Books can help you bake a great holiday

With a week until Thanksgiving, there's still time to get some baking done ahead. Truth be told, if you double your recipes, you can have some "frozen assets" when Christmas comes rolling around. A month isn't too long to have something in the freezer if it is handled properly. I find that freezing baked goods, then wrapping them in foil and packing them in freezer bags or storage containers keeps them from getting icy or banged up.

"Peter Reinhardt's Artisan Breads Every Day." While owners of Reinhardt's other books won't find too much new material in this one, for Reinhardt newbies, it's a solid collection of his best baking recipes, ranging from basic baguettes to bagels. It is also a photo-illustrated text of his artisan bread technique. Reinhardt has found a way to speed up the process yet achieve the same taste and texture. So if you want to have stunning sticky-buns ready for Thanksgiving breakfast, beautiful yeast rolls with the feast and soft sandwich bread for the turkey sandwiches, you can get ahead by making them this weekend and storing them in the freezer. Hardcover. Ten Speed Press. $30.

"I Love Macarons." These are not your plain almond paste macarons or the domed coconut ones. The macarons author Hisako Ogita will teach you to make are the pastel-colored fancy little French sweets that are sandwiched together with toothsome fillings. Meticulously laid out with color photographs, Ogita's step-by-step procedure for making them is the best I've seen. They would be welcome as a dessert accompaniment to ambrosia or fresh fruit and tins of these beauties would make wonderful Christmas presents. Paperback. Chronicle Books. $14.95.

Marion Sullivan is culinary programs specialist at the Culinary Institute of Charleston. Send your cookbook questions to Booksforcooks@bellsouth.net.