Freezer Chocolate Chip Cookies

I really love homemade cookies, but I don't love the cleanup that comes after... and I REALLY don't love eating the whole batch in 2 days because they are sitting there! So I decided to try freezing the cookie dough, and it works! It was so nice to have fresh baked cookies without all the mess! I got the recipe here (my changes are in red) and then right after I rolled the cookies, instead of baking them, I placed them on a baking sheet (making sure they weren't touching) and stuck them in the freezer for a few hours until they were frozen solid. Then I tossed them all in a gallon ziploc and threw them in the freezer! When I was ready to bake them here's what I did...

With the oven OFF, arrange how ever many cookies you want on the cookie sheet and place in the cold oven. Turn the oven onto 400 degrees and set the timer for 10 minutes. The cookies will thaw while the oven preheats, and then watch them after the 10 min. is up. Mine took about 12-14 min one time, and then the next time they took about 16 min. So just watch them for the last few minutes. Let them cool, and enjoy the yummy cookies and your CLEAN kitchen! :)

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm (I use 6 tbs butter and 6 tbs vegetable shortening so that your cookies dont end up too flat)

1 cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk (I just used 2 eggs)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I didn't add that many)

Directions:

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions.  Preheat oven 325°.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside.  With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined.  Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.  Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball.  Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves.  Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving ample room between each ball.  Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes).  Do not overbake.

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.