Baking Frozen Cookie Dough...did I do something wrong?

[htc]

Hi maybe someone call tell me what I did wrong.

Here is a copy of the original list of ingredients I used, all the stuff in () is what I adapted per my diet restrictions.

From Chocolate Chip Cookies p. 28 from Cookies Over 300 step by step recipes for home baking By Catherine Atkinson, J. Farrow & Valerie Barrett

1/2c butter, softened
1/2c superfine sugar (Splenda)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour (whole wheat pastry flour)
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips (Russell Stover chocolate chips made from Splenda)

Day 1- I assembled the cookie dough per the recipe's instructions and baked a couple cookies to try it out. So I could compare how it tasted to the stuff I would freeze. The cookies made from unfrozen cookie dough tasted as I would excpect, pretty good.

So then I dropped the cookies and put it on a plate (making sure they weren't touching) then froze. Once the dropped cookie dough was hard, I put it into a plastic container.

Day 2 - I took the frozen dough out and placed on my cookie sheet to thaw while the oven was preheating. Once the oven was ready, I put the cookies in and cooked for the same time as yesterday.

Today's cookies didn't taste as good as yesterdays. Is it because I didn't use real sugar and real semi-sweet chocolate? I know baking is a delicate balance and like chemistry class...so maybe using fake sugar messed it up. Or did I not wait long enough for the cookie dough to thaw before baking? I thought I read somewhere that I could bake the dough frozen and it would turn out the same.

 

[marmalady]

If the Splenda would have caused a taste difference, you would have seen it in the original batch, so I don't think that's it.

My guess it's something to do with the ww flour maybe absorbing more moisture the longer the dough sat in the freezer.

Why don't you try just making a roll of dough and freezing that, instead of forming the cookies then freezing? Less surface exposed to air, etc.

These are all just out of the blue guesses! Maybe some of our more experienced bakers have more ideas.

 

[Chopstix]

htc, I roll my cookie dough into thin logs, wrap in cling wrap, freeze, then slice logs up into cookie 'servings'. I bake them frozen on very cold baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

I find that when I thaw them first, they spread more, and don't bake evenly (brown too quickly).

 

[htc]

I think next time around I will try rolliing the dough then freezing. I didn't realize that you could still cut the cookies and bake them. I froze them individually cuz I wanted the flexibility of baking only several cookies at a time. So I don't eat too many.

Thanks!

 

[PA Baker]

Whole wheat flour is very different from regular AP flour, so I think that could have caused some of the difference--it would result in a heavier, drier end product. The russel stover chocolate may have altered the taste, texture too. If you have the time and ingredients to spare I'd try making the cookies with white AP flour and drop and freeze it. I've done this before and not had a problem with results. Just put the dropped dough on the sheets and into the oven frozen and extend the baking time a bit (maybe about 5 minutes, depending on your oven. Just watch the first pan and see). Then try marmalady's suggestions too and see how your end results compare. Good luck!