If you’re not a fan of most freezer meals, can I encourage you to try making cookie dough and freezing it? I can almost guarantee you won’t be able to tell a difference between frozen cookie dough and fresh cookie dough.
It makes it so easy to make a batch of fresh-baked cookies when you have drop-in guests or need to bring a dessert or snack to some event at the last minute. It’s also very handy for those times when you get a late-night craving for chocolate. Oh wait, I may be the only person who has that happen to them. Ahem. 
My sister concocted this recipe many years ago and it’s long been our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It definitely wouldn’t win the prize for being a low-calorie cookie, but it’s a delicious and hearty cookie recipe.
Freezer-Friendly Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- 1 cup shortening or butter (softened)
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (or raw sugar)
- 3/4 cup sugar (or raw sugar)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (you can also use white flour or half whole-wheat/half white)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups oats (rolled or quick oats)
- 1 12-oz. package chocolate chips
Cream together first six ingredients. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and oats. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll into 1-1 1/2-inch balls.
To freeze: Place cookie balls on a cookie sheet and freeze for one to two hours. Remove from cookie sheet and place in an airtight freezer bag.
To bake: Pull out the desired amount of balls and place on a greased cookie sheet for 30-45 minutes to thaw. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until done.
Makes approximately 40 cookies.
Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.
Other posts in the 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer series
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #1 Breakfast Freezer Foods Plan + Shopping List
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Banana Bread (Day 1)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Cinnamon Rolls (Day 2)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Waffles (Day 3)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Baked Oatmeal (Day 4)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #2 Freezer-Friendly Lunch Recipes + Shopping List
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Homemade Baking Mix (Day 5)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches (Day 6)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Brown Bag Burritos (Day 7)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Homemade Pizza Pockets (Day 8)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Ham & Cheese Pockets (Day 9)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #3 Freezer-Friendly Dinners + Shopping List
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Southwest Roll-ups (Day 10)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Barbecued Meatballs (Day 11)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Lasagna Casserole (Day 12)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Freezer-Friendly Pizza Dough (Day 13)
- Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Week #4 Freezer-Friendly Snacks & Desserts + Shopping List
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Italian Chicken (Day 15)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Day 16)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Easy Morning Glory Muffins (Day 17)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Homemade Energy Bites (Day 18)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (Day 19)
- 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Freezer-Friendly Chocolate Banana Bread (Day 20)
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{ 75 comments... read them below or add one }
I keep a bucket of dough in the fridge/freezer. In fact, right now, we are at the beach and grabbed some for the road, so that we could make them once we got here. Problem? That frozen dough is SO SO SO good. It’s not quite making it to the oven.
But hopefully, people will think of doing the frozen dough as gifts too. That ‘s become one of my “go to” gifts for so many occasions. 
_
I never thought of giving frozen cookie dough as a gift….great idea!!
Yes, here is how I packaged it up.
http://beautyandbedlam.com/can-i-freeze-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough/
Thank you!
It makes an excellent gift! A few years ago, I was given a bucket of frozen cookie dough balls (5 different kinds) in lieu of “Christmas cookies”. It’s such a fabulous idea! Instead of being inundated with cookies at a time when we’re already floating in sugar, you can save them in the freezer and bake them up in small batches later.
I do prefer to bake them in small batches, because no matter how many I bake, they will all be eaten within 2 days. So with frozen dough I can bake exactly as many as we need (OK, maybe with a few extra.)
I absolutely LOVE the idea of giving frozen cookie dough! Would never have thought of it but it’s the best combo of giving baked cookies and giving cookie mixes that still require some work on the recipients part. Thanks for the great idea.
These are yummy! I baked half and froze half. I may be making up another batch of these tomorrow to freeze so I have more. Thanks for the recipe and the opportunity to link up and share.
Great job on your pictures! I can tell your learning a lot!
Would this work with any chocolate chip cookie recipe or is yours specially designed for freezing?
Just about any cookie dough freezes well.
I made these a couple of weeks ago and they were delish!
Is there something that makes this receipe “freezer friendly”? I have a favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie recipe that I use. Never thought of freezing them like that, though. Think I will start because the recipe makes a lot!
I freeze all my cookie doughs because if bake it all, it will all be eaten. I’ve not met a dough that doesn’t work in the freezer.
I eat my frozen choc chip cookie dough at least as quickly as I eat the baked cookies.
Thanks! You guys are funny. I LOVE cold cookie dough!!
I love to make Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and freeze the dough. It is my go to dessert in a pinch.
Healthy Tip: My family still can’t do all whole wheat. (though we are getting close.) So,I make a flour blend that I use in most of my baking. It is a version from Sneaky Chef. 1 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup wheat germ, 2 Tablespoons flax seed. Mix together then use as flour in recipes. It works best in recipes that have nuts, chocolate chips or other items that are chewy (oatmeal in this case). For my bread recipes I will use bread flour in place of white flour.
I freeze mine in logs wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil, so I can pull them out, slice and bake them. So tasty. I’m definitely going to need to try this recipe. They sound very filling, and my boys with hollow legs need some filling!
The reason I like my recipe so much is that it calls for 5 cups of oatmeal. 2 1/2 cups of it you grind up in the food processor.
Does it have flour in it at all? If not, I would love the recipe.
Actually, it does have flour. I use whole wheat, but it sounds like you’re looking for gluten free?
yeah, sort of. We don’t require gf recipes (I have a choc. chip recipe that I love). But we do have some friends/family members who need gf. I like to find recipes that I think taste good for when we see those people!
I have a very strange child and husband who do not like chocolate chips!
Do you have a favorite freezeable cookie dough recipe that does not have chocolate? Or can just any cookie dough freeze?
You can always substitute raisins for choc chips
.
If they like other types of chips, like pb or white chocolate, cinnamon, I would just substitute those. Pretty much any cookie dough you can freeze.
Can I use coconut oil instead of butter?
I would love to know how that would taste! Coconut oil is my new favorite ingredient!!
Crystal, I assuse you that you are not the only one with those late night chocolate cravings (in my case they’re all-day long chocolate cravings). I used to make a ton of chocolate cookies, brownies, etc. and freeze them thinking (wishful thinking) that the cookies being frozen or uncooked would make me eat fewer. Alas, that is not so. I once (or more than once) made a batch of cookies and froze them only to sneak them out of the freezer and eat them frozen! In any case, your cookies look delicious, I think I’ll make them for a weekend party so that I eat only a reasonable number of them
PEANUT ALLERGY…what can I use to substitute for the PB? thx
We use Sun Butter in place of the peanut butter.
Almond butter would work as well
I agree with the Sun butter. We loved sun butter when we were dealing with a peanut allergy. Soy had a strange aftertaste and we had to avoid all tree nuts too. So that meant no cashew butter, almond, etc.
Yes, I cannot use anything w/almonds, etc. Where do you get Sun butter? What is Sun Butter?
thx
Sun butter is made from sunflower seeds. I actually really liked the taste of it and I am a huge peanut butter lover. It is located near the peanut butter in our grocery stores. Sometimes they put it in the natural/organic isle. I usually found it at our larger stores or our stores that had a better selection of “health foods”. Have you ever visited peanutfreeplanet.com? They have lots of great things on there. We are SO lucky that we don’t have to deal with the peanut allergy anymore. It was so hard.
Sounded great until I read peanut butter in the recipe. Is there something that can be used in place of that. We have peanut/tree nut allergies in our house.
You can use sun or almond butter instead and you could probably just omit the peanut butter if you wanted to!
most people with peanut allergies cannot eat almond butter either! It is such a hard allergy to deal with!
I am still on the pizza pockets -ackkk! and i put my name in where the recipe post is supposed to go. geez! can you change that for me? I make my own pizza sauce and included that in the post too! i love to have cookie dough in the freezer although my family likes to sneak in and grab balls and eat them raw!
How do you change the recipe to make it just chocolate chip? No oatmeal or peanut butter?
This recipe is my husband’s favorite CC cookies:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-chocolate-chip-cookies/detail.aspx
I’ve never tried freezing these…but I’m sure it would work just fine!
I love the idea of freezing them in balls – I had never thought of that. I usually do a log and slice off discs. Although – the balls would be a lot easier to snatch for a midnight snack!
Mmmm cookie dough… I could try this — Thanks to gestational diabetes, I could make sure the doughballs actually make it into the oven (instead of being eaten as snacks!!!)
I love this recipe! maybe a bit too much. So I only make it when I know I will be having guests over to help me eat it or I need to take cookies to share somewhere. Your family has the best recipes!
I made your sister’s recipe a couple of days ago and these are the BEST chocolate chip (oatmeal) cookies I’ve ever made or tasted! The next batch will go in the freezer. Thanks for sharing this with us, Crystal!
Try making these with your Kitchenaid–you’ll have them mixed up in no time! Great recipe!
Just curious why you freeze them as dough. I have always baked them first and frozen them, so they are ready to pull out and eat whenever and they still taste very good that way. But maybe keeping them as dough would help with them disappearing out of the freezer so fast??
I like them frozen, but I think they are best fresh from the oven!
My kids help to make these today. We had to bake up a few to try them out. They are really good. I will be making these again.
Can you substitute sunbutter for peanut butter or just leave this out? And can you omit the oats (my husband prefers chocolate chip cookies without them).
I used sun butter in mine without any problem. I am not sure about the oatmeal. If you did I think you would need to add more flour.
You could try this CC cookie recipe too:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-chocolate-chip-cookies/detail.aspx
I’ve never frozen those, but I’m sure it would work fine.
We do this too and then just pop a couple in the toaster oven as soon as the kids go to bed….shhh don’t tell on the daddy and I!
I jumped ahead and made 3 of the remaining freezer cooking assignments. I made the cookie dough last night along with the muffin recipes and energy balls. We are going out of town for Memorial Day weekend and I wanted to get ahead. I divided the cookie dough into 4 baggies to be cooked over the next month (or when we want them!). We did bake a few of them and they are delicious! This recipe was so easy and I had all the ingredients in my pantry so I don’t have to shop until next week when I finish the last 2 freezer cooking assignments!
I love having cookie dough balls in the freezer! It is so hard to beat a fresh baked cookie!
I’m obsessed with these. However I can’t make them look “puffy” like they do in the picture-mine are always flat. They still taste good though! Do you use shortening or butter?
I use butter and all whole wheat flour. Do you put the balls on a cookie sheet and bake them like that or do you flatten them some?
I use a cookie scoop and place them on a stone to bake. I pull them out and they are always flat. I’m using butter and white whole wheat flour…maybe that’s the problem? Will keep experimenting because at least they’re turning out yummy. Thanks for responding.
I live at a high attitude and I have to add up to 1/2 cup of flour extra to my cookie recipes. That might help.
I live at high altitude too and was wondering how to fix this. I’ll try adding more flour next time. Thanks for the tip!
You may also want to make sure your butter isn’t too soft (like almost melty) because that could flatten your cookies and I bake mine just slightly underdone so they stay chewy.
Great job on your pictures, proud of you!
I make dough without egg so I don’t feel bad eating it (I’m pregnant) and the funny thing is I don’t make them with any intention of baking them! We LOVE to eat it from the freezer:)
Would it make a big difference with no eggs if you baked them? I don’t have any eggs and can’t get to a store till next week and really want some of these cookies =]
They bake fine! I have made a couple from the batch before and they were just fine:)
Yay!! Thank you so much! I feel bad making cookie dough with eggs and eating it when I won’t give it to my two year old so this way she can try some too! =] She helps me bake all the time I hate not rewarding her with it! Plus that saves me eggs when I get them!
I made some dough and froze it a month ago and couldn’t figure out why when I baked the cookies they were crazy flat (it was choc chip and oatmeal raisin)-I didn’t let them thaw first! I guess I was thinking that they sell frozen dough that you put right in the oven that it would work, but it didn’t. What was I thinking?? I am sure next time thawing will fix my problem.
Thanks!
I bake cookies straight from the freezer without thawing all the time. I have had some turn out flat but I think it just depends on the recipe.
Such a great idea. Unfortunately, I’ve tried this with my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (the one on the back of the Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chip bag), and discovered that I like the frozen dough even better than the room temperature dough, which I’ve always liked better than the cookies anyway. Needless to say, not many dough balls actually made it into the oven. So, since my hubby likes pre-baked frozen cookies, that’s what I’ve gone back to. Much safer for my figure.
So weird just finished making an oatmeal chocolate chip lactation cookie! It makes a lot so I freeze it in the balls too. Just strange that as soon as I finished I saw this posted on facebook! I needed the chocolate fix!
I made these this morning -delicious! Made the Chocolate Chip Banana Bread yesterday -maybe I’ll try the Brown Bag Burritos today thanks for all the recipes and ideas!
My son just asked me yesterday when we were going to make some more cookie dough balls. Last year I froze choc. chip cookie balls and we took them camping with us. We couldn’t wait to get back to the camper after a long hot day and eat a frozen cookie dough ball…or two or three. It was the perfect snack… chocolate and cold. Only problem is that we ate way too many!
Crystal! I made a quick batch of your freezer waffles last night, and I am so impressed!! Not only did I think they were good, my husband couldn’t stop raving about them and kept asking me what was in them because he liked them so much and thought they even tasted sweet. He was floored when I told him only 2 Tbsp. of brown sugar were in them! No more Eggo waffles for us! Thanks a bunch!!
I love your mixer!!!!
Yummy.
I freeze my cookie balls in Tupperware, because it seems like they get a strange taste when I freeze them in Ziploc bags. That’s strange, because I use Ziploc bags for vegetables, meat, etc. & don’t n0tice any strange flavors. Freezing the dough balls is so handy when someone drops by unexpected, & we want a quick treat.
Is there a calorie free chocolate chip cookie? LOL!
I really like the Jessica Seinfield Deceptively Delicious Chickpea Chocolate Chip cookie recipe. In addition to chickpeas, it calls for two egg whites instead of eggs. I imagine you could swap the egg whites for one egg, but I haven’t tried it. I am not confident these changes reduce the calories and fat. Especially since I use real butter in place of the transfat free butter spread the recipe calls for. I don’t buy that stuff.
I was pleasantly surprised with the chickpea cookies. I keep them in the refrigerator because I heard they don’t keep well the next day unless they are refrigerated. I don’t know if this recipe freezes well.
This recipe looks good too, and since it has been freezer-approved by Crystal I might try this when I want to freeze cookie dough.
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