The Best Way To Store Cookies To Keep Them Fresh, According to a Bakery Owner

An airtight container is key.

Of all culinary endeavors, cookie baking is hands-down my favorite, and it shows. I am the guest who always shows up with a platter of shortbread and the host who always offers a chocolate chip cookie to accompany your coffee. And while, most of the year, I easily make it through batches of cookies before they go stale (even when it’s just me who’s eating them), once the colder months roll in, I find myself upping my cookie production, and thus having many more leftovers to store.

Looking to leave no cookie behind this holiday season, I consulted with Tiffany Lewis, Chief Cookie Officer and Founder of Cookies with Tiffany, for her cookie-storing tips. 

The Best Way To Store Cookies 

It turns out, the best cookie storage methods vary. “If you intend to enjoy your cookies within the next two to three days,” says Lewis, “you should place room temperature cookies in an airtight container and leave them on the counter.”

However, if you anticipate working your way through the batch for more than three days, “individually or a few at a time, wrap the room-temperature cookies in plastic wrap before placing them in a freezer-proof airtight container,” advises Lewis. They can last in the freezer for up to a month, and when you’re ready to snack on them, just remove the cookies from the freezer and let them sit out at room temperature overnight. Or if you’re like me and love a warm cookie, “heat them in an oven for a few minutes,” Lewis suggests. “Some people even re-warm them in an air fryer!”

Does Cookie Storage Depend on the Cookie?

If you’re wondering whether you need to vary your storage method for different types of cookies, the answer is both yes and no. “All cookies do best in an airtight container away from humidity and moisture,” explains Lewis, “but chewier cookies, like molasses, can sit on the counter for up to a week.” Drier cookies, such as shortbread, have a shorter shelf life. Such cookies should be eaten within a few days.

How Can You Tell When Cookies Are No Longer Good To Eat?

Keep an eye out for visual cues like “chocolate looking pale or discolored, lemon zest looking brown, and any other colors that were not initially there,” says Lewis. You can also judge a cookie's staleness by textural changes. For example, “You know chewy cookies have gone bad when they have lost their chew.” And conversely, if drier cookies have become soft or are extremely crumbly, they have likely turned stale. 

The Ultimate Tip for the Freshest Cookies

Lewis has some great advice for conserving dough while also having fresh-baked cookies at the ready any time you want. “Instead of baking off all your cookie dough and storing baked cookies on the counter or freezer,” she says, “consider scooping all the dough, chilling the scooped cookie dough balls in the fridge for a few hours, or up to overnight, to harden so they don’t stick to one another, and then freeze them. That way, you can bake off one cookie for a late-night cookie hankering or a few dozen for impromptu guests or potlucks, all at a moment’s notice.”

In fact, I have a hankering now. Guess it’s time to make another batch of cookies!