out there. Also, you might want to do a test on the wet-on-wet. You can just do it on parchment paper if you don't have any cookies. This way you practice it and can see how well it worked for you.

As for being able to do 200, you need to look at how long that took in order to calculate that. Work out the timing by step and then you will know how long it will take. When you are doing all of one kind at a time, it will go faster.

Your cookies really are lovely, sweet56pooh! I'm sure the final batch will be a total success. Way to go!!!