Makes 80 1½-inch cookies
For the best results, use fresh spices. For efficiency, form the second batch of cookies while the first batch bakes. And no, the 2 teaspoons of baking soda is not a mistake; it’s essential to getting the right texture.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We wanted to put the “snap” back in Gingersnap cookies. This meant creating a cookie that not only breaks cleanly in half and crunches satisfyingly with every bite but also has an assertive ginger flavor and heat. The key to texture was reducing the moisture in the final baked cookie. We achieved this by reducing the amount of sugar (which holds on to moisture), increasing the baking soda (which created cracks in the dough where more moisture could escape), and lowering the oven temperature (which increased the baking time.) For flavor we doubled the normal amount of dried ginger but also added fresh ginger, black pepper, and cayenne to ensure our cookie had real “snap.”

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Nutella is a chocolate-hazelnut spread that can be found near the peanut butter in most grocery stores; you will need one 13-ounce jar for this recipe. These cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Instant espresso powder in this recipe for Hazelnut Chewies deepened the chocolate flavor without calling attention to itself. We used the creaming method to mix the dough—beating the fats and sugar together until light and fluffy before adding the liquid ingredients, and finally, the dry ingredients. Creaming ensured the best spread and rise. When we used cold butter, it didn’t mix nearly as well with the sugar as softened butter and, consequently, the cookies turned out flat.

MAKES 24 COOKIES

Do not use unsalted peanut butter for this recipe.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Peanut butter flavor molecules can be trapped by flour in baked applications, so we ratcheted up the flavor’s intensity by sandwiching an uncooked peanut butter filling between our cookies. Adding a full cup of confectioners’ sugar to the filling made it firm enough to stay in place, and we balanced the sweetness with a relatively low-sugar cookie component. Extra liquid and extra baking soda gave our cookies the thin, flat dimensions and sturdy crunch that are vital to a sandwich cookie.

MAKES ABOUT 30 COOKIES

If you cannot find superfine sugar, you can obtain a close approximation by processing regular granulated sugar in a food processor for about 20 seconds.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
In our search for a holiday cookie recipe that would yield cookies sturdy enough to decorate yet tender enough to eat, we started with the fat and found the right amount of butter to give the cookies great flavor without making them greasy. We used all-purpose flour in our holiday cookie dough recipe because it gave the dough enough gluten to provide structure. Superfine sugar gave our cookies a fine, even crumb. A surprise ingredient—cream cheese—added flavor and richness to our Jam Sandwiches without altering the texture of the cookies.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/01/secrets-to-jam-sandwiches-cookies/

Rich and buttery, with the optimal crumbly, evenly browned texture.

Makes 16 wedges

Do not substitute granulated sugar for the confectioners’ sugar in the dough or the cookies will be tough; granulated sugar, however, is the best choice for sprinkling on the shortbread just before it goes into the oven. Although baking the shortbread on a double layer of parchment isn’t necessary, we found it helps absorb some of the grease the dough gives off during baking and cooling.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: Our approachable shortbread recipe relies on two ingredients—confectioners’ sugar and lots of butter—to give us the ultimate version of the sandy, sweet, buttery cookie. The small grains of the confectioners’ sugar melt easily into the dough, resulting in a finer texture than those recipes made with granulated sugar.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2012/12/secrets-to-shortbread-cookies/

Makes about 40 cookies

Be sure that the cookie dough is well chilled and firm so that it can be uniformly sliced.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Having slice-and-bake cookie dough in the refrigerator or freezer is great, because you can bake whenever the mood strikes. But because these simple cookie recipes have so few basic ingredients, imperfections are impossible to hide. With too much flour, the cookies are crisp but dry and bland; go overboard with butter, sugar, or egg and the cookies are rich but soft and misshapen. We set out to create a slice-and-bake cookie recipe that would combine both crispness and rich butter and vanilla flavor—in effect, shortbread shaped into a convenient slice-and-bake log. Using both granulated sugar and light brown sugar gave the cookies a richness and complexity that tasters liked. We used the food processor to combine our recipe ingredients quickly without whipping in too much air—our Orange-Poppy Seed Slice-and-Bake Cookies had the dense shortbread-like texture we were after.

MAKES 30 COOKIES

The almonds will continue to toast while the biscotti bake, so toast the nuts only until they are just fragrant.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We wanted biscotti that were hard and crunchy, but not hard to eat, and bold in flavor. To keep the crumb hard, we used just a small amount of butter (4 tablespoons), and to keep the biscotti from being too hard, we ground some of the nuts to a fine meal, which helped minimize gluten development in the crumb. To ensure bold flavor in a biscuit that gets baked twice, we increased the quantities of aromatic ingredients.

MAKES 32 COOKIES

If the dough gathers into a cohesive mass around the blade in the food processor workbowl, you have overprocessed it. Make sure to stop processing at the point where the mixture is separate and pebbly. If at any point during the cutting and rolling of the crescents the sheet of dough softens and becomes impossible to roll, slide it onto a baking pan and freeze it until it is firm enough to handle. Once the crescents are baking in the oven, start checking them for doneness at eighteen or nineteen minutes, especially those on the top-level rack. Feel free to substitute an equal quantity of chopped pitted prunes, chopped dried apricots, dried currants, dried cherries, or dried cranberries for the raisins in the filling.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
On the way to a rugelach recipe that gave us tender cookies with a bounteous filling, we discovered that freezing the circles of rolled-out dough before applying the filling gave our baked cookies the flakiest, most delicate texture. For the best filling for our rugelach recipe, we processed the preserves briefly in the food processor to break up larger pieces of fruit, which tend to spill out during baking. We chopped the nuts very fine and added them to the filling last, so they would block seepage.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Any flavor of jam can be used for this recipe; we found seedless jams work best. For best results, bake only one sheet of cookies at a time.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS: Including cream cheese in the cookie dough gave it a welcome richness. When making the impression for the jam, we made sure to wet our fingers before touching the dough. Re-indenting the dough balls after baking them for a few minutes prevented the indentation from disappearing during baking.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2012/11/secrets-to-jam-thumbprint-cookies/

MAKES SIXTEEN 4-INCH COOKIES

We like these cookies made with pecans and dried sour cherries, but walnuts or skinned hazelnuts can be substituted for the pecans, and dried cranberries for the cherries. Quick oats used in place of the old-fashioned oats will yield a cookie with slightly less chewiness. If your baking sheets are smaller than the ones described in the recipe, bake the cookies in three batches instead of two. These cookies keep for 4 to 5 days stored in an airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag, but they will lose their crisp exterior and become uniformly chewy after a day or so.