I love to bake on Sundays, it makes me feel like I am
somehow ready for my week. I picture
nourishing boxed lunches packed with homemade goodies, like muffins, cookies,
and granola. The problem is, my family
is getting smaller and my needs are less and less. Anna has married, and moved down the road, so
it is just Olivia and I. A whole batch
of muffins and or cookies is almost too much for our little family, by the end
of the week things are a little stale, and wind up as chicken food.
I have taken to freezing dough, to bake throughout the week in
small batches. The benefit of freezing
the dough instead of the baked good, is that they hot and fresh, not dry and
sticky. I’ll be honest, I just don’t like the taste of frozen baked goods. They are easily baked in the morning and packed
for coffee break or recess and you will not be tempted to stop along the way to
pick up a sugar laden muffin or sweet from a local coffee shop. These
little treasures are great to have on hand when company arrives for a cup of
coffee or tea, or you want to invite the girls over for an impromptu stitch and
bitch. (I believe cookies go great with
wine.) It is so nice to have several different variations ready to bake.
Muffins are easy. Mix
up your favorite muffin recipe, or even better, 2 or 3 different ones. Line your muffin tray with paper liners. Fill the cups to ¾ full, and quickly pop in
the freezer until they are solid , this will take about 2 hours. Transfer to a freezer-safe container or a
plastic freezer bag, push out all the air so they don’t accumulate frost. Don’t
forget to label and date. Muffins will
store frozen up to about 3 months.
Cookies are just as easy.
Mix up a couple different kinds of cookie dough. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper and
drop cookies onto the paper. You can
really pack them on, since you are not baking them, you don’t have to worry
about spread. When your trays are full, pop into the freezer and allow to
freeze. Save in a freezer-safe container
or a plastic freezer bag, appropriately labelled and dated. Squeeze all of the air
out of the bag. Cookies will store about
3 months.
To bake, simply place frozen dough back onto a lined cookie
tray or muffin tin and bake from a frozen state. They may take just a little
longer than the recipe calls for because they are starting from a frozen
state. I like to top my muffins with a little
granola, cinnamon sugar, jam or even seeds or nuts to make them look more
appealing and add interesting textures and tastes.
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