Cookie

Using stencils to add powdered sugar designs is a great way to dress up the treats.

This cookie is popular in most of Eastern Europe. It features a tender pastry and, in this rendition, a delicious not-too-sweet cranberry and walnut filling. The cookies are formed by rolling up triangles of the pastry into small crescents.

Chewy, candy-like caramel cookies enhanced with orange and crystallized ginger. The leftover orange sugar syrup is a delicious sweetener for hot tea.

Much richer than the average cookie, these treats start with a brownie crust, which gets filled with a luxurious mocha cheesecake mixture. The whole thing is finished off with a sour cream topping and then cut into bars. Be sure to bake the crust and filling a day before serving the bars.

If you're short on time, you can skip the white chocolate decoration.

Christmas cookie baking starts Thanksgiving weekend for one food editor. Together with her mother, she makes family favorites like the buttery balls below.

Perfect for the holiday season. Cranberries add tang to the filling of these colorful sandwich cookies. You will have some small unsandwiched cookies, too.

"This was a Christmas teatime favorite when I cooked at castles in Scotland years ago," says Doon Fergusson-Howlett of Dublin, Ireland."My sister serves these as petits fours, and they are always highly praised."

Lesley Renner of Denver, Colorado, writes: "There is a funky little eatery called Bump & Grind Cafe near my office. I go there often to enjoy a latte and one of their shortbread cookies with chocolate chips and a touch of orange — it's called a Miss Emma Peel cookie. Would you ask chef Cliff Trubowitz for the recipe?" This recipe calls for double chocolate chips, which have a deep, rich chocolate flavor because they are made with bittersweet chocolate. Regular semisweet chocolate chips can be substituted.

Girl Scout Thin Mints from your kitchen: If you love those cookies, you'll love these. Make an extra batch to give as gifts.