For almost every batch of cookies I make, I save and dry out a few to keep as demonstration pieces for the occasions I teach decorating. You may want to hold on to a few cookies you’ve made as mementos, or you may have received some you’d like to retain to remember a special event by. Either way, there are a few things you can do to help ensure the cookies are properly stored. Trial and error over the years have helped me figure out what works best, so I hope you find my top 7 suggestions helpful.
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Top 7 Tips for Storing Decorated Cookies as Mementos
An important point to note before I begin, these tips are for cookies you do NOT intend to ever eat.
1. Dry the cookie or cookies out
Keep your cookies out at room temperature, in a room with a dehumidifier on, for at least one week. Alternately, place your air-dried cookies in a dehydrator at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour to five hours. It will depend on the size of your cookies, the thickness of your icing etc., so a little experimenting with this may be necessary. If they get extremely dried out, the royal icing can separate from the cookie and slide right off, so no need to keep the cookie in the dehydrator too long. A good rule of thumb is to dry the cookie out until it becomes hard.
2. Store your cookies in an air-tight container
Keep the cookies stored in a box, or preferably, an air tight container such as Tupperware, layered between pieces of parchment paper. Layering with bubble wrap is an option as well, especially if you’re travelling with the cookies. Just make sure the bubble wrap does not touch the cookies. Parchment paper should always be the surface the cookies touch.
3. Place a small packet of dessicant into the box the cookies are being stored in
Place a dessicant
pack in the box they’re being stored in. I use dessicant packs from new shoe boxes as the cookies will never be eaten.
4. Store your packed cookies in a cool, dry place
Store your packed cookies in a cool, dry place. Preferably a place where they won’t be moved often.
5. Spray with shellac or hairspray
An optional idea – Lightly spray your cookies with clear lacquer or shellac you can find at Michael’s Craft Store or with hairspray. I should note that I do not do this as I find simply drying them out (Points 1 – 4) works fine for me. If you live in a warm climate and are planning to display cookies for any reason though (such as cookies used as Christmas ornaments), make sure you follow this step. “Untreated” cookies will attract ants or other little critters.
6. Vacuum seal and freeze
Another option; vacuum seal your cookies and freeze them. This is another method I don’t use, as I find cookies kept in a freezer can be affected by the moisture and bleed etc. This is perhaps a good option if you’d like to keep your cookie to eat in the future. You can find more info. on freezing cookies in this post here.
7. Label your cookies as inedible
This one may not be a practical tip in terms of how to store your cookies, but certainly makes a difference if you have curious people in your household or business who may decide to take a bite of a very old and perhaps toxic cookie (if you’ve used hairspray etc.).
With all these guidelines, I cannot guarantee humidity won’t seep in, causing the icing colors to bleed, especially if you’ve used a lot of food gel coloring in your darker colors such as red or black, but these tips should help! (See this post on avoiding bleeding and this one on avoiding spots on icing). Here are a few examples of cookies I made a few years ago which I keep as display boxes when I teach cookie decorating (I need to dust the display boxes – just noticed that!), and they’re still fine.
You can see the original post for the Paris cookies (January 2012), here, and for the nutcracker (November 2010), here. (Sorry about the phone pic quality!).
These are just a few of my favorite tips which would have helped alleviate some frustration had I known them when I first began storing cookies. If you have any tips which you’d like to share you’re welcome to leave a comment below.
Happy cookie decorating!
xo,
Marian
So helpful! Thanks for sharing ^^
I’ve had customers that have saved a cookie from their order and framed them. These are great tips for preserving keepsake cookies!
I’m not surprised, Paula, your cookies are beautiful. What a great idea btw… framing the cookies!
Great post, I am very curious about the dehydrator cause I live in a very humity country…:)
A dehumidifier is excellent too. Do you have one Maria?
Ohh I love these tips girls! This is really helpful for all the cookie decorators out there! 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing your favorite ways to store cookies – you’re a genius. <3
Much love and happy Wednesday to my girl abroad!
xoxo, niner
Great post! Very helpful! Thank you for all the tips. Have a nice day!
ML
Thanks Marion, I appreciate the time you put in to make us all look good!
I usually never have left-over cookies or think to set a few aside for keepsake, but it’s good to have this info in case I do in the future. Thanks, Marian!
Marian, these are great tips! thanks for sharing!
I am needing to know how to store cookies which you do plan on eating? When I have large cookie orders, say 200 cookies, due Saturday, 2 weeks from now, when do you recommend I begin baking and decorating them. I know this is dependent on how fast I decorate, the details, etc. but in general. I started baking them the weekend before. I stored them flat in an airtight container in the refrigerator until I was ready to ice them. I would love to know your process for holding cookies such as in this instance. I read your blog daily and I have learned a great deal from you. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. This is the first time I have ever written to any blog.
Jane Campbell
Hi Jane,
Thank you for visiting my blog!
I have a few posts which may be helpful for you:
How far ahead can I make my decorated cookies: https://sweetopia.net/2012/02/how-long-do-decorated-cookies-stay-fresh-what-is-the-shelf-life-of-decorated-cookies/
Cookie Making Schedule:
https://sweetopia.net/2011/11/cookie-making-schedule-free-printables-ballet-tutu-cookies/
Freezing Decorated Cookies:
https://sweetopia.net/2011/03/freezing-decorated-cookies/
I would store them in large containers (plastic tupperware), like you mentioned, layered between sheets of parchment paper. I don’t put them in the fridge if I’m decorating them the week before. The fridge can add moisture to the cookies, making them soft before decorating, and causing icing colors to bleed more often. If you did have them in the fridge for a while, I would let them sit out at room temperature for at least a few hours before decorating.
I hope that helps!
xo
Can an oven be used to dry the cookies if I don’t have a dehydrator?
Thanks so much for the comments everyone!
Would this process work for non-decorated cookies? I sell cookies at farmers markets in the summer and they melt in the sun. I was thinking about making some just for display and keeping the real products out of the sun. My cookies have a lot of chocolate in them.
Hi Sara,
That sounds like a good idea… keeping a few out as display (Maybe somehow also in the shade and sheltered).
I did everything you suggested to prepare the cookies.At the suggestion from Michael’s,I sprayed the items with clear Acrylic Matte Coating. That was 2 months ago. They are still tacky. Could you please give me any suggestions to salvage my my project. I’m not to handy with the computer and would be happy to use a land line to discuss my problem.(423-753-5892) THANKS!
I’m having a problem getting the clear acrylic matte coating to dry I applied to some Xmas sugar cookies.(3 months) I basically followed your recommend procedure and those from Michael’s. Any help to salvage the project would be helpful……Thanks!
Hi Gordon,
Hmm, is it humid where you are? Try putting a dehumidifier on in a room, shut the door and windows, and keep the cookies in there for until they dry. Hope that helps!
If I choose to spray my cookies with clear lacquer or shellac do I still have to dry them out as suggested in step one ?
lol uneaten cookies…. !!!
Hi there!! I have been trying to preserve these woodland animal cookies from my grandson’s baby shower thinking it would be a clever way to save them as keepsakes. I am trying to use them for a crafty display in sort of a mountain shaped shadowbox frame that looks like a forrest inside. I have had terrible luck with preserving the cookies for the project. I don’t have many to work with as I have failed on many through trial and error. I only came upon your recommendations now. I had tried other recommendations on the internet. I was wondering if there are any hard, dried out woodland animal cookies that you would have that you would so graciously sell to me? Thank you so Very much!
Thank you for the tips. I am making cookies as keepsakes from my Grandson to the rest of his family. As these will be used for years to come I am grateful for the shellac idea. I live in South Texas and it is very humid. So I plan to shellac and then resin over them. I wasn’t sure what to seal them with (as resin takes along time to cure) so they don’t bleed badly. Then I will resin and see how they do. Thank you so much for the tips.
All the best Leigh and please let me know how it goes!
Hi there, I have cookies with fondant icing I’m trying to preserve. I used shellac and it turned the white fondant yellowish. Help~! These are sugar cookies with very detailed drawings… I want to make then into ornaments. Will they preserve OK if I keep them in a box with the silicone packets? I’ve already ruined 3 cookies in the group.. I’m afraid to “try” anything else for fear the last few will be ruined too. thoughts??
What if a customer wants to put a cookie in a shadow box……would the above processes still work?
Hey Marian, I am looking to make a sugar cookie as a displayed gift, glued to a metal sculpture. Do you dry out the cookie before you spray with shellac? I want to find out how to keep the colors from running, say 20 years from now, as well as keep all critters away from finding it. Any notes, maybe on adding some sort of preservative to the cookie itself and frosting? Thank you for your time and expertise.
Hello, my name is Jim, my wife’s name is Bavilyn, I have two cookies I desperately want to preserve as Christmas tree ornaments. If they get destroyed in the process, it would hurt. Our Daughter and granddaughter was killed in a 105 mph road rage. Husband/Daddy (with family) against lone driver. Is it possible to accomplish?
Hello Jim and Bavilyn,
I am so sorry for your loss. xo
In case a shellac brand you have doesn’t work, I would stay away from preserving them that way.
Leave the cookies out at room temperature in a very dry environment (put dehumidifier on in that room if you live in a humid climate). Place them high up out of reach of ants etc., but do not enclose them in a container. They need to dry out. The sugar in the cookie will preserve them, however, over time they will smell a bit rancid because of the butter.
Place each cookie in its own cellophane bag once dried out and seal the bag tightly with a ribbon or heat sealer.
Hope that helps.
xo,
Marian
Can I preserve gingerbread cookies with royal icing? They take me hours to make to do it all over again the next Christmas. Is there a way to prevent the icing from falling off? Does it have anything to do with the water content in the royal icing?