Several years ago, when SIL got her KA stand mixer... she was RAVING about it. FORCED me to take it home Thanksgiving Day to try out... with strict orders to return the followiing weekend. My first thought was... I don't bake that often but do like to make a variety of holiday cookies, so what the heck!?! By the time I get to the end of November, "room temp" butter (left on counter for SEVERAL hours) is BARELY getting soft. The KA made easy work of putting together double batches of chocolate chips, peanut butter, oatmeal, and a few other cookie doughs... with no upper body or arm/hand power needed at all. Had at least 5 batches of dough that I just put in zip bags and into freezer for later. Pulled them out a day or 2 before I planned to bake and just scooped onto parchment. That year I gifted SELF a KA! Since then have modified prep methods a bit. Most doughs get rolled into fat logs, wrapped well, then into freezer. That way can be a scoopless, cut/bake cookie.

There is a LOT of science on this subject of chilling cookie dough in the refrigerator. When you leave the dough in one total amount (bowl, plastic bag, etc.) there are a lot of interesting things that happen, and results because of them. -The flavors have a chance meld together. -The flour has a chance to hydrate. -The fat has a chance to solidify. -You will get a darker color because the sugars (which are hygroscopic) have a chance to absorb liquid, leading to more Maillard Reaction (browning) when baked. -There are also changes to the texture of the dough. Chill it too long and it will dry out. The drier the dough, the more concentrated the sugar will be; which can mean the higher percentage of sugar can make that soft texture attribute turn to chewy or crispy. -If you make the dough balls in advance (which is a good choice), rather than chilling the whole recipe of dough in the bowl/bag, you won't require as long in the refrigerator because of the smaller amount of dough. The longer you chill the dough balls, the more you risk the dough drying out - especially in a frost-free refrigerator - which is a naturally dry environment. So shorten the time when you chill the dough in small portions. -Be sure to cover the dough or portioned balls well so they don't absorb any odors from other items in the refrigerator. Be mindful not to store potentially smelly foods in the refrigerator the same day you are chilling your cookie dough. [As an aside, be sure to taste a fleck of any butter you are using in cookies. If you happen to store a strong-flavored food close to where the butter was stored, it can absorb the odor and affect the flavor of the butter. I once judged a "perfect" cookie, until I tasted it. It tasted like onions, which had been stored, cut and uncovered, in the refrigerator next to the butter she used to make the "perfect" cookies.] -Even as little as 30-minutes in the refrigerator can make a difference. You'll get more browning and less spread the longer you chill the dough. As the dough dries out even more, the longer you chill them, you'll get more concentrated flavors. -Chilling also allows the gluten to relax. Too much gluten development in cookies = tough cookies, so the chilling will aid in preventing that. -Due to the presence of raw eggs in dough, refrigerator dough can also become a place for bacteria to grow, especially if you don't have a refrigerator that keeps the temperature colder than 40°F. Refrigeration only slows down bacteria growth, it doesn't prevent it. So it will be important to make sure you don't add large amounts of warm/hot foods to the refrigerator because it will cause the temperature to warm to an unsafe food temperature for a prolonged period of time. It takes a long time for the internal temperature at the core of a large portion of dough to reach a food-safe temperature colder than 40°F, so I would suggest dividing the dough either into smaller portions like cloudy_christine suggested above, or into individual portions. And definitely, don't be sampling the raw dough if you have it refrigerated for several days just because of an increased risk of bacteria growth due to raw eggs and potentially poor temperature control. -Grainlady

shambo, I make nearly any kind of drop cookie ahead, freeze them on trays and then package them up in bags. When I bake them, I just let them thaw on baking trays and pop them in the oven, I find they come out better when thawed than when baked still frozen. I freeze Grandma's Chewy Molasses Cookies, then roll them in sugar when they thaw and bake them, they don't seem to get frozen as hard as some others. Chocolate chip freezes just fine, as do Sherry's Santa's Helpers, I just add the filling when I thaw the dough. Peanut butter works well, as does oatmeal. I've never tried freezing shortbread, but sugar cookies freeze nicely in portions or already rolled and cut out, then frozen on sheet pans and packaged. It's nice to have some cookies ready to pop in the oven, so I've pretty much always got some kind or another in the freezer. Plus, I can bake a dozen at a time and not be left with a couple dozen cookies that get stale before we eat that many. Annie

I agree. The first to go would be the butter and the fat in the nuts going rancid. How long can you keep butter? Being mixed up it probably wouldn't last as long as a block of butter, but if it's airtight it should last at least a week, probably longer. Because you don't know what bacteria might be in it just from mixing and packing, it's important not to sample it raw. Bake it up when you can, and freeze the extra cookies if you can find the space.