Thrifty Thursday: Homemade Take 'n Bake Cookies

Next week is Bible School, and of course, we've got to feed the kiddos. I volunteered to provide the snack for three nights of the week. (Our Bible School is small...we're expecting about 50 mouths to feed...that includes the kids and the volunteers.) I needed something I could make ahead and that would make a large quantity, and that could be cooked quickly. This was one of the options I came up with...chocolate chip cookies.

I won't have time to actually bake the cookies before Bible School, because of my crazy work schedule, but I decided that homemade "Take 'n Bake" cookies would work well. Tonight, I made almost 5 dozen cookies, and they're now in David's grandmother's upright freezer, flash-freezing.

That way, they'll all freeze individually, then I can just pop them in a big Ziplock bag and they won't stick together. Devona (the Bible School Snack Czar) can pull them out, stick them on a cookie sheet, and bake them while the kiddos are in class. Then, right before they leave, they can have a warm chocolate chip cookie! I don't buy the "real" Take 'n Bake cookies, because I just like to bake, but I know they're pretty pricey. I think they're about $3.50 for a dozen. I bet I made all 5 dozen of my cookies for that price. Pretty thrifty! I think this is a great idea for a quick dessert to have on hand in your freezer...you know, for those times when you have company stop by unexpectedly, or even more importantly, when you have an attack of the sweet tooth! I've thought many times that I need to make several batches of Dorie's pie crust, just to keep in the freezer. I haven't done it yet, but it's on my to-do list!