cookie dough in fridge... how long is ok?

11 years ago

Ideally, would make dough for holiday cookies about now and just put in freezer... to bake off at my leisure. Space for even one big batch of chocolate chips... NOT in my freezer!?!

What would you consider a reasonable amount of time to have cookie dough, well wrapped... in fridge?

Would being in a vac sealed bag increase that time?

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Comments (3)

Chi
11 years ago
Based on my own personal experience, I wouldn't keep it for more than a few days. Mine dried out after a week or so and the baked cookies were no good, but maybe some recipes are better than others.
grainlady_ks
11 years ago
Two to three days. As chi83 points out, it will begin to dry out. Store the dough in a close-fitting plastic bag, plastic wrap, or foil -- with as much air removed as possible to help preventing the dough from drying out.

You also have to take into account raw eggs in the dough (if the recipe contains raw, unpasteurized, eggs). For that reason I would NOT vacuum-seal the dough because if any bacteria is present, it can continue to grow into a toxin under the right conditions in the oxygen-free environment of a vacuum-sealed bag/jar/canister, even at refrigerator temperatures.

Vacuum-sealing will NOT lengthen the storage time if there is raw egg in it. Bacteria (potentially from raw eggs) just grows slower in the refrigerator than at temperatures in the "Danger Zone" 40-140-degrees F. And since most people don't know what their refrigerator temperatures are, they can already be in the danger zone.

-Grainlady
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I did this growing up - however Salmonella was tightly controlled by the government there so no products were ever contaminated with it. Then when I was a very healthy 22 year old I got Salmonella here in the US and spent a week in the hospital. I think some of it was due to them not figuring out what I was sick with for the first few days and then when it finally was figured out and I got the right antibiotic I recovered quickly, albeit lost a lot of weight and strength I didn't need to loose. Since then I'm very cautious about anything that could have Salmonella. I do have to say I miss eating the batter although it wasn't eggs that got me sick. I had had chicken from a restaurant, not fully cooked bacon (just warmed), and turkey with dressing (right after christmas) so there were lots of sources. It took me about 15 years to start eating chicken again, unless I cooked it and overcooked it and I only like crispy bacon now. Turkey is still on the not wanting it very much, but I will eat it now. Maybe my stomach is now more accustomed to the bacteria and I won't be as sensitive, but I'm still scared by that whole experience.
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Several years ago I knew I was going to need many plates of cookies to take to various functions. I made 5 or 6 different kinds of Refrigerator Cookies. Whenever we had an event to go to I would cut off a few cookies from each roll and baked them up fresh. Finally, around Christmas I baked the last ends of the dough for our house use and they were as good as the first. I kept them wrapped in waxed paper and then again in aluminum foil.

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cookie dough in fridge... how long is ok?

Comments (3)

Chi

grainlady_ks

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CA Kate z9

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