HARRISBURG, Pa. — The holiday season means plenty of travelers are looking to bring their favorite cookies on flights as they head to grandma's house for the festivities.
The good news, according to the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), is that cookies and other baked goods are OK to pack in your carry-on luggage.
But before you agree to take a tin of your favorite homemade cookies or other baked goods to your family or friend’s house, it’s important to think about how you’re planning to transport them if you are flying over the holidays, the TSA said.
You may carry most foods through a TSA checkpoint, but you need to transport some items in checked baggage.
"Here’s some food for thought: If it’s a solid item, such as cookies, a cake, pie, brownies or other baked goods, then it can go through a checkpoint," the TSA said. "However, if you can spill it, spread it, spray it, pump it or pour it, and it’s larger than 3.4 ounces, then it should go in a checked bag."
So, you need to pack items such as preserves, jams, jellies, eggnog and maple syrup in a checked bag, according to the TSA.
TSA officers like to bake cookies just as much as anyone else, and several of TSA's frontline screeners offered to share their favorite homemade cookie recipes with travelers.
White Chocolate Chip Ube Cookies
Recipe shared by TSA Officer Ciaran Persch from Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg International Airport (MDT).
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 15 oz ube jam (Also called ube halaya, which you can find at most Asian grocery stores)
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
- 2 tbsp ube extract
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Recipe
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Beat unsalted butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium-high speed until well-blended. Add ube jam, extract to the mixture and continue beating until incorporated. Add eggs and beat until combined. Add flour mixture to ube mixture in thirds and beat until no more streaks of flour remain. Scrape the bottom of the bowl as you go. Stir in the white chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the batter for at least three hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop roughly two tablespoons of the dough and roll into balls. Place the balls onto the cookie sheet with about two inches of space around each ball. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until the cookies are set. Allow to cool completely.
Orange Creamsicle Cookies
Recipe shared by TSA Officer Susan Smoot from West Virginia’s Raleigh County Memorial Airport (BKW).
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 1 box orange cake mix
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- orange food coloring (optional)
Recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, orange extract, cream cheese and egg with a mixer until smooth. Add the cake mix and mix well. (Add orange food coloring if desired until the cookie dough reaches your desired orange color.) Stir the white chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. (Do not skip this step.)
Form the dough into 24 balls. Roll each in powdered sugar and place on the lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Pete’s Mom’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe shared by TSA Officer Kelli Herreid from West Virginia’s Greenbrier Valley Airport (LWB).
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients except chocolate chips; set aside. Combine butter, shortening, sugars and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Add egg and mix until well incorporated. Add dry ingredients and mix. Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake the dough in rounded tablespoons on an ungreased baking sheet for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges are brown.
Banana Spice Cookies
Recipe shared by TSA Officer Roslyn Sears from Baltimore Washington International/Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 mashed bananas
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cloves
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Recipe
Mix shortening, butter, eggs, sugar and bananas. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and chill for one hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Grease a cookie sheet. Place hand-rolled balls of dough about one rounded teaspoon each onto the cookie sheet at a distance of two inches apart. Bake for eight to 10 minutes. Makes three to four dozen depending on the size of the hand-rolled balls of dough.
Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes one dozen large cookies)
Recipe shared by TSA Officer Tanya Smeltz from Virginia’s Lynchburg Regional Airport.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips, plus more to press into the top of the dough after baking
Recipe
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed for three minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt and cornstarch and mix for one minute. Turn the mixer to low and mix in the flour until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Portion out a rounded 1/3 cup of cookie dough and roll it into a ball. Break the cookie dough ball in half, turn the dough so the jagged broken edge is facing up, and then press back together to create a craggy top. Place dough onto the prepared baking sheet three inches apart. Officer Smeltz recommends baking just five cookies at a time since they are large.
Bake for 10 to 11 minutes until the edges and tops are slightly golden. Press additional chocolate chips on top of the baked cookies. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for five minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
