Cookie Dough - Refrigerating/Freezing before baking

I'm a big fan of jacque torres' chocolate chip cookie recipe, as circulated a while ago as a nyt contest winner.....it suggests refrigerating the dough for an extended period of time before baking, not just so the cookies hold their shape, but because it changes the texture of the final cookie. I've experimented, and at least with that recipe, it makes a huge difference!

Totally agree and would add that it's been established that chilling cookie dough makes for a better tasting cookie too. The chilled resting allows the dough to the flour to hydrate and the flavorings to meld. The New York Times did an article on choc chip cookies a few years ago and what they found was that chilling cookie dough for at least 24 hours resulted in better looking, better tasting baked cookies. Here's a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=1&ref=dining

I'm sure you can successfully freeze the dough before baking, but it won't do what the recipe's author has in mind when giving the instruction to refrigerate it before baking. That is to help the cookie hold its shape. If you freeze the dough and then let it come to room temp before baking, it won't set up as well as the dough that has been refrigerated before baking.

It's not completely necessary if you don't have the time. Freezing just makes them taste even better :)

Or roll it into a log and slice. But, you'll probably still need a 1/2 hour to get your chill on.

If its a drop cookie you can use an ice cream scoop to portion it out and freeze until you want to bake them