How Far Ahead Can You Bake Christmas Cookies?
How far ahead to bake Christmas cookies, how long each kind keeps, what to freeze, and a week by week baking plan from mid November to Christmas.
By the Matlaro teamPublished 7 min read
Crisp, dry Christmas cookies such as biscotti, meringues and Lebkuchen can be baked five to seven days ahead and kept in an airtight tin, according to King Arthur Baking. For anything earlier, freeze: home baked cookies keep their best quality for 8 to 12 months in the freezer and unbaked dough for 3 months, according to the University of Illinois Extension. So you can start in mid November, as long as the freezer does the waiting.
Below is a keeping table by type of cookie, a week by week plan to Christmas, and how to make a bigger batch for gifts without the maths.
How long Christmas cookies keep
| Cookie type | Bake ahead | How to keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Crisp and dry: biscotti, meringues, brittle, Lebkuchen | 5 to 7 days or more | Airtight tin at room temperature |
| Butter cookies, cut-outs, shortbread | Freeze the dough or the baked cookies | Dough rolled flat between baking paper, then frozen |
| Drop cookies | Freeze the dough as balls | Freeze on a tray first, then bag |
| Slice and bake | Freeze the log | Thaw, slice and bake |
| Filled or sandwiched cookies | Bake the parts ahead, assemble a day or two before | Keep the filling apart until then |
| Iced cookies | Bake ahead or freeze plain, ice close to the day | Ice once fully thawed |
The baking advice in this table follows the King Arthur holiday cookie timeline; the freezer times are from the University of Illinois Extension. King Arthur also suggests thawing frozen baked cookies in the fridge overnight, so the change in temperature does not spoil their texture.
A week by week plan
Christmas is on a Friday in 2026 and the first Sunday of Advent is 29 November, so here is the countdown from mid November.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Mid November (6 weeks before) | Mix and freeze doughs: butter cookie dough rolled flat between baking paper, drop cookie dough in balls, slice and bake logs |
| Weekend before Advent (21 to 22 Nov) | Bake the first batch of plain butter cookies for Advent and freeze half |
| Early December | Bake from the freezer as you need, one tray at a time |
| About 10 days before (around 15 Dec) | Bake the cookies for gifts that freeze well, freeze them in their boxes |
| One week before (around 18 Dec) | Bake the crisp ones: biscotti, meringues, Lebkuchen. Into airtight tins |
| 2 to 3 days before | Bake the parts of filled cookies, then assemble the next day. Ice the iced ones |
| The night before giving | Move frozen gift boxes to the fridge to thaw |
Before your first baking weekend
- Enough butter, flour and sugar for every recipe added up, not just the first one
- Baking paper and freezer bags
- Airtight tins, one per kind of cookie
- A free shelf in the freezer
- Labels with the cookie's name and the date it went in
Baking a bigger batch for gifts
Gift baking means doubling or tripling recipes that were written for one tray. Scale by the number of cookies, and convert the recipe to grams first if it uses cups; American cookie recipes often do, and our cups to grams table has the common ingredients.
Anzac biscuits
- 20 min
- Makes 20
- Australian
- 3 steps
Ingredients
Porridge oats85 g
Desiccated Coconut85 g
Plain Flour100 g
Caster Sugar100 g
Butter100 g
Golden Syrup1 tbsp
+ 1 more
Cook it step by step in Matlaro
Recipe data and imagery: TheMealDBOriginal recipe
The Anzac biscuits in the Matlaro catalogue make 20. Doubled to 40, that is 170 g porridge oats, 170 g desiccated coconut, 200 g plain flour, 200 g caster sugar, 200 g butter, 2 tbsp golden syrup and 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda. Notice the butter: 200 g, so a 250 g block covers it with some left over.
A few things change when you scale cookies:
- Bake in batches, not bigger trays. Cookies need space to spread. Doubling the dough means twice the trays, and the baking time per tray stays the same.
- Eggs stay whole. A recipe with one egg doubled needs two; halved, beat the egg and use half by weight. More on that in how to scale a recipe.
- Chill a big batch in portions. A large lump of dough takes much longer to chill through than two small ones.
Baking from your phone
Matlaro works for the baking weekend in two ways. Change the number of cookies a recipe makes and every amount follows, rounded to something you can weigh. And cook mode takes you through the recipe one step at a time, with a timer when a step names one and the screen kept awake, which matters when your hands are covered in dough.
Family cookie recipes on old cards can go in too: type them in, which is always free, or photograph the page with Matlaro Unlimited. If the whole Christmas meal is on your mind as well, the Christmas dinner timeline plans the days before and the day itself.
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance can I bake Christmas cookies?
Crisp cookies like biscotti, meringues and Lebkuchen can be made five to seven days ahead and kept airtight. For earlier baking, freeze them: home baked cookies keep best quality for 8 to 12 months frozen.
Can you freeze Christmas cookies?
Yes, both baked and as dough. The University of Illinois Extension gives 8 to 12 months for baked cookies and 3 months for unbaked dough, frozen.
How do you store Christmas cookies so they stay fresh?
In airtight tins at room temperature, with crisp and soft cookies kept apart. Filled cookies are best assembled a day or two before serving.
How long can cookie dough stay in the fridge?
King Arthur Baking says most drop and roll-out doughs can rest in the fridge for up to five days. Freeze it if you need longer.
Photo credits
- Porridge oats: Avena sativa MHNT.BOT.2015.2.33.jpg, by Roger Culos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Desiccated Coconut: Toasted coconut flakes (1).jpg, by Fumikas Sagisavas, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Plain Flour: All-Purpose Flour (4107895947).jpg, by Veganbaking.net from USA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Caster Sugar: Sugar 2xmacro.jpg, by Lauri Andler (Phantom), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Butter: 2023 Masło w maselniczce.jpg, by Jacek Halicki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Golden Syrup: Golden Syrup.JPG, by Londonsista, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bicarbonate Of Soda: Sodium bicarbonate CN brightened.png, by Tszrkx, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
