subject: Mailing Fresh Cookies - How To Keep Them From Breaking Or Going Stale During Shipping [print this page] Theres nothing like a home made cookie to say you are thinking of someone. Whether shipping Christmas cookies to everyone on your list, or sending a piece of home to a member of the military serving overseas, cookies are fun, personal presents. However, in order to be really appreciated, the cookies have to survive the travel to their happy new owner fresh and unbroken. Here, we give you a bit of advice on how to accomplish just that.
First, let fresh cookies cool to room temperature before packaging them. If the cookies are wrapped while warm, they will let out their moisture inside the container which can make the cookies soggy, or even moldy. However, you shouldnt wait more than 24 hours after they come out of the oven to send out your self-baked gift. If you dont want the recipient to have dry and stale cookies, dont wait beyond that.
The second step is to wrap the cookies. The most common materials used to wrap cookies are cellophane or waxed paper. Both are good materials. In some instances your baked goods have a long journey. In such instances, wrapping them one by one may be a smart move, so they dont clump together. If you plan on shipping your cookies in a tin or strong box, you can package the baked sweets in cupcake papers or coffee filters. However you end up wrapping them, make sure you keep different cookie types apart to individual taste and moisture levels. Inserting a bit of bread or apple into the package can prevent drying out.
Next, you should place your cookies in an airtight canister. The most common cookie container is the time-tested metal tin. During the holiday season, most all stores sell cookie tins for mostly this reason. However, every day you can locate tins right for baked goods at DYI stores and general stores. Then there are glass jars, mason jars, plastic tubs, even disposable plastic canisters available in stores. Grocery stores offer re-sealable plastic containers for relatively cheap prices. As always, the simplest but least frilly option is the plastic bag. Bags do give you flexibility and security, but not toughness, so you would want to place the bag in a tough box. Any form of container really must be airtight. Through this we keep moisture, contamination, and other undesirable elements away from your home baked cookies, and retain the freshness of your gift.
Lastly, place your baked goodies in the shipping carton. Boxes are available everywhere. Purchase them, reuse an old one, or locate one at your hometown grocery or general store. Make sure your baked goodies are protected on all six sides. This can be done in many ways: bubble wrap, packing paper, old plastic grocery bags, and newspaper or magazine pages. Any material you can crumple together is fair game for padding. Some unusual ideas which are useful are popcorn or marshmallows and gummi fruits. These cushioning aides can then be appreciated by your college grad as well! Once your home made sweets are fully packaged and addressed, mark them as fragile and ship them out. You want to send them quickly enough that they are not in the mail for over three or four days. Dont send over a weekend. You dont want your fresh cookies to sit in a shipping office. The shipping agent usually will give you an estimate of the shipping duration to help with your planning.
Cookies will get to where theyre going fresh and whole if you let them cool off, then seal them. Avoid putting more effort into mailing your cookies than you did making them. The person on the other end will be pleased with the goodies no matter what!
