Cookie

Wonderful sugar cookies with the crunch of poppy seeds and a luscious lemon cream cheese filling. Assemble them shortly before serving to keep them crisp. If you like, you can always skip the filling and serve the cookies on their own.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Festive pipe cookies spread with minted white chocolate and coated with dark chocolate. Great for after dinner.

Fudgies, says my friend Cindy Kane, "are the most wonderful food in the world." She must really think so, since she's sent me the recipe three times. It is pretty great, though, and not only that — it's also easy enough for children aged eight and up to make for themselves. And, says Cindy, "It makes more than you'd think." The only change I've made from her recipe is that I've substituted unsweetened chocolate for cocoa.

In 1933, Ruth Wakefield of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, chopped up some chocolate bars and added the chunks to cookie dough, hoping that they would blend into the dough as they melted. Instead they held their shape, and Toll House cookies were a delicious creation. By the 1940s they were a hit.

Presenting the ultimate treat for the die-hard chocolate fan….

On Valentine's Day, it would be hard to beat these lovely treats. Good news: You can begin pre-paring them a day ahead.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Makrut Lime Mousse With Honeydew Water.

La Famille gives these sweet petits fours new personality by adding cumin. To make them, we started with Faye Levy's recipe, from our October 1990 issue. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

Few cookies are easier to make or more sublime to eat. I created them for my beautiful Hungarian mom, who called them finum, or refined. Sometimes we eat them with a strong cup of coffee as we play Scrabble, or after dinner, with a slightly chilled glass of sweet Tokay wine.

Light cookies are filled with dessert-wine ice cream and fruit. The recipe makes about six cookies, so there's an allowance for breakage or extras for nibbling.

A wonderful cookie to bake with kids. Have them cut out their own snowflake stencils, then let the powdered sugar fly. Lace doilies also work well as stencils.