and still have them be "fresh"? My daughter's party is saturday, and I want to do as much ahead as I can. I'm not using RI, but an icing with just milk, flavoring, and powdered sugar. It still dries hard.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Dana

Wow, I am in the same boat and would like to know this as well! I need to make 100 cookies for a wedding on Saturday and I don't know when to start! Anyone out there know?

You could easily start now. I often bake a week in advance, then freeze the cookies until I'm ready to decorate. Sugar cookies are pretty stable, sturdy cookies. They have a very good shelf life.

I usually bake and decorate a week in advance since I have a 'regular' job on weekdays. I don't freeze, just wrap up well in saran wrap and never had any drying out issues.

What about the icing? I usually put fondant on my cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. Will that stay fresh as well? And Dana is using a milk-based icing ~ will that stay fresh a week in advance?

I personally wouldn't hesitate to start right now on those cookies. They will be fine by Saturday. Sugar cookies really have a pretty good shelf life.

Agreed. Since you need the cookies for Saturday, no need to freeze them. Wrap them well and they will be nice and fresh.

I'm still eating sugar cookies with RI that I need over a month ago and they are as good as they were when I first made them. I wrapped them individually in saran wrap and in a ziploc bag stored in the fridge. I eat them at room temp (I find that's the best since I stored them in the fridge). Very yummy and still moist.

Good luck!

Thanks guys! I baked the cookies and froze them on Sunday, so today I will thaw and decorate. I personally think they'd still be fine even left on the counter till Saturday, but I'll probably stick them in the fridge.

As long as they are air-tight, I would leave them on the counter too. I put mine in the fridge due to a cat that will eat ANYTHING left on the counter. He thinks he's human. LOL.

I made my SIL a hibiscus cookie in June just for fun (she is a Hawaiian travel agent) & she finally ate it last week. She said that it tasted fine. I undercook my cookies a little so that they aren't really brown on the bottom & it makes them chewy so they would take a while to get stale I would think but she said it tasted great. I use NFSC & royal icing & wrap mine asap.

I made my SIL a hibiscus cookie in June just for fun (she is a Hawaiian travel agent) & she finally ate it last week. She said that it tasted fine. I undercook my cookies a little so that they aren't really brown on the bottom & it makes them chewy so they would take a while to get stale I would think but she said it tasted great. I use NFSC & royal icing & wrap mine asap.

i made nfsc cookies tonite..and i plan to ice them tomorrow...should i freeze them or can i just leave them on my counter?? thanks!

I wouldn't bother freezing them...they should be fine. Now, if you were talking days and days before icing, I'd say freeze them.

Okay - I'm confused. I've searched on here til I'm blue in the face and just want to make sure I'm understanding correctly!!!

I need 150 decorated sugar cookies for next Saturday. If I bake and decorate this weekend, I don't need to freeze them? I'm decorating with marshmallow rolled buttercream with royal icing accents. I just want to make sure I do the right thing....cookies are not my forte!!! All of that has a long shelf-life just by itself, so I guess that makes sense.

I was going to bag and freeze them and just pull them out the night before - is that okay to do, too?

This is why I don't do too many cookies for other people! Just for us....or small amounts for others! I don't know what to do when I need to make so many!

Thanks,
Alyssa