Keep Cookies Soft And Fresh With A Single Sugar Cube

We love a good kitchen hack, especially when it involves keeping our baked goods fresh. There's nothing worse than a dry piece of chocolate layer cake, a too-soft flaky pie crust, or a stale classic English scone – except, of course, for a rock-hard chocolate chip cookie. It's so frustrating when you put your heart and soul into a batch of cookies, only for them to dry out and turn dense after one day. But it turns out that there's an easy way to prevent that conundrum: Store your cookies alongside a few sugar cubes.

Due to its natural properties, sugar takes in moisture from the air. This is what causes it to clump when it isn't sealed properly. It's annoying when you don't want your brown sugar to end up in a lump, but it's very handy for cookie storage. If you add sugar cubes to a cookie container, they'll absorb any excess moisture from the air, ensuring that your cookies aren't affected.

You only need to add a few sugar cubes to your container, and it should help them stay fresh for around two days. The hack seems to work especially well with a meringue cookie recipe, and it can help with brownies, cakes, and pastries too. Another trick people use is to put a piece of bread alongside the cookies, which should similarly absorb moisture, or some rice. Another old wives' tale involves apple slices, but this could affect the flavor of the cookies, so tread carefully.

If you're trying out the bread, use some kind of white variety, and check it every day for mold. No matter what, make sure you're storing your cookies in an airtight container that's kept at room temperature. If your cookie jar doesn't have a good seal, it's time to find another use for it. You really don't want any air getting in there. Well-stored cookies should last for around three days, and you can freeze them after that if you want to keep them around longer. If you do end up with hard cookies, there's always the microwave. No one has to know.