Homemade Freezer Butter Cookie dough leads to on-demand fresh baked cookies whenever you like in just 10 minutes. These are sweet, but not too sweet. So, they’re great for dessert or to serve with coffee or tea as a weekend breakfast.
Even if you don’t eat sweets very often, these are a great idea for the random craving every few weeks. It’ll save you money, save you time and still be healthier than the store-bought version since you control the ingredients.
They’re also great for making guests feel special because it’ll look like you went through the effort of making them homemade cookies. But little do they know that you actually keep fresh baked cookies on tap. But hey, no harm in making someone feel special! 😀
🍽️ Why This Recipe Works
Ready When You Are – These cookies are the perfect “I need some sweets now!” solution in your house. By keeping a little cookie dough ready in the freezer, you are able to whip up cookies whenever you would like.
Quick and Easy – You can’t beat recipes that are quick and easy to make to save you time to do other things. Who doesn’t love something homemade but would like to skip the hours needed to do it. These take less than 15 minutes to make the batter and put in the freezer.
🧈 Ingredients
Imagine how easy it is to make cookies with just six ingredients! They are mind-blowing delicious too! Let’s talk a little further about a few of the ingredients.
Butter: It’s super important to use butter that is at room temperature. It blends so much easier and produces a lot creamier cookie.
Light Brown Sugar: You’ll get the perfect amount of sweetness in every bite when you use a little light brown sugar. For these cookies brown sugar is a much better fit than white sugar.
Vanilla Extract: Is a good quality pure vanilla extract for best results. If you want to get a little playful you could swap the vanilla for almond extract instead.
🍪 Instructions
Step One: Using the back of a spatula to mix butter until creamy.
Step Two: Mix the butter and sugar together until it is combined well. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
Step Three: In a separate bowl, combine salt and flour together and incorporate into the wet mixture and combine until dough forms. The dough should be “cleaning” the bowl by picking up most pieces that were stuck to the side.
Step Four: Sprinkle a bit of flour lightly on countertop, transfer dough and form it into a rectangular log. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer for thirty minutes. The trick to getting the dough smooth and uniformly shaped is to smooth it once it’s in the plastic wrap.
Tip: If you’re a perfectionist, you can push the sides of the cookie dough log against a flat surface (like a cutting board) for a more uniform shape.
Step Five: Remove the loaf from the freezer and cut it into ¼ inch rectangles. Place those on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least three hours.
Step Six: If you prefer to only use one cookie sheet, you can freeze in layers, separating each layer of cookies with aluminum foil so they do not stick to one another.
Step Seven: Remove from freezer, transfer to freezer bag. Store these for up to three months.
👩🍳 Baking Instructions
When the sweet tooth is screaming, it’s time to pull your cookie dough out of the freezer. Here’s what to do next in under 15 minutes.
Step One: Place frozen cookies on cookie sheet, and preheat oven to 350. The cookies will thaw slightly while the oven preheats.
Step Two: Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, or until the tops are firm to the touch and the bottoms are lightly browned.
❗ Expert Tips
Make sure to store these in freezer grade Ziploc bags so they will stay fresh from any freezer burn. If you don’t have any, double or triple wrap the cookies with Saran or Press N Seal so they have the best change to stay fresh.
Make sure that the butter is at room temperature so it will be creamy. If it is still a little bit cold, it’s difficult to get those little round pebbles of cold butter all blended together.
When making cookies, it’s wise to measure your dry goods the correct way. If you SCOOP the dry measuring cup into the flour container, you have a chance to add 2-3 tbsp of flour to your batter. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it can make your cookies dry. Always SPOON the flour into dry measuring cups and then level off with the back of the knife.
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Freezer Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Mixer
- Sheet Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter room temperature, cubed (1 cup = 2 sticks of butter)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar packed
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 ⅓ cups Flour leveled
- ¼ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Using the back of a spatula, mix the butter until it is creamy. Add sugar and continue mixing. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine salt and flour together and incorporate into the wet mixture and combine until dough forms. The dough should be "cleaning" the bowl by pick up most of the pieces that were stuck to the side.
- Sprinkle a bit of flour lightly on countertop transfer dough and form into rectangular log. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes. The trick to getting the dough smooth and uniformly shaped is to smooth it once it’s in the plastic wrap.
- If you are a perfectionist, you can push the sides of the cookie dough log against a flat surface for a more uniform shape.
- Remove from freezer, cut into ¼ inch rectangles. Place on cookie sheet and freeze for at least 3 hours.
- Remove from freezer, transfer to a freezer bag. Store up to three months.
Baking Butter Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place frozen cookies on cookie sheet. The cookies will defrost slightly while the oven preheats.
- Bake 10-14 minutes or until the tops are first to the touch and the bottoms are slightly brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
Bindi U says
Love to make this ahead of time!!
Marie says
Why not freeze the entire log? It saves space and is easy to slice when you are ready to bake… Would also eliminate freezer burn hazard 🙂
Jazmin Rode says
I’m sure that would work just as well! 😀
Julie@FrugallyBlonde says
These look so good. They look like they would be great dipped in white chocolate.
Jazmin Rode says
Oh that’s a great idea, Julie!
Laurie Fancy says
I used to buy the ready-made cookie dough when the kids did fundraising about a million years ago! It was sooooo easy just to make a 1/2 or full dozen anytime, especially after the little ones went to bed!!! [grin] Might have to do that again… 🙂
Leslie says
These look easy enough. This would also be an easy fix for a craving. Thanks for sharing!
Kara says
Great idea! This will be an easy project with my 5 year old this weekend.
Gina says
This looks so simple and fabulous. I used to freeze cookie dough all of the time – I don’t know why I stopped. Homemade cookies hot from the oven cannot be beat! Thanks for this recipe, I will try it soon.