Always be prepared!

There are lots of reasons that you might need fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in a hurry. Maybe you have a last-minute guest. Maybe you forgot it was someone’s birthday. Maybe it’s Tuesday. See? Lots of reasons.

These cookies will patiently wait in your freezer until they are needed, and then they are ready to serve in just a few minutes. They are actually better baked straight from frozen, so no need to even take time to defrost them.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream together butter (1 cup) and sugar (1 cup)
2. In a bowl, stir together flour (1 1/2 cups), baking soda (1 tsp) and salt (1/2 tsp)
3. Add eggs (2), molasses (2 tsp) and vanilla (1 tsp) to the butter and mix until well combined
4. Add flour mixture and stir just until combined
5. Add oats (1 1/2 cups) and chocolate chips (1 cup) and stir just until combined
6. Form dough into balls (about 2 tbsp each) and place on a cookie sheet
7. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer until the dough is frozen, then transfer dough balls to a sealed container
8. When ready to use, preheat oven to 375 degrees f
9. Arrange frozen dough balls on cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat
10. Bake for 6-8 minutes, just until the edges begin to brown
11. Let cool 2-3 minutes before removing from pan

Notes:

• The longer I wait to use these, the less there seem to be. Not that anyone in my house ever eats raw cookie dough, of course, so this is a complete mystery. If you have the same problem, I find this issue can be reduced by hiding them behind vegetables at the very back of the freezer or by keeping then in an opaque container labelled “broccoli soup, 2009”.