Electric Mixer

Cream-Filled Chocolate Sandwiches If you like, roll the sides of the filled cookies in crushed candy canes or finely chopped nuts. The dough can be made ahead and chilled, wrapped well in plastic, for up to one week or frozen for up to one month; let thaw completely before proceeding with the recipe.

These oversize sweets don’t need any mix-ins or frostings—their bold chocolate flavor says it all. In addition to butter, this recipe calls for melted vegetable shortening, which produces an unbeatable texture. (Melted unsalted butter can be substituted for the shortening, if desired.)

The six ingredients called for here come together in a delightful cookie. Pistachios and lemon juice make a great flavor combination, and the egg white gives a soft texture.

A filling made with sweetened pureed berries, heavy cream, and white chocolate is tucked between two vanilla-bean cookies.

Oversize and dense with chocolate chips, raisins, and pecans, these chunky treats might just be the ultimate cookies. The recipe has been a staff favorite since it first appeared in Martha Stewart Living in 1990.

Some claim that macaroons were first made in Venice during the Renaissance, gaining their name from the Italian maccherone, or “fine paste.” Others say that the original recipe came from a monastery in France. Whatever its origin, the combination of almond paste, sugar, and egg whites produces a cookie with a crackly outer layer and a chewy center

In one batch, find the flavors of two bakery classics: chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. Chopped walnuts and rolled oats add texture and more layers of taste. Use a ripe banana, which has more concentrated flavor, and is easier to mash, than an unripe one.

Toasted wheat germ and a generous amount of raisins make these cookies hearty. You can substitute an equal measure of dried cranberries, sour cherries, or chopped apricots for the raisins. To make oatmeal–chocolate chunk cookies, substitute 12 ounces good-quality chocolate, coarsely chopped, for the raisins.

The title refers to the cocoa powder and white chocolate in this recipe; the coconut and pecans lend additional chunky, nutty appeal. You can swap in hazelnuts, almonds, or pecans for some or all of the walnuts.

Layers of texture—crumbly shortbread and a chewy toffee-like topping—balance these indulgent nut bars. Diced candied ginger adds pleasantly surprising spice.

These big cookies have two coats of sanding sugar, which create a delicate crust that sparkles. The crunchy coating gives way to a soft cookie with bright, lemony flavor in each bite.

With sweet apricot jam atop a thin, buttery dough and a piped lattice topping, this bar cookie is as lovely to look at as it is to eat.

Lucinda Scala Quinn, editorial director of food and entertaining for Martha Stewart Living, keeps this cookie dough on hand for casual get-togethers. After forming the dough into 1-inch balls, she flattens them slightly before freezing on cookie sheets until firm; the ready-to-bake pieces are then frozen in resealable plastic bags for up to one month.

These single-serving goodies are kitchen wizardry: Blondie batter is tucked into cupcake liners, topped with a combination of coconut, chocolate chips, walnuts, and dried cherries, and baked until golden.

Though they have all the flavors of gingerbread, these cookies are softer and chewier than cut out varieties, such as the Gingerbread Snowflakes on page 259. They are as easy to prepare as Grammy’s Chocolate Cookies (page 75), with a similar old-fashioned appeal.

Stash a few of these hearty cookies into a backpack on your next hiking trip. They are packed with wholesome dried fruits and nuts. For variety, try other combinations of dried fruit and nuts: Bananas, mangoes, and macadamias lend a tropical note; hazelnuts and pecans go well with figs, pears, and cranberries.

The origin of the name of these homey, drop-style cookies is unclear, but recipes for them appear in early-twentieth-century American cookbooks and newspapers. After rolling balls of dough in cinnamon sugar, give them ample room on baking sheets; they spread quite a bit.

Oversized and ever-so-slightly underbaked, these cookies feature milk chocolate in two forms—melted and mixed into the dough, and chopped into big chunks.

Like little cakes with a citrus perfume, these shell-shape treats are equally delightful as a light dessert with fresh fruit or as an accompaniment to a cup of tea. Madeleines are most often associated with the French author Marcel Proust, who immortalized them in the opening scene of the novel Remembrance of Things Past.

If you’re a fan of store-bought fig cookies, just wait until you taste these—they’re well worth the time spent making them.