Oatmeal Refrigerator Cookies

As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that and you won’t see a noticeable difference in the final product, says Haught Brown.

The reason these are called Icebox Cookies is because the dough is made and placed in the Icebox (refrigerator) overnight.

Refrigerator Cookies are cookies baked from cookie dough which has been chilled first, then simply sliced and baked. They are less messy to make than having to roll the cookies out out on floured surfaces, and usually come out of the oven with relatively satisfying uniform sizes and shapes.

Oatmeal cookies have a high fiber content compared to normal sugar cookies. Oatmeal cookies contain significant amount of minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium, all of which are needed for overall physical health. Compared to sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies also have less calorie content.

If you can scoop it (some doughs are too hard), go straight to the oven, though you will likely need to give them a minute longer baking time. This is actually beneficial for some doughs that spread a lot and some recipes actually call for a quick refrigeration.

Most cookie dough can be refrigerated, well-wrapped, for three to five days before baking. If you want to make it farther in advance, freeze the dough.

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you’re more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.