Alfajores are a type of small cookie that is found in Latin America, where two plain cookies sandwich a layer of dulce de leche. The cookies are then often sprinkled with powdered sugar or rolled in a bit of shredded coconut to finish them off. As it is with so many cookies and cakes, there are many ways to make alfajores. Some are very cake-like, while others pack in so much dulce de leche filling that they verge on being candies. Still others use different fillings than the traditional dulce de leche for some variety. I’ve had a few variations, but the simpler renditions always appeal to me. I like a butter cookie with a generous spread of dulce de leche inside, and perhaps a bit of shredded coconut rolled around the edges when I have some handy.

These cookies are simple butter cookies, with a hint of vanilla added to them. They’re very tender, with a lovely buttery flavor to them, and they take on a nice chewiness once they’ve been filled with the dulce de leche. They’re quick and easy to make because, although they are sandwich cookies, the dough is simply dropped onto the baking sheet and left to spread during baking, not rolled out or sliced. That said, because you’re not using a cookie cutter to get the sizes exact, try to make sure that each ball of dough you put onto the baking sheet is about the same size.

For the filling, you can use homemade dulce de leche or store-bought. The amount that you use will vary by exactly how much filling you want inside your cookies (I like a moderate amount, but others like to pile it in!). Keep in mind that it may ooze out the sides of the cookies a bit if the dulce de leche is on the thin side, so don’t quite spread the filling to the edge of the cookies. If it does run out, roll the edges of the cookies in some shredded coconut to add a little more flavor and help keep that filling in place.
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Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are great because they deliver all the chocolate and all the buttery flavor of a regular chocolate chip cookie, with a little bit more texture and a delicious oaty, nutty flavor on top. When you toast nuts, you bring out their nuttiness even more, and this same thing works on oats. So, I added some toasted, sweetened granola right into this batch of cookies where I might have otherwise just used oatmeal. I got cookies that delivered even more flavor than before.

The cookies are thick and seem hearty, because of the granola. They are slightly chewy and crisp on the outside. You can definitely taste the flavors from the granola, whether yours is sweetened with maple syrup, honey or sugar, in the cookies, too.

I just used a plain granola (Cascadian Farms Organic Oats and Honey, to be specific), without any added nuts or dried fruits, so that I could really find the granola flavor in the finished cookies. I added in chocolate chips and chopped, toasted pecans separately. You can use just about any type of granola you like in these, whether it has nuts or dried fruits already added. The only thing you need to do to prep your granola is to chop it into small pieces - chocolate chip or almond sized clusters - before mixing it in so that you get an even distribution of granola throughout the cookies.
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Whoopie pies are a classic snack cake - despite the name that makes it sound like some sort of practical joke (like a whoopie cushion). They’re two soft cookies sandwiched together with a creamy filling. The standard whoopie pie has a chocolate cookie and a vanilla cream center. As good as this combination is, there is no harm in switching things up a little, right?

These are reverse whoopie pies, made with a vanilla cookie and a chocolate cream filling. The chocolate filling makes them seem a little bit richer than the classic pies. The cookies are very soft and cake-like, so eating the whoopie pie is almost like eating a cupcake where the frosting is in the center.

The pies are easy to make. Simply dollop the batter onto a baking sheet, as you would with regular cookies, then allow them to cool completely before making the chocolate cream filling. Try to get every cookie to be about the same size, so that it is easy to match them up in pairs for the sandwiches. Otherwise, you can make them any size you like.

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It’s hard to resist a good shortbread. It shouldn’t be too crumbly or too crisp, and it must have a rich butter flavor. This recipe makes just a small batch of shortbread that is pretty close to that good, middle-of-the-road shortbread that is well balanced, flavorful and should appeal to absolutely everyone.

This shortbread uses melted butter, which I browned on the stovetop to give it a toasty, nutty flavor that adds a lot of richness to the finished cookies. To be honest, skipping the browning step doesn’t hurt the shortbread too much, but it doesn’t take much time and the results are well worth it. The recipe was inspired by  some Dutch shortbread I had, which a Dutch friend made and shared with me. After a little bit of research, I was able to find some recipes similar to the shortbread she made online and used those as a starting point for my version. The browned butter was an element that I couldn’t resist adding to enrich the overall flavor.

This shortbread is baked in a pie or tart pan and is cut into wedges to serve. It is good right away, but will also keep well in an airtight container for a couple of days.

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It’s hard to beat a good butter cookie. It’s also hard to find one that is just the right combination of crispness, tenderness and a good buttery flavor. Bakeries - even otherwise good ones - are filled with bland “butter cookies” topped with a variety of colorful sprinkles to lure you into giving them a chance. I stick to making my own butter cookies these days, especially since I found a recipe that makes the best butter cookies I’ve ever had.

The recipe is from Pam Anderson, a food writer who is a former editor of Cook’s Illustrated, whose work is regularly published in USA Weekend, and the author of several cookbooks. Her all purpose butter cookies are simple, delicious and very versatile, so hers has been my go-to recipe since I first clipped it out of the paper years ago. The dough is very easy to put together and makes a great batch of slice-and-bake cookies that you can decorate with sprinkles or nuts. There is no leavening in this dough and the cookies will spread slightly, but hold their shape well, during baking. This means that the dough also works well as dough for spritz cookies, which are made by putting cookie dough through a cookie press (common around Christmas) and pressing it into different designs.

The dough can be made a few days in advance and stored in the refrigerator or freezer. The dough is sticky when it is warm, so you need a well-floured surface to work on. That said, this is a good feature because it means that you can work with the dough quite a bit (if you want to try making cutout cookies, for instance) without the dough toughening up. I usually stick with the slice-n-bake cookies, rolling the edges of the cookie logs in sprinkles or nuts before slicing them into individual cookies on the cookie sheet. The cookies above have been rolled in sprinkles and in shredded coconut.

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I have to admit that sprinkles are still one of my favorite ways to decorate sugar cookies and butter cookies, but there are so many other ways to decorate them that I can’t just stick to the same old sprinkles every time I bake. Frostings and glazes are great to work with. It is even more fun to paint cookies.

Cookie paint can be made with egg yolks and food coloring. Simply mix the two together to create the color you want and brush it on to an unbaked cookie. The egg yolk glaze bakes up to be incredibly shiny and vibrantly colored in the oven. The only downside - and I only say this because some butter cookies are not terribly sweet to begin with - is that unlike sprinkles, the egg yolk paint isn’t sweet and doesn’t add any kind of flavor to the cookie. That said, it’s a plus if your cookies don’t need any extra sugar on top!

In the Christmas spirit, I make a rainbow of colors and painted this batch of Soft Cutout Christmas Cookies to look like ornaments. A round cookie cutter was ideal for creating the ornament shapes, and the colors were so bright that I could keep the designs simple. I put these on display near the Christmas Tree as we ate them.

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