Scoop Your Way to Some Extra Lovin' and a GIVEAWAY!

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we are almost at the end of July, and that means that summer will be over sooner than you think!  I've still got lots of things I plan on doing before school starts up again, but in the meantime, I've been thinking a lot about how to really smooth the transition from summer to fall.  This next month, I'll be doing some features on how to get organized and ready for the new semester, including some great advice on packing, cleaning, and organizing.  Not my favorite activities, either, but spreading them out over the coming month will make it easy-peasy.

As part of those features, I'll be doing some posts on utilizing your freezer and pantry (yep, even as a college student!) to get prepped for school to start.  To kick things off, here's a tip I saw recently that I think is great for us college students!

Freezing Cookie Dough
How often do you find yourself in the most stressful week of your life, with three tests, a project, two papers, and several friends' birthday parties/concerts/plays/what-have-you to attend?  And in the midst of that, you'd still like to be a nice person and volunteer to bring treats to that reception, or drop a plate of cookies by a visiting-teachee or friend in need of some lovin'?

Yup, I think we've all been there.  And we've all found ourselves thinking it's impossible to do it all.

Well, that certainly is true, but there is no harm in faking it!  When you find yourself needing some kind of instant treat, you could always head to the grocery store and buy some pricey, over-processed cookie dough that produces flat, greasy, crunchy cookies...

Or, with a little forethought, you could have a fresh, hot batch of your favorite homemade cookie recipe.

How?  It's easy!

1. Next time you make cookies, just make a double batch.  Bake some of them like you normally would, but using a cookie scoop, create balls of cookie dough from the rest.  
2. Stick them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer until they freeze hard.  
3. As soon as they are frozen, just pop them into a Ziploc freezer bag, mark the date and type of cookie, and you're done!  Frozen cookie dough stays good for about 3 months, so these cookies will last you the whole semester.  To use the dough, you can either let the cookie balls thaw, or just pop them in the oven.  You may need to experiment with your individual cookie recipe for best results.

Now the next you find yourself needing some sweet treats to take to a social event, you've got them!  When you want to impress that special somebody with your super-human abilities to study, go to class, ace your tests AND bake them homemade cookies, the magic is waiting at your fingertips.  Or let's be honest, when you find yourself slogging through midterms or busting out that 20-page paper that's due the next morning, YOU can stuff your face with soothing chocolate chip cookie dough.

To help you whip up your first batch of frozen cookie dough balls, I am hosting a giveaway!

If you win, you'll be receiving this lovely Oxo Good Grips Cookie Scoop!

To enter, just submit a comment below, and tell me your favorite kind of cookie.  You can also get extra entries by posting my button on your blog, blogging about this giveaway, subscribing to RSS/email, or following me on Google Friend Follow.

The giveaway starts now, and ends Monday at 5pm MST, and the winner will be announced Tuesday morning.

Ready?  On your mark, get set....GO!