PACKING AND SHIPPING COOKIES

There is nothing worse than finding out that after all the time and effort you put in to making your amazing cookies, they’ve arrived at their destination broken—I speak from experience here.

It is 100 percent possible to ship even the most fragile cookies if you are careful. I have a client who tells me that the cookies she orders from me are packed as if they are pieces of fancy china. I ship the most fragile cookies—those with slender appendages—across the country with no breakage, so I know it can be done. Just think: padding, padding, padding.

what you need

Cellophane bags (sized to fit cookies) or waxed paper

Ribbon, tape, or stickers to close the cello bags

Scissors

Decorative box to pack cookies in (cake or bakery box, large cookie tin)

Bubble wrap

Corrugated cardboard box for shipping (2 inches larger on all sides than the decorative box) to hold the smaller box

Padding material (plain newsprint, tissue paper)

Packing tape

• 1. Wrap the cookies. Insert each cookie into an appropriately sized bag. Gather the cellophane at the top of the bag so that the folds of the bag do not obscure the front of the cookie. Wrap ribbon around the gather and tie into a bow in such a way that it does not cover the front of the cookie. You can also just make a knot, which is simple and clean. Trim the ribbon ends with scissors. Instead of a ribbon, you can secure the bag shut with tape or a sticker. Alternatively, wrap each cookie in waxed paper.
• 2. Package the cookies. If I’m delivering cookies myself, I pack them in a bakery box with sheets of waxed tissue in between each layer. If I’m going to ship them, I like to pack the cookies in their cellophane bags directly into a corrugated cardboard box. First, cut strips of bubble wrap twice the length of the cookie. Wrap each cookie in bubble wrap. Pad the bottom of the box with several layers of crumpled plain tissue or newsprint to ensure that the cookies never touch the hard walls or the bottom of the box. Tap your fingers lightly against the padding; if you can feel the cardboard, add more padding. Arrange the cookies on their sides, upright, rather than laying flat in the box, allowing one cookie to rest against the next. If you’ve tied the cellophane bags with a ribbon, alternate the orientation of each (top to bottom, bottom to top) so the ribbons don’t pile up together. Make sure you leave 1½ to 2 inches between the cookies and the walls of the box; this prevents the cookies from breaking if the box is damaged en route.
• 3. Add more layers of crumpled tissue if necessary to prevent the cookies from moving around in the box. Hold the box closed and shake it; if you hear or feel no movement, the cookies are safe to ship. If the cookies move around, add more protective crumpled tissue. Seal the box and ship.

Tip: Be sure the cookies are packed firmly but gently against each other, pressed tightly enough to keep them upright but not so tight that they break.