Pick-and-Place Cookies

I love baking, and I especially love cookies.  What I don't love is making a batch of several dozen cookies and having them all stare at me saying "eat me" in that singsong-y voice that cookies have.  I also don't love when I really am in the mood for only one gooey, freshly baked cookie and have neither the time nor the ingredients to make an entire batch.  And then there's that singing cookie thing again...

Is there a solution to this dilemma?  Well, yes, there is, and it comes from the inspiration of ready-made food producers.  There is both refrigerated and frozen cookie dough, which keeps the dough for a longer period of time.  There is also this fantastic notion of refrigerated cookie dough that is already portioned out into individual cookie amounts.  All you have to do is "pick" up the individual dough portion, "place" it on the cookie sheet, and bake.

Well, I went to work figuring out the easiest way to replicate this idea at home, and I came up with an easy, hassle-free solution.  I'll give you a hint: it involves ice cube trays and the freezer.  The result?  Beautiful, freshly baked, ooey gooey cookies made from scratch in the quantity I wanted to eat, and in about 15 minutes after getting home from work.  The best part is that this technique can be used with your favorite cookie recipe!

Pick-and-Place Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Idle Time: Undefined
Cooking Time: 9-11 minutes

Yield: Varies

The above parameters may vary depending upon the cookie recipe you use.

Ingredients:

- One batch of your favorite cookie dough (I like the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag).

Tools:

- Ice cube trays
- Baking sheet

- Cookie Scoop (optional)

- Plastic Wrap/Plastic Freezer Bag

Directions: 

1)  Follow the instructions for your favorite cookie dough recipe.  This includes preheating the oven.

2)  Decide how many ice cube trays of cookies you would like to save for later.  Remember, that each ice cube "pocket" will make one cookie.  Make sure that the trays are washed and dried properly.  

3) Using either a cookie scoop or spoon, fill each of the ice cube pockets in the trays with the right amount of dough for an individual cookie.  Don't worry too much about over-filling, as the freezer will harden the dough, preventing blocks of cookies from sticking together.

4)  Take the trays that are now filled with cookie dough and either cover them with plastic wrap or place them in a sealed freezer bag.  this will help keep the cookies clean and free from rogue flavors that might be floating around your freezer.

5)  Put the trays into the freezer.  Make sure that they stay level, otherwise, the dough will run together before it has a chance to harden.  If the portions of dough are not level with the top of the pockets, do not stack multiple trays, as this will mess up the cookie portions in the bottom tray(s).  

6)  Bake the rest of the cookie dough into cookies to enjoy now (mine took 9 minutes per batch).

7)  Wait until the next time you get a craving for a cookie.

8)  Preheat your oven to the required temperature.  

9)  Remove a tray of cookie dough from the freezer.  The cookie dough does not completely harden like an ice cube, but stays slightly sticky to the touch.  Therefore, take a spoon and "scoop" out an individual cookie portion, placing it on a baking sheet.  Repeat for the number of cookies you wish to bake.

10)  Bake the cookies the required amount of time.  Remember that you may need to add a couple of minutes to the baking time that was required for the freshly made cookie dough.  This dough is coming from the freezer, so it will need a little more time.  Just keep an eye on them and adjust the cooking time according to your dough and oven.  My fresh batch of cookies took 9 minutes per batch, and my Pick-and-Place Cookies required 11 minutes per batch, as an example.  

11)  Enjoy!