An Expert's Advice On Keeping Your Holiday Cookies Intact In The Mail

During the festive season, holiday cookies begin swirling the globe like shooting stars. Gingerbread men are launched from Missoula, Montana all the way to Abu Dhabi. Santa heads boomerang between the coasts. And rum balls roll across continents. That's in addition to all the ancient fruit cakes in circulation. But just how is everybody keeping all these treats intact? Chowhound tapped dessert maven Christina Tosi for an exclusive look at how the James Beard award-winning Milk Bar founder herself packs her own highly esteemed baked goods for transit.

"Always, ALWAYS use an airtight container," Tosi says, "and make sure your box is well padded on the inside — I buy a giant roll of bubble wrap, use cling wrap like crazy and always do the 'shake test' There should be no noise in the box in order to pass!"

Take that airtight container, line the bottom and edges with bubble wrap, and alternate layers of more bubble wrap and cookies until it can comfortably close. You'll want to arrange the cookies snugly enough that they don't shift, but not so tightly that tension will cause them to break. It's also best to dedicate the most elaborately decorated cookies to the top of the box so they have a better chance of maintaining their appearance. A few twirls of cling wrap around the outside is even better than sealing with a kiss to protect the cookies' freshness.

Christina Tosi has a bonus tip for particular types of cookies. "If shipping fudgy cookies where it'll take a day or two in transit, add a slice of bread in to keep them soft and fresh," she says. If you're traveling with the sweets for your sweets, carry the cookies on your person rather than packing them in a checked bag, as the TSA allows them on board airplanes. We've flown from New York to London with a batch of cookies in nothing more than a white box and string from the Italian bakery and all was well on arrival. You could even fill a snackle box, provided the shapes and sizes match up. And if you're dealing with particularly brittle or especially soft cookies, you can also insert a cardboard lining between layers. It'll help keep the former from breaking and help the latter hold their shape.

Once you have your cookie-packing technique perfected, you can practice on a free candy cane pretzel bark cookie obtainable at some New York City, Los Angeles, and D.C. Milk Bar locations on December 4th, 2024. Tosi created the recipe as part of her McCormick Cookie Quest collaboration, which also involves a social media contest with a $10,000 prize through December 8th.