When Should I Bake Christmas Cookies?
From December 1st for the shaped and decorated kind. Plain cookies have no season, and you can bake ahead and freeze any time you like.
A cookie has no season. A cookie with a reindeer's face and red sugar on it has declared one. You can bake all you want until December. Just keep it round.
The good news is that this ruling is easy to get around, and the Court encourages it, because it's going to want some of those cookies. Most cookie doughs freeze well for a couple of months if they're wrapped tightly, and most baked cookies do too, as long as they haven't been frosted. So bake in November. Freeze them plain. Decorate in December, when it's legal, and let everyone think you did it all this morning. Bake. Freeze. Lie about when.
If you're giving them away, do your baking in the last two weeks before the 25th, and start with whatever keeps best. Shortbread and gingersnaps hold up for days in a sealed tin. Anything with a soft icing should go out close to when it'll be eaten. Keep crisp cookies and soft cookies in separate tins, or you'll end up with two batches of something in between.
Sugar cookie dough needs at least an hour in the fridge before you roll it. The recipe wasn't kidding.
It's over on the 25th. You've got 40 left. The Court's sorry for your loss.
The Ruling: Allowed from December 1 through December 25.
This ruling comes from a joke website. There is no court. The dates are our opinion, and the practical tips are ordinary common sense, so use your own judgment.