I make up the dough and roll it into a log, using the wax paper and a cookie sheet method (hard to explain in words - I end up trapping the dough in the wax paper and then using the edge of a cookie sheet to push it so that it forms a uniformly shaped log - it's a clean and easy way to do it) so that I get a perfectly even log, about the size of the tube inside a roll of paper towels - make it any size I want, really. Then, I freeze it and can have fresh "slice & bake" cookies anytime without any fuss or mess to clean up. I'm not sure how long I've kept dough though. Wrap it well to keep other things/flavors from getting into it.