Makes 5 dozen cookies

Use cookie or baking sheets that measure at least 15 by 12 inches. Don’t be disconcerted by the scant amount of batter: You really are going to spread it very thin. Use the edges of the parchment paper as your guide, covering the entire surface thinly and evenly. For easier grating, freeze a 2-inch piece of peeled ginger for 30 minutes, then use a rasp-style grater.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The original recipes for Fairy Gingerbread Cookies melted in our mouths but were also severely lacking in flavor. A bit of vanilla extract and salt helped boost the otherwise bland confections. Doubling the ginger added a much-needed kick, but without any competing flavors it was overwhelming. We cut back a little and toasted the ground ginger to bring out its natural flavor. Grating fresh ginger straight into the batter added even more intense ginger flavor.

Switching from bread flour to all-purpose flour made the batter slightly easier to spread onto an overturned baking sheet or cookie sheet. A little baking soda helped retain the cookies’ airy crispness.

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.

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 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 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.”