FREEZING GUIDELINES

As long as your freezer maintains a steady temperature of 0 degrees F., food can be safely frozen indefinitely. Quality, however, will eventually deteriorate.The "maximum suggested freezing time" below estimates how long frozen foodswill retain quality. Food Special Tips Storage Time

Thawing Hints:

Breads: yeast breads, coffee cakes, muffins and quick breads. Cool completely; do not frost or decorate. Place coffee cakes on foil-wrapped cardboard beforefreezing. Up to 1 month Unwrap slightly and thaw at room temperature for 2to 3 hours. Serve at room temperature or reheat, wrapped in foil, at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes, or wrap in paper towels and microwave (briefly, to avoid a tough texture) for 5 to 40 seconds.

Cakes: both frosted and unfrosted cakes can be frozen Cool completely. Wrap unfrosted cake in airtight, moisture-proof wrap. Cool completely. Buttercream frosting freezes best. Allow frosting to harden by placing frosted cake in refrigerator or freezer before wrapping. Place layer cakes in cake containers or bakery boxes to prevent crushing. Unfrosted-4 to 6 months Frosted-1 to 3months Unfrosted-thaw at room temperature, covered, 2 to 3 hours. Frost or serve according to recipe. Frosted-thaw, loosely covered, overnight inrefrigerator

.Cookies: baked cookies can be frozen Wrap unfrosted cookies in airtight ,moisture-proof wrap or place in plastic containers. If frosted or decorated before freezing, first freeze quickly on cookie sheet; then package frozen cookies between layers of waxed paper in rigid container for further freezing.Unfrosted-4to 6 months Frosted-1 to 2 months Thaw in package at room temperature. For cookies that should be crisp when thawed, remove from container.

Pies: baked pumpkin or pecan pies and either baked or unbaked fruit pies. Cool baked pies quickly. For unbaked pies, brush the bottom pastry with eggwhite before filling to prevent it from becoming soggy. Do not slit the top pastry. Cover pies with an inverted foil or paper plate and then wrap. Baked: upto 4 months Unbaked: up to 3 months Baked: Unwrap and heat at 325 degrees F.for 45 minutes or until warm or room temperature. Unbaked: Unwrap, cut slits in the top pastry and bake at 425 degrees F. for 15 minutes, then bake at375 degrees F. for 30 to 45 minutes or until the center is bubbly.

Pies: chiffon, custard, pudding, cream and pies with meringue topping do notfreeze well. Do not freeze well.

You can freeze overripe bananas to later use when making banana bread,banana muffins, banana pancakes, banana waffles, as well as banana batteredFrenchtoast. You can either peel them and freeze them on a cookie sheet then putthem in a baggie or you can freeze them in the peel.To use let thaw and mash as normal for the recipe.If you leave them in the peel when you freeze them, you can just cut one endof the thawed out banana and squish the banana out.

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