Prep Holiday Party Treats Months In Advance With Easy Buckeye Cookies

Even before Halloween, many stores start setting out the Christmas decorations and Starbucks starts hinting at a winter menu of peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes in the not-too-distant future. If this puts you in the mood for holiday baking, the freezer is your friend, as are recipes for the types of sturdy cookies that lend themselves well to being frozen.

One such cookie (or maybe candy) is the Buckeye. While it may not be the official confection of its native state of Ohio (Ohio's only state-endorsed food is tomato juice), it's named after the official state tree and is one of the most famous foods from the Midwest. Buckeyes are basically peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate and, according to recipe developer Kristen Carli, her no-bake Buckeye cookies are so easy that "anyone can make the[m]." While Buckeyes aren't traditionally a holiday cookie, Carli tells us "My family actually makes these for Christmas Eve dessert." They are also very well-suited for another special occasion — for Halloween, you can easily dress them up to look like spooky eyeballs with a little bit of frosting.

So what do you do if you've made a whole bunch of Buckeyes and want to stash some away for later? Well, as part of the preparation process for these cookies (or candies) involves freezing them, you simply keep them in the freezer until you want them. In order for them to keep their shape, though, you'll need to first freeze them separately and uncovered (as you do in this recipe), then transfer the frozen confections to a freezer bag, a Tupperware-type rubber tub, or better yet, both of these (first the bag, then the tub). The more you can keep them away from air and moisture, the better they will be.

How long can Buckeyes be frozen? Carli, erring on the conservative side, estimates three months, but as these are not baked goods made with perishable ingredients like eggs and butter, it's possible they may be just as tasty after a year in the freezer. What's more, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services points out that there's no danger in eating food that's been in the freezer for an extended period of time and notes that most guidelines on freezer storage times refer only to food quality, not to its safety. This organization also endorses the idea that soft cookies can retain their freshness for up to a year if frozen right away,