Here is the Lemon Cranberry Icebox Cookie recipe: 1 cup butter, softened at room temp 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar, packed 2 large eggs 1 t grated lemon peel 2 TB fresh lemon juice 1 cup dried cranberries, chopped roughly 3 1/2 cups a-p flour 1 t baking soda 1/2 t salt 1.Using an electric mixer at medium speed (or by hand) beat the butter and both sugars until fluffy. 2.Add the eggs to the creamed mixture one at a time, beating well after each. 3.Add the grated lemon rind and lemon juice to the creamed mixture and beat well. 4.Add the dried cranberries to the dough and mix until well blended. 5.Combine the flour, soda and salt in a bowl. Slowly add a portion of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and blend just until well combined. Add the rest of the flour mixture and beat until well blended. Do not over beat. 6.Divide dough into 3 equal portions. 7.Take each portion of dough and shape it into a log about 12-inches long. Form the log into a round by rolling the dough back and forth on lightly floured parchment or was paper. 8.If you plan to bake the cookies right away: double wrap each log in plastic wrap; chill until firm, about 4 hours (or freeze about 2 hours). Preheat oven to 350F; line a baking sheet with parchment paper; unwrap dough log and using a sharp knife, cut each log into 1/4-inch slices. Rotate the dough log 1/4 turn after each cookie is cut - this will help keep the cookies round. 9.Place each slice 2-inches apart on the paper on the sheet. 10.Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. 11.Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 12.Repeat the process for the next batch of cookies to freeze the dough 1.Wrap the plastic wrap dough logs in freezer paper, or put them in a freezer zip bag. Be sure to label and date the logs of dough. Remove as much air as possible from the zip bag. Store up to 4-6 weeks in the freezer. 2.Thaw log of dough in the refrigerator for 4 hours or more before slicing and baking. source: 30 Delicious Icebox Cookie Recipes, Lori Burke, Kindle Edition

As long as the paper isn't messy (no dripped chocolate or gooey filling spilled on it), I just leave the same sheets on my cookie sheets through the holidays. It doesn't hurt anything at all to use and reuse. Just shake the crumbs into the trash can between uses. After all, you store your baked cookies at room temperature for days/weeks around the holidays, the paper is not going to 'spoil' if you do the same. Used to work in a very high end bakery. With the price of parchment, they used it until something spilled on it--often used sheets for many many times a day, for days.

I tried freezing chocolate chip cookie dough just once. I was in high school and thought it would be nice to have the frozen dough so I could bake just a few at a time for a snack. So, a few days later when I had a hankering for cookies, went to the freezer and discovered that my little brother had eaten ALL of the frozen cookie blobs. One of those cases where a good theory just doesn't work out in Real Life! Naturally, being a teenager, I was hopping mad and didn't see the humor in it. Lesson learned, none-the-less.

I've also made dough ahead of time and refrigerated it for a couple of days without problems, and I've frozen dough for months and still had good results when baking, I often portion out a batch of dough, freeze on a sheet pan and store in a ziplock bag, I can take out a dozen when I want and bake them and just like that, fresh cookies! If you want something different, I make these and I don't know anyone else who does, and they are a lovely pink color for Christmas, although the green maraschino cherries would work too, I'm sure. Instead of making balls and flattening them, I just roll the dough into logs, wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator, slice off cookies as I need/want them. I also just toss it into the food processor until I get a dough, usually it's kind of crumbly and I have to knead it a little to get it to come together. White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread 1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped 2 ½ cups all purpose flour ½ cup sugar 1 cup cold butter 12 ounces white chocolate squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped (I just used Ghiradelli white chips) ½ teaspoon almond extract 2 drops red food coloring (optional) 2 teaspoons shortening White nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional ) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead until smooth and form into a ball (dough will be crumbly at first, but will come together as you work the dough with your hands). Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on parchment or waxed paper until chocolate is set. Have fun, it sounds like a great time to me! (Edited to clean up all those weird spaces and formatting, ugh) Annie