These Tips Will Help You Send Holiday Cookies Safely
It’s just over a week before Christmas, and my bench mixer is going through a workout that makes me remember where I left my warranty card. Relatives in Arizona, California and friends in Pennsylvania expect a box of treats each year. But delivering cookies is not an easy task – there are a few things to consider. Can the icing stay safe and sound, or should I freeze the cookies? How do I pack them? Should I keep all those little silica gel bags? Fortunately, there are answers.
Not all cookies are sent the same way
As much as I want to send my friends and family in Arizona and California some lovely loft house cookies , it doesn’t. Soft and / or frozen biscuits are quickly depleted, and this icing spreads wherever it can. It is best to stick to harder cookies such as gingerbread, biscotti, old chocolate chips, snickerdoodles, and unfrozen sugar cookies. Whisk the royal icing instead of the frosting . This is the beautiful glossy frosting that you see on the cookie and you won’t even believe it is actually hand made. It can be dyed any color you can imagine, but what’s the fun part? It is firm when dry, so it will not be smeared or smudged if the shipping company decides to play bouncer with it.
Pack ‘Em Tight
The biggest enemy of product delivery is empty space in the package. Admittedly, a golf club is slightly stronger than a cookie, but the principle is the same.
I have found that for non-flat cookies like chocolate chips, oatmeal, and more, stacking the two cookies together like a sandwich and then wrapping them up frees up more space in the box. You can place them on the edge, which leaves less wiggle room, which means they are less prone to breakage. And is this negative space left? Tuck in whatever voids you can – pieces of cardboard, peanut foam, or puffs – but keep in mind that very little of this material is food grade.
And pack them hermetically
Space leads into the air. Air leads to old cookies. Stale cookies trigger a whole bag of emotions that no one wants to deal with and throw away your work. The most ingenious solution I have seen is to seal the cookies into a bag using an iron . Before that, I had only used my girlfriend’s iron for the last touch-up on the collars and cuffs of my shirt, so I was glad to find that it has other uses to justify the expense.
More pillow for … Shipping
Now that your cookies are wrapped and packaged, you need a second line of defense: a larger container. If that’s enough for the Ark of the Covenant , it is for you.
Whatever nice box your cookies are in, seal it up and wrap it in bubble wrap, whichever place that’s in the larger, uglier box. It’s built to absorb any bumps and bruises, so you don’t have to walk all the way to Stepford to make it look beautiful. Fill in any empty spaces to keep the inner box from sliding and seal the whole thing. You are now ready to pack your shipping container, which you will also fill with, you guessed it, additional void filling.
Choose your delivery type carefully
Since these are perishable goods, you will need the fastest shipping method you can justify. There are only a few days of delivery left until Christmas, so expect to pay significantly more if you’ve been waiting so far. USPS, UPS, and FedEx offer different prices depending on the type and size of shipping, but I have foundUSPS Priority Mail shipping to be the best value for money – flat rate, fast shipping, and very regular container sizes.
If all else fails, Cookie-Gram
Hope these tips will help you get your love affairs done on time and on time. If you just don’t have the energy or funds, feel free to take advantage of one of the millions of gift basket services available online.
Considering time, ingredients, labor, and packaging / shipping, these are all viable alternatives. I, for one, look forward to at least one basket of Hickory Farms every year – despite the discontinuation of their fudge.