Electric Mixer

Jumbo versions of these iced cookies are a New York City specialty. Deciding where to begin presents the sweetest of dilemmas: chocolate first, or vanilla? Don’t worry if you can’t choose—these petite versions are just the right size to eat in one bite.

A morning treat gains all-day appeal with these cakey chocolate cookies. Like breakfast waffles, the cookies are prepared on a waffle iron. For best results, make sure the surface is nice and hot before you pour the batter.

These fruit-and-nut-rich cookies are like soft granola bars; they make a hearty and delicious after-school snack.

Rich chocolate ganache and cool peppermint make a merry combination, especially at holiday time. To get stripes on the meringues, you pipe the cookies with a pastry bag painted with red food coloring.

Moist, cakey, and flecked with fresh fruit in every bite, these cookies are just the thing to pack into a picnic basket on a late-summer day.

These very thin, very crisp cookies have a strong mocha flavor with just a hint of orange. It’s important to use Dutch-process cocoa, which is richer and darker than plain cocoa. Dutch-process powder is treated with alkali to help neutralize the cocoa’s natural acidity.

These are a variation on the Moravian spice cookie, which is traditionally made with molasses. Although this version is sweetened with brown sugar, it retains the characteristic thinness of the original variety.

A relative of the Chinese almond cookie, this light sesame round makes a perfect companion to a strong cup of coffee. When preparing to grind toasted seeds, let them cool first: Hot seeds release too much of their essential oils and thus lose flavor.

A generous sprinkle of coarse sanding sugar is the only embellishment on these sweet versions of the salty snack.

Combining beaten egg whites with a nut-and-sugar mix helps give these cookies their airy texture.

This recipe calls for natural peanut butter, which gives the cookies a richer peanut flavor. Old-fashioned rolled oats produce a heartier texture than the smaller-cut quick-cooking variety, while whole peanuts deliver added crunch.

These Swiss cookies, sometimes spelled Bräzeli or Bratzeli, are made with a specialty tool much like a waffle iron, but the results are thinner. You can also use a pizzelle iron.

The addition of Earl Gray tea in this recipe gives the cookies the slightest hint of bergamot orange flavoring. Grind the tea leaves in a small food processor or a spice grinder.

Crisp, sugar-dusted leaves and acorns celebrate the autumn months, but these cookies can be made any time of year. Cut them into other shapes and sizes if you wish. Score them with a paring knife to add stylized details and adjust the baking time if the size of the cutter is different.

White chocolate ganache fills these sandwich cookies, which are finished with a drizzle of melted white chocolate. Pipe heart shapes, letters, or other designs on top of each for a personalized gift.

These leaf-shaped chrusciki (khroost-CHEE-kee) are adapted from Martha’s mother’s classic Polish recipe. The dough is kneaded for a while, to incorporate lots of air into it and keep the finished cookies light and delicate. If you’re storing fried cookies, wait until just before serving to dust them with confectioners’ sugar.

These all-purpose cutouts are dark and rich, they keep well, and the dough can be rolled again and again without any compromise in texture or flavor. We decorated ours with nonpareils before baking, but you could decorate them after baking with Royal Icing instead—see the recipe on page 241.

These cookies originated in Spain, but today they are often associated with the American Southwest, particularly New Mexico, where they are the official state cookie. Lard imparts incomparable flavor—it’s worth seeking it out, although vegetable shortening can be substituted.