Baked-good type desserts that can be frozen or made in single servings

November 3, 2015 12:09 PM

I am not a big fan of sweets, desserts, etc. However, my wife is. I would like to try my hand at baking desserts for her. But, since she doesn't want to eat a whole cake/tray of brownies before it goes bad, I'm searching for recipes that are easy to partition and preserve.

Desserts she has declared her favorites:

--Those frosting-coated sugar cookies you find packaged in grocery store bakeries, which she calls 'squishy cookies' because they are soft and fluffy.

--Mousse-like-but-thicker multi-chocolate cake/pie (can you tell I have no idea what I am talking about?)

--Oh and she is not above eating cream cheese frosting with a spoon on her birthday.


While not a deal-breaker, I would prefer not to divide a recipe small enough for three cookies. So I am looking for things that I can freeze before, as batter/whatever its primordial form, or after cooking/preparing them so they can easily be thawed/cooked/reheated when its treat time.

posted by zyxwvut to Food & Drink (24 answers total)

I'm not a big baker these days, but for cookies, make the batch of dough, divide it into cookie-portion-sized balls, and lay those out in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze overnight. Then store them in a ziploc bag and you can have fresh cookies any time you want them. Much better than freezing the already-baked cookies.
posted by bink at 12:15 PM on November 3, 2015 [9 favorites]

Yep, most cookie doughs freeze very well.
posted by Metroid Baby at 12:17 PM on November 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

cooked brownies freeze really well. Use ziplock bags and squeeze the air out.
posted by TenaciousB at 12:19 PM on November 3, 2015 [3 favorites]

Any really rich cookie dough is great for this because you can make one or a dozen and just keep the rest in the freezer and the workflow is "freezer to oven" (even better if there is a toaster oven handy). Slice and bake cookies are another option and you can make a reasonable facsimile of those fluffy sugar cookies (they are almost a shortbread). So a few suggestions

- single serving dessert pinterests
- this thread on deli sugar cookies (which I think is what your wife is after)

A lot of diet websites do small portion desserts, and a lot of them are pretty tasty even though they are low calorie. Here's one suggestion.
posted by jessamyn at 12:26 PM on November 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

I regularly make a whole batch of cupcakes and freeze them in a Baggie. I keep a can of frosting in the fridge.
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 12:28 PM on November 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

As stated above, cookies are optimal freezer food; I just freeze mine in a log and cut slices off to bake.

Fudge can be frozen whole (well-wrapped) and pieces can be broken off when needed. You can thaw at room temperature or just eat it cold.

I have a theory (unproven) that unbaked cinnamon rolls could be frozen individually in cupcake liners and baked one at a time. Whole trays of cinnamon rolls freeze beautifully, so I think it would work, especially if you love the crispier edges.
posted by specialagentwebb at 12:34 PM on November 3, 2015

I make these Rosemary Butter Cookies all the time (I double the rosemary). I love them as they are, but you could apply the "freeze a log of cookie dough and then slice and bake cookies as needed" method that they use to lots of other cookie varieties.
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:35 PM on November 3, 2015 [3 favorites]

There are basically very few baked goods that don't freeze well, though that mousse pie stands a moderately good chance of being one of them, just because freezing can be hard on those kinds of textures. But most bars, cookies, and cakes freeze quite well. Nanaimo bars, inmho, should only ever be eaten still frozen, as they are infinitely better that way.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:09 PM on November 3, 2015

We freeze just about every dessert because we are on a goofy diet that only allows sweets once a week. A fun one (not baking, though) is rice krispie treats.

But brownies, cakes, pies, muffins, cupcakes, we've frozen it all and it's all been great. And cookies, too (But I haven't frozen the squishy ones).
posted by getawaysticks at 1:14 PM on November 3, 2015

If she's into cupcakes and the like, you can definitely bake fewer than the 24 or so that most recipes yield. You may need to adjust the cooking time, and you'll probably need to halve or quarter the recipe.

This post from popular food blog The Kitchn implies that cake batter can be frozen, so that's also an option if you'd rather not mess with things like measuring out half an egg white.

Also, I gotta say it. If you know so little about sweets that you don't know how to describe kinds of cake, why are you the one worried about how to bake single-serving desserts for your wife? If she has a sweet tooth, let her tell you what she likes and you guys can work together to figure out how to either make things that keep or adapt recipes for smaller yields.

(Also, most commercially made baked goods last a few days, so unless she wants one supermarket bakery cookie per month or something, just buying from the supermarket and keeping them around till they go stale should be absolutely fine to do. I picked up spookily-frosted brownies from the clearance section of my supermarket the day after Halloween, and they still taste perfect on November 3rd.)
posted by Sara C. at 2:07 PM on November 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

The individual Molten Chocolate Cakes from America's Test Kitchen are incredibly decadent, romantic & delicious. You make them ahead of the, store them in fridge or freezer unbaked & later just pop into oven to bake.
posted by apennington at 3:02 PM on November 3, 2015

individual, cooked, cheesecake freezes very well, as do slices from a big cheesecake.
posted by nadawi at 3:23 PM on November 3, 2015

Response by poster: Sara C. I am not worried at all about it. We do not live in the mainland USA at the moment and her favorites are not readily available. I am the (current) chef of the home and am trying to, as always, up my (recently-learned-term): emotional labor in the relationship by researching surprises for my beloved.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.
posted by zyxwvut at 3:23 PM on November 3, 2015 [9 favorites]

The very best way to freeze cookie dough and turn into homemade slice-and-bake is to pack the dough into an empty aluminum can. When you're ready to use the dough, open the other end of the can and use that to push the dough forward. The edge of the can makes a great slicing guide. Yet another great idea I learned from my mother.
posted by DrGail at 3:52 PM on November 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Tiramisu might be a good choice. At its most basic, it's an easy assembly. But, it's also pretty scalable. If you want to go hardcore, you can also make your own ladyfingers. You can use marsala wine or rum or omit the alcohol all together. You can experiment with the amount and kind of coffee and chocolate to suit your wife's taste. Tiramisu can be frozen up to 3 months and taste best served cold.
posted by chrisulonic at 4:41 PM on November 3, 2015

Do you have a microwave? Would you/she consider a type of mug cake? I imagine you could mix together most of the dry ingredients in bulk and get it down to be as simple as scoop, crack (an egg), maybe splash some milk, stir, microwave, eat. Like most microwave things, I imagine they'll be more gooey and steamed-like than crisp and brown, but you can't beat the speed.
posted by spelunkingplato at 4:52 PM on November 3, 2015

rice krispie treats are hypothetically perfect for single serving.

In reality, I find myself suddenly eating half a bag of marshmallows along with a few rice krispie treats. +1 for freezer cookies. The fact that it takes ~11 minutes per cookie makes it less likely I'll sneak back for more.
posted by politikitty at 4:54 PM on November 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Also, if you have marshmallows available (or are willing to make them), and if you have a gas stove...something I do sometimes is toast marshmallows over the flame and then make s'mores. If you can't get graham crackers, other types of cookies do just fine. A marshmallow sandwiched between two cookies and microwaved just a few seconds into squishiness is also pretty great.
posted by spelunkingplato at 4:57 PM on November 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Heather Rose Jones has a fun set of "baking for one" recipes here, if you ever do want to bake in very small portions.
posted by yarntheory at 5:10 PM on November 3, 2015

If this cookbook is available where you are, I highly recommend it - I'm not clear whether you aren't interested in small batch baking at all, or whether you just don't want to do the work of figuring out the recipe alterations yourself. If it's the latter, this book is what you need to have a whole arsenal of delicious desserts to surprise her with.

I think the pie she referenced might be French silk? This recipe claims to freeze well.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 7:07 PM on November 3, 2015

I think the cookies are Lofthouse, at least that's a brand I see. I love them, though with less frosting, and better frosting would be a bonus. Many recipes online, here's one. Cookie dough keeps well in the fridge or freezer, as does icing. You can also find lots of recipes for mug cakes.
posted by theora55 at 12:11 AM on November 4, 2015

Any recipe for muffins or cupcakes or cookies can be trivially shrunk as much as you like so long as you avoid fractional eggs. So if you want (say) ginger cake, try hunting up a ginger muffin recipe instead.

I experiment with microwave cake (I find them excellent for one or two portions) and I've found that for some reason the cooking times in the recipes I find are MUCH too long. I start with half the time it says. Also don't go thinking you need to cook it until it goes brown, it won't!

I have also made a good hot microwave chocolate mousse type thing, by making egg custard with melted chocolate and one egg yolk in the microwave, and then folding in the beaten leftover egg white and microwaving a bit more. This one is a bit fiddly and will take some practice to get the timing right, but the advantage is that even the disasters are pretty tasty. Unless you cook it for too long, then it turns into a kind of chocolate camping mat.
posted by emilyw at 1:47 AM on November 4, 2015

I've just this week been introduced to Quick 'n Easy No-Bake Protein Bars, which don't even require baking and which are designed to be stored in the freezer. Very easy to make, sweet to eat and - as they are kept in the freezer - quite refreshing, too.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 3:49 AM on November 4, 2015

Indian sweet meats aka Burfi is delicious. Sometimes likened to fudge, it's very delicate and bright, not overpoweringly sweet and cloying like fudge can be. I've never had much success making it, but according to this website it's "...really quite easy..." to make.
Lasts a week with out refrigeration and freezes indefinitely.
posted by peterpete at 11:40 PM on November 4, 2015