Cookie

There are untold numbers of sugar cookie recipes circulating throughout the Midwest. As students of this sweet know, lard makes for a particularly toothsome cookie, with a texture at once crisp and sandy. For a cookie that is crisp but also chewy, vegetable shortening is best.

The recipe for these melt-in-your-mouth pecan crescent cookies has been in my family for years," says Marilynn Bonecki of Marengo, Illinois. "They can be made a couple of weeks in advance, but it's hard to keep them in the house that long." Be sure to chill the dough overnight before shaping and baking the cookies.

This recipe originally accompanied Double-Decker Rhubarb Ice Cream Sandwiches.

These cookies are perfect with a cup of tea.

These ultra-rich and chocolaty sandwich cookies have creamy, coffee-spiked centers.

Favorite Italian flavors — espresso and hazelnut — come together in these appealing treats.

Traditionally, these Greek cookies, known as koulourakia, are formed into rings, twists and half circles. In this recipe, they are shaped into bow ties and twists, then glazed with anise-flavored honey. These are delicately sweet and nice with coffee.

Tender chocolate shortbread topped with a rich chocolate ganache just might be the perfect gift for the chocoholics on your list. For an elegant accent, decorate the shortbread with gold leaf, place the cookies on a tray or round platter lined with gold-colored tissue paper, and wrap it all up with cellophane and gold ribbon.

Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr (includes cooling)