The Tortilla Hack For Longer Lasting Homemade Cookies
There's nothing worse than opening up a delicious batch of homemade cookies only to find they've gone stale. Because of their delicate texture, if you don't know how to store homemade cookies properly, the air's moisture content can adversely affect them. When exposed to air, the crispiest of cookies can become unpleasantly chewy, and even the softest of cookies can dry out completely. Luckily, there's a clever method of retaining your cookies' freshness, utilizing a random ingredient you never saw coming: tortillas.
Due to their high moisture content, tortillas are a brilliant hack that can help keep your cookies fresh longer, extending their shelf life and allowing them to keep that decadent "fresh out of the oven" texture days after baking them. The tortillas will soak up the moisture in your storage container, preventing it from entering and ruining your cookies. So stocking up on those tortillas is more than just a means to your next Taco Tuesday — it's precisely the hack you need to ensure you don't have to throw out a batch of cookies you were looking forward to partaking in.
Using tortillas to keep your cookies fresh longer
Using tortillas to help extend the freshness of your homemade cookies, while unexpected, is relatively easy — you simply pack a few tortillas in with your cookies, and the moisture from your tortillas will circulate in the container, keeping your cookies from drying out and extending their life a few extra days. This hack is especially effective if you're keeping your cookies in a tin, as you can cut your parchment paper so that it fits properly in the tin, then stack alternating layers of parchment paper, tortillas, and cookies. Use this hack effectively in a resealable, airtight container or a plastic sandwich bag.
Don't have any tortillas on hand? A regular piece of bread will work just as well. Place a slice in whatever container you use to store your cookies, and the bread will absorb the moisture. If you decide to use bread, stick with the plain white variety, as other types of bread can infuse their flavor into the cookies. So unless you want your chocolate chip cookies to have a pumpernickel aftertaste, keep it simple with white.
Other ways to keep your cookies fresh longer
If you don't have tortillas or bread slices on hand to soak up the excess moisture, don't fret — there are countless other techniques to keep your cookies fresh longer. You can store your cookies with marshmallows, place a few sugar cubes in the bottom of your cookie jar to absorb any moisture, or even store different types of cookies separately so that your softer cookies don't make your crisper cookies moist and vice versa. But whichever method you use, it's imperative that you cool your cookies entirely before storing them; warm cookies let off steam, and you don't want the moisture from that steam to cause your cookies to become soggy and, ultimately, stale. Instead, cool them for at least a few hours to ensure no heat is left.
Why is controlling your cookies' moisture content so paramount? The answer lies in food's delicate relationship with moisture. Because chewy cookies carry more moisture than the air surrounding them, the air is likely to leave the cookies, making them dry. With crunchier cookies, the humidity in the air creates the opposite effect. Thus, the best airtight container — which will function as a barrier to the moisture exchange — will become the hero in your cookie story, allowing you to keep those cookies fresh — and you happy — for longer.