Cookie

This recipe is so versatile you can use any type of chocolate, nut or dried fruit. Don’t expect leftovers!

She filched one anyway, and ate it on her way out. It was stuffed with chopped nuts and fruit and cheese, the crust flaky and still warm from the oven. Eating Ser Amory's tart made Arya feel daring. Barefoot surefoot lightfoot, she sang under her breath. I am the ghost in Harrenhal. —A Clash of Kings

In honor of the Girl Scouts' 100th anniversary, Skinny Chef Jennifer Iserloh put a slim spin on their popular Samoa. Ours is lower in fat and calories—Scout's honor!

Any salty hard cheese, such as an aged Manchego, Grana Padano, or Mimolette, would be a fine substitute for the Parmesan in these cookies.

These are like the best Pop- Tarts you've ever had. Raspberry jam is traditional, but try any fruit preserve.

Sweet meets salty in these oatmeal-raisin cookies flecked with crisp bacon bits. They're great for breakfast or an afternoon snack alongside a cup of coffee.

Crunchy edges and soft centers make Lahey's cookies a classic.

Dark chocolate, walnuts, and crystallized ginger combine in these incomparably good biscotti. Chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa helps keep them rich but not too sweet.

Everyone needs one reliable recipe for an old-fashioned drop cookie. This master recipe fills the bill. It’s simple (no machines necessary—the butter can be creamed by hand, though you can use a mixer for ease) and infinitely variable (modify the dough with any of the add-ins listed below, or split it into two or three batches so that you can make more than one type of cookie at the same time). And if you want, you can bake a portion of it, then form the remainder into balls (on baking sheets) and place in freezer until frozen. Store the frozen balls of dough in a resealable bag in the freezer until until you’re ready to bake; let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking, and bake a few minutes longer than the recommended time. These cookies are somewhat cakey; for a chewier texture, reduce the flour by 1/2 cup and the baking time by 2 minutes.

Pizzelle, which some say are the original cookie, are thin waffle cookies from the Abruzzo region of Italy. They’re made of a simple batter of flour, eggs, sugar, and butter, and are cooked in a pizzelle iron (available at cooking supply stores and online sources) that is either electric, like a waffle iron, or handheld over the stove, which is what we use. Note that this recipe makes enough batter for 16 pizzelle. They should be served the day they’re made, but the batter lasts for a week in the refrigerator so you can reserve the extra batter to cook fresh pizzelle whenever you want them. We serve pizzelle with the Caramel Coppetta with Marshmallow Sauce and Salted Spanish Peanuts (page 296) and also sticking out of each serving of gelato or sorbetto. Thin wafer cookies are often served in a coppetta of gelato in Italy, and it just makes the presentation more festive.

This is a cross between a cookie and a crostata. Orange marmalade is one of the only fruit tart fillings that we don’t make from scratch because there are so many good versions of orange marmalade available in stores. Almond meal is available in the baking section of specialty food stores. If you can’t find it, grind fresh almonds in a food processor with a small amount of confectioners’ sugar until the almonds are the texture of fine meal. You will need a 3 1/4-inch round cookie cutter to make these.

The recipe for this was a gift to me from Fred Chino, one of the members of the Chino Farm family. Fred loves to bake—and he’s really good at it. The first time I tried his coconut cookies, they were so good I couldn’t stop eating them. Now we make a slight variation at Mozza2Go to make them feel more Italian. Even though I see the cookies every day, I still have a hard time resisting them. You will need a 2-inch round cookie cutter to make these.

It seems like just about every culture has a version of a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth cookie made with ground nuts. In Mexico, they make Mexican wedding cookies. In the American South, they have pecan sandies. These cookies are based on a Greek version made with ground walnuts. We press a walnut half into each cookie, which looks very pretty. You will need a 1-inch round cookie cutter to make these.

Dahlia developed these cookies—shortbread topped with rosemary, pine nuts, and nougatine—to serve alongside the Butterscotch Budino (page 272) at the Pizzeria, to contrast with the smooth texture of the pudding. We now make two versions: the small cookies to serve alongside the budino in the Pizzeria and a larger version to sell individually for Mozza2Go. You will need a 1 1/4-inch or a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make these.

Since we offer only one chocolate cookie on our assorted cookie plate, we made sure that cookie is as chocolatey as possible. We call them maltagliati, which means “badly cut.” In truth, the dough is not cut at all; the pieces are torn from a slab of chilled dough. In any case, the cookies are sure to please any dark-chocolate lover.

These rich and chewy confections are an old-world classic, unusual in that they are first cooked and then baked. A mélange of ingredients, including honey and candied orange peel, is used to make them; their underside is covered with bittersweet chocolate.

You may substitute dark corn syrup for the golden syrup, but the flavor will vary slightly. If the cookies get too cool to shape, return them to the oven for a few seconds until they soften.