Lots of people like to snack on brownies, and that is no surprise. A good batch of brownies is usually a sweet delight that gets the taste buds buzzing with excitement. Fresh brownies can be bought at the store or baked from scratch within the home.
In addition to the base ingredients that are common to all brownies, there are different recipes that people adopt to make their favorite brownies. Brownies can be left as a whole block or cut down to smaller squares.
Usually, a fresh batch of brownie squares would last up to 3 days when kept in the pantry at room temperature. The shelf life of brownies can also be increased to about one week if they’re preserved in the refrigerator. However, if you wish to keep them for much longer, you’ll have to find a better alternative for preserving them.
So, can you freeze brownies? Yes, you can freeze brownies. Freezing is a great way to preserve your brownies over a long period of time. With the brownies packed properly for freezing, they’ll retain majority of their original freshness and quality after months of freezing. Brownies can keep safely in a freezer for up to 3 months.
There are a few things you must pay attention to when you’re freezing a batch of brownies. For instance, different people add other ingredients to the primary brownie ingredients when making theirs. These other ingredients can be affected by freezer conditions and cause alterations to the original nature of the brownie after being defrosted.
It is best to freeze brownies while they’re still fresh, and not when they’ve started going stale. The wrapping and total packaging of your brownies must be good enough to shield them from cold freezer air and prevent potential freezer burn.
Freezing Brownies
If you really like eating homemade brownies but don’t have time to make them all the time, you can dedicate a free day to make yourself one large batch that’ll last you for quite some time. After baking a big block of brownies with your favorite recipe, you can cut it down to smaller squares that can be finished at once – that will ensure that you’re not stuck with leftovers after defrosting some of the frozen brownies.
When you’re packaging brownies for preservation, you’ll need to ensure that their container isn’t filled with air. The brownies will retain their moisture if kept in a vacuum sealed packaging. Even if you won’t be freezing the brownies, still keep them stored in a vacuum sealed packaging at room temperature.
How to Freeze Brownies
Freezing brownies is an easy process, but you need to follow the steps correctly. The best steps for freezing brownies include:
Step 1: Allow the Block of Brownies to Cool
After baking your fresh batch of brownies, you’ll need to let them cool before placing them in the freezer. It is never safe to put hot food inside the freezer. Putting hot food in the freezer will cause the freezer’s temperature to rise and other items to repeatedly thaw and refreeze.
Give the fresh brownies some time to cool down to room temperature. After that, you may go ahead to cut the block of brownies into smaller squares that can be easily finished in one sitting. The smaller brownie squares will also freeze much better and thaw even faster than a large brownie block.
Step 2: Wrap the Brownies in Plastic Wrap
It is very important to wrap the brownies properly before freezing. Failure to wrap your block or squares of brownies properly will cause the brownies to come in contact with cold freezer air and potentially suffer a freezer burn.
Make use of plastic wrap or aluminum foil to cover the brownies. You can wrap the brownies in more than one layer of the plastic wrap or aluminum foil – however, you must be careful not to overwrap the brownies.
You can decide to wrap the brownie as a whole block or cut it down into smaller squares and wrap them individually. When wrapping the brownies, you must be careful not to apply excess pressure that can squash and destroy the brownie’s texture.
Step 3: Transfer the Brownies into a Freezer-Safe Bag and Vacuum Seal
Once the brownie block or squares have been properly wrapped, you can transfer them into a resealable freezer-safe bag. To prevent your brownies from losing their moisture, you’ll have to remove as much air as possible from inside the freezer-safe bag. You can make use of a vacuum sealing machine to remove the air and seal off the bag.
After the bag of brownies has been vacuumed and sealed, go ahead to write the present date on it with a marker.
How to Defrost and Reheat Frozen Brownies
When the time comes to devour your delicious frozen brownies, you’ll need to defrost them correctly for the best results. During the process of defrosting and reheating, you wouldn’t want the brownies to lose too much of their original taste and texture – make sure you consume the brownies within the recommended 3 months of freezing.
Start by removing the brownies from the freezer-safe bag and peeling off the plastic wrap. If you chose to freeze your brownie as a whole block, only cut a piece from it that you can finish at once; wrap the rest and return in the freezer. If you froze the brownies as smaller square cuts, simply pick the number of squares that you can finish at once and return the rest to the freezer.
Place the portion of brownies you wish to thaw on the kitchen countertop for about 2 hours. After the brownies have thawed at room temperature, you can move them into the microwave to reheat.
Conclusion
Now that we have established how effective freezing is in the preservation of brownies, you can go ahead to stock up on your favorite brownies. However, you also need to remember that although freezing brownies is simple, you must follow the right steps if you want the best result.
Most of the work is in the brownie’s packaging before freezing. Failure to pack the brownies properly will cause the freezer burn and alterations in the brownie’s original texture and moisture content.