I would appreciate any help with this! I am making appx. 250 cookies for my daughters graduation party. With such a big number I am not sure of a timeline to getting these done. Should I bake all the cookies and freeze a couple of weeks in advance then unthaw and decorate? What about the first ones that I decorate~how long will they last until I get the last one done? I am quite confused on how to go about this project. Thanks in advance for your help!!

I made about 120 cookies for my daughters 10th high school reunion. I made the cookie dough ahead 2 weeks ahead of time and froze it. I thawed it in the refrigerator over night, baked the cookies one day and decorated them the next. The decoration was fairly simple but it still took a full day to get the decorating done. You're doing double the cookies I did so it is probably going to take you at least an additional day. If you are using royal icing you can also make that a day or so ahead, but be sure to keep it covered in an air tight container. Once the royal icing hardens you can store the cookies in an airtight container.

First of all, what type of icing are you going to use? If you use an icing that contains milk, the cookies are not going to last as long as if you use water. I baked and decorated my flower/butterflies and fish cookies one day, let them sit over night so that they would harden enough that I could stack them, and sent them to my mother in law the following day. Since I knew it was going to be a few days before she would get them, I used water in my sugar glaze instead of milk. She ate them a week later and said they tasted great.

Hi,
I have not attempted to make cookies yet, but I have been researching stuff and came across this additional step after you have made your dough and cut out your cookies and baked them, you can add a glaze that will lengthen the freshness time frame. (I haven't tested it, so I cannot confirm if this is a good technique, but just thought I would offer it up) I found it on the HGTV site (somewhere...don't remember)

After your cookies are cut out and baked:
# Glaze the cookie with a mixture of powdered sugar, water and corn syrup. Apply with a brush. Let the first side dry for an hour, then flip and brush the back side. Dry for another hour. This seals the cookie, keeping them fresh for up to two weeks.

# Cookies can be frozen at this point, after the glaze has dried thoroughly. Just slip them into a plastic zippered bag and freeze.

I guess from this point, you would just thaw and decorate.

Just offering up some info I ran across....
Leslie

Thanks for all of your information! It all helps. I hadn't really got to the part yet about icing so the tip of using water instead of milk is excellent! Thanks again! Happy Baking!