I love to bake. When I was a kid, I used to do a marathon baking weekend where I would make dozens and dozens of cookies in one weekend. My parents would pay for the ingredients, and I would bake. Then they could be used as gifts, taken to parties, or just enjoyed by us.

With age, the marathon baking weekend became more and more exhausting, so I started looking for shortcuts. There are many recipes out there that can be made ahead at different stages and then frozen for up to 6 months.

Full disclosure, I made my August Make Ahead Cookies in July. Mostly because watching Christmas movies made me want some 😀

These Gingerbread cookies are my favorite. I prefer soft and chewy Gingerbread and not the crispy Ginger Snaps. If you are like me, I highly recommend this recipe from Our Best Bites. https://ourbestbites.com/gingerbread-cookies/

I also use their Glaze Icing recipe for these and my cutout cookies. https://ourbestbites.com/tutorial-cookie-decorating-with-glace-icing/

My husband and I made and decorated 120 Gingerbread cookies. 100 of them went into the freezer and the other 20 were enjoyed immediately. I decorated these before freezing. Icing will go from glossy looking to matte when frozen but with these guys, I don’t mind the matte look. So, in December all I need to do is remove them from the freezer and put them on the plates!

I hope you take my advice and start your baking. Post what you decide to make and share recipes and pictures! Know that sometimes recipes will have you freeze once the dough is made and some before decorating so be sure to pay attention to this.