It’s impossible to miss that the holidays are coming. From Halloween costumes and pumpkins for making pies, to ornaments for Christmas trees, dreidels and candles for Kwanzaa, store shelves are already filling up. If you’re a baker, one of the things you look forward to the most come the holidays, is baking cookies, among them sugar cookies and spritz-type cookies, made with a cookie gun, for decorating. My vintage metal Mirro “cooky” press, which I like better than the newer models made of plastic, turns out perfect spritz cookies, and the old Mirro disc designs, such as the scotty dog and camel, are fun, as well. But, it can be difficult to find time for baking, much less adorning cookies with icing, sprinkles, colored sugar and the like, unless you get a bit of a jump-start on the process. One of the ways to do that is to make and freeze cookie dough ahead of time. If double-wrapped and stored in an airtight container, frozen cookie dough will keep for up to three months. Be sure to label your cookie dough packets with the date and type of dough they contain, and keep them well hidden. Cookie lovers tend to be cookie dough eaters, too.

Sue Ade is a syndicated food writer with broad experience and interest in the culinary arts. She has worked and resided in the Lowcountry of South Carolina since 1985 and may be reached at kitchenade@yahoo.com.