Who doesn’t love receiving packages in the mail? Here are some techniques and tips for shipping holiday cookies to make sure they arrive safely to your friends and family. After all, you didn’t put all that work into baking them for no reason! Before you even start baking the cookies, you want to be mindful of what kind you are going to make. You’ll want to avoid shipping cookies that are easily spoiled, filled with custard or delicate. Cookies with hard textures are best, such as gingersnaps, shortbreads or sugar cookies. Once you have decided on a cookie or cookies, go ahead and bake them but plan on shipping them the same day. Just make sure they have cooled down first. Cookies are baked, cooled and ready to ship. Now what? 1. Individually wrap each cookie in cellophane or parchment paper, if possible.
2. Line an air-tight container like Tupperware with crumpled wax paper or paper towels & snuggly pack the cookies. Add extra layers of wax paper, tissues or similar in between the cookies if needed. Avoid overstuffing because this could damage your cookies more in the long run.
3. Place a piece of bubble wrap at the bottom of a heavy-duty shipping box & place your container inside. Make the shipping box has a little extra room around it – roughly 2 to 3 inches is ideal. 4. Fill the extra space with popcorn or peanuts for added protection. 5. Seal the shipping box with heavy-duty packing tape, write fragile on the outside, slap on a mailing label and send away. Avoid shipping towards the end of the week so the package doesn’t sit at the post office all weekend. If you’re worried, priority or overnight shipping are great options as well. 6. Don’t forget to let your friend or family member know that a package is on its way that should be opened right away; otherwise, it could get placed under the tree and opened days later.