freezer

Alan's Pie Pastry

All-butter pie dough with sour cream and vinegar worked in, rested overnight and divided into three single crusts.

Anytime Calzones

A machine-kneaded yeast dough, shaped into 7-inch rounds that freeze for a month, folded over microwaved potato slices and either prosciutto and feta or ham and ricotta. The dough doubles as pizza dough.

Bread Instructions

The baking half of the friendship bread cycle: leftover starter mixed with instant vanilla pudding, cinnamon and nuts, baked as two loaves.

Bread with Poppy Seeds

White cake mix and coconut pudding do the work here, stretched into three poppy seed loaves.

Butterfinger Dessert

Graham and soda cracker crust under a beaten ice cream and instant pudding layer, topped with Cool Whip and crushed Butterfingers.

“Deb notes the Butterfingers should be the '10 cent size' candy bars.”

Cake at Cindy Schwaninger's Shower

Torn angel food cake layered in a tube pan with three flavors of Jell-O, fruit and vanilla ice cream, then frozen.

Calico Beans

Ground beef, bacon and three kinds of beans baked in a sweet-and-sour brown sugar and catsup sauce.

Chewy Sugar Cookies

Cream cheese and warm melted butter go into the dough; the balls are rolled in sugar and pressed flat with a drinking glass.

Chicken Pot Pie

Shredded chicken, browned mushrooms and vegetables in a milk-and-broth sauce, baked under a parmesan crumble instead of a crust.

“I cook a whole chicken and double the recipe and freeze in serving sizes. I roast the chicken in an air fryer because it has more flavor. I do the butter-rubbing step in a food processor. I put this in serving-size dishes to freeze at this point, and I freeze the biscuit topping in a bag separately.”

Chili

Ground beef browned with brown sugar, then slow-cooked four to eight hours with chili beans, tomato juice and tomato soup.

Chocolate Chip Bars

Shortbread-style dough pressed onto a sheet pan with chocolate chips worked in, then finished with a brown sugar meringue and nuts.

Chocolate Dessert

Layered icebox dessert: cookie crumb crust, sweetened cream cheese, chopped candy bars and instant chocolate pudding under whipped topping.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

Oat and nut crumbs pressed into a square pan, layered with caramel topping and softened chocolate ice cream, then frozen.

Chocolate Pie

No-bake freezer pie of melted sweet chocolate beaten into cream cheese and folded with Cool Whip in a graham crust.

Chow Mein Noodles Cookies

Brown sugar oatmeal drop cookies loaded with chocolate chips and crisp chow mein noodles for crunch.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Enriched yeast loaf rolled around a cinnamon sugar filling, misted with water so the swirl holds together, and baked to 185 degrees.

“1/2 cup raisins can be kneaded into the dough when it is turned out on the counter.”

Cookie Brittle

Eggless shortbread dough with chocolate chips and nuts, pressed thin in a 15 by 10 pan and broken into irregular shards.

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Broccoli and shredded carrot simmered in a roux base of milk, cream and stock, partly blended, then thickened with two cups of cheddar.

Delicious Cookies

Butter-and-oil dough loaded with Rice Krispies, coconut, oatmeal, nuts and chocolate chips, pressed flat with a fork before baking.

Dutch Letters

Puff pastry strips rolled around ropes of almond paste filling, sugared on top and baked; they freeze well.

Frosty Fruit

Orange juice concentrate, lemonade mix and canned fruit frozen in plastic glasses and served slushy.

Frozen Punch Slush

Jell-O and a sugar syrup mixed with lemonade and pineapple juice and frozen, then cut with 7-Up as it is served.

Fudge Bars

Oatmeal crumb base and crumb topping around a cooked filling of chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and nuts.

Graham Cracker Bars

A boiled graham cracker and brown sugar filling spread between layers of whole crackers, frosted and kept cold.

Lasagna

Ground beef simmered with tomato paste, mushrooms and a bay leaf, layered with noodles, cottage cheese and mozzarella.

“I also put this in meal size containers before baking and freeze.”

Melting Moments

Cornstarch-heavy shortbread chilled, dropped in rough heaps, baked pale, and spread with vanilla powdered sugar frosting.

Monster Cookies

Flourless peanut butter and oatmeal cookies scaled to a dozen eggs and 18 cups of oats, loaded with chips, M&M's, coconut and nuts.

Neiman-Marcus Café Chocolate Chip Cookies

Giant batch built on oatmeal ground to powder, with a grated Hershey bar alongside the chocolate chips and nuts; makes 112 cookies.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Pressed oat crust bakes first, then takes a coffee-spiked chocolate filling and a scattering of the reserved oat mixture on top.

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Bread

Rolled oats scalded in milk make two soft loaves, brushed with egg white and sprinkled with more oats before baking.

“I use this recipe in the bread machine for Runzas. Put ingredients into the bread machine, and set to dough method. When done, remove and make 12-14 balls of dough, roll out into a rectangle, and place about 1 cup of meat mixture into the center and wrap like a Christmas gift! Bake about 30 minutes. This freezes well.”

Orange Mint Salad

Crushed pineapple sets overnight with dry orange gelatin and marshmallows, then gets crushed butter mints and Cool Whip and goes in the freezer.

Oreo Dessert

Frozen layers of Oreo crust, vanilla ice cream, a cooked mint-chocolate sauce, and whipped topping with nuts.

Oreo Peppermint Dessert (Jane VanderBroek's)

Peppermint ice cream over a buttered Oreo crust, topped with canned fudge sauce and Cool Whip, frozen between layers.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Browned butter and mostly dark brown sugar make sixteen large chewy cookies, with the batter rested and whisked three times.

Refrigerator Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal dough shaped into a log and chilled overnight, then sliced very thin and baked seven or eight minutes.

Runzas

Bread dough pockets sealed around ground beef, cabbage and onion seasoned with caraway, thyme and nutmeg, then baked.

Salted Nut Roll

Peanut butter chips melted with condensed milk and marshmallows, poured between two layers of dry roasted peanuts and chilled firm.

Snickerdoodles (Soft Ones)

Butter cookies leavened with cream of tartar and soda, chilled, rolled in cinnamon sugar and flattened with a glass before baking.

Snickers Bars

Four no-bake layers in a 9 x 13 pan: chocolate-butterscotch base, boiled marshmallow nougat, salted peanuts, melted caramel, and a second chocolate layer on top.

Spicy Porcupine Meatballs

Ground pork meatballs with raw rice mixed in, baked slowly in a smoky chili-spiked tomato sauce until the grains poke out.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Freezer ice cream started from strawberry Jell-O dissolved in boiling water, then beaten eggs, cream and vanilla, topped off with milk.

Super Meatballs

Three pounds of hamburger bound with oatmeal and evaporated milk, baked packed together under a catsup, honey and liquid smoke sauce.

“I use this sauce on pork ribs and chicken too.”

Swirled Mint Ice Cream Freeze

Chocolate sandwich cookie crust layered with mint morsels and softened mint chip ice cream, frozen in a 13x9 pan and cut into squares.

Taco Soup

Eight cans, two seasoning packets and a cup of broth stirred together and cooked twenty minutes on the stove or all afternoon in a crock pot.

“I doubled the recipe with one rotisserie chicken, cubed.”

Talley's Homemade Ice Cream

Gallon-batch custard base thickened with cornstarch and churned in an ice-and-salt freezer, with variations for chocolate, peach, strawberry, banana, coffee and berry.

“For the small batch, Deb notes she uses 1 cup whipping cream and skips the evaporated milk altogether.”

Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast sausage and frozen mini tater tots tossed with cheddar and mozzarella, then baked under a custard of eight eggs and milk.

“I use minced garlic in place of the garlic powder, and I use real onion, browned right along with the sausage, in place of the onion powder.”

Tater Tot Casserole

Hamburger browned with onion and brown sugar, layered with cream soup and cheddar, and topped with tater tots before baking.

“I often add frozen mixed vegetables here.”

Thin Mint Cookies

Copycat wafers rolled paper-thin from chocolate fudge cake mix, baked, then dipped in peppermint chocolate; makes 108.

Toll House Pie

Chocolate chips and walnuts suspended in a buttery brown sugar custard and baked an hour in a pie shell.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Three forms of chocolate — melted unsweetened, bittersweet chips and semisweet chips — in a barely floured batter that bakes crackled and fudgy.

Twix Bars

Shortbread pressed into a 9x13, covered with stovetop caramel cooked to soft ball stage and a layer of milk chocolate.

Zucchini Bread

Two loaves of oil-based bread with grated zucchini, three teaspoons each of vanilla and cinnamon, and a cinnamon-sugar crust on top.