Your Guide to Cookie Greatness

• Whisk oil and eggs in a medium bowl until well combined. Add cake mix and blend until smooth with no dry spots.
• Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for thirty minutes.
• While dough is chilling, preheat oven to 375 F, line 2 half sheet pans with parchment paper, and clean up workspace.
• Use a #30 disher to scoop dough into a bowl of powdered sugar. Roll dough balls in sugar to cover well.
• Place on your two baking sheets, spaced evenly, about 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 8 minutes at 375*F.
• Leave cookies on hot sheet pan for two minutes to set up, then immediately transfer to cooling rack.
• Let cool for 15 minutes before eating.

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.
• Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in Stand mixer until creamy.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Gradually beat in flour mixture.
• Stir in morsels with spoon.
• Line ½ sheet pan with ½ sheet parchment paper
• Use #10 or # 12 disher to position 4 cookies per ½ sheet pan.
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered oats with the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated. With a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips, grated chocolate and walnuts.
• Roll the dough into 2-ounce balls (or about 2 heaping tablespoonfuls worth) and place about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time until the edges are set but the center still looks undone, about 10 minutes. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days (they can also be frozen for up to 2 months).

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two large cookie sheets, or line them with parchment paper or reusable silicone liners.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until creamy. Add brown and granulated sugars, then beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Then, beat in vanilla extract.
• In a separate bowl, use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Set mixer on low speed, and beat flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in oats and raisins.
• Spoon out dough by large tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie.
• Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, about 9 to 13 minutes. Centers will still be quite soft, but they will firm up as the cookies cool. Cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

• In large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy; add egg and vanilla; blend well.
• Combine the flour and salt in a bowl or on a sheet of wax paper.
• By hand or with a mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture; mix just until combined.
• Divide the dough into 2 equal portions; blend the cocoa into one portion.
• Refrigerate the two portions for at least 1 hour.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the plain vanilla dough into a rectangle about 16-by-6 inches.
• Roll the chocolate dough out to a rectangle the same size and carefully place on top of the plain dough.
• Roll the layered doughs out to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
• Beginning at the wide side, roll the dough up tightly. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours or overnight.
• Heat the oven to 400 F.
• Cut the roll into 1/8-inch slices. Let the dough warm slightly if it breaks up when cutting.
• Arrange the cookies on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheets about 1 inch apart.
• Bake for about 7 to 9 minutes, or until the cookies are set.
• Remove the cookies from the baking sheets immediately and cool completely on racks.

• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

• In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat all of the icing ingredients together on high speed for 5 minutes. When lifting the whisk up off the icing, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 10-15 seconds. If it’s too thick, add a little more water. If it’s too thin, add a little more sifted confectioners’ sugar.
• Icing completely dries in about 2 hours at room temperature. If you’re layering royal icing onto cookies for specific designs and need it to set quickly, place cookies in the refrigerator to help speed it up.

• Whisk AP flour, almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium-high until the mixture is light, fluffy and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and beat until everything is well combined, again stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary.
• Add in dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed, just until incorporated.
• Divide dough in 2 equal pieces, and wrap each piece in cling film, patting into a 1-inch-thick disk. Chill at least 2 hours, up to 5 days ahead.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper so it’s about 1/8 inch thick. (Because of the almonds, the dough may crack in places while you’re rolling it out. This is O.K., just patch it up with scraps.)
• Using a round cookie cutter 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out as many circles as possible. Take half of these circles and cut out a 1-inch circle from the interior of the larger circles, creating a doughnut shape that will become the top of the cookie. If at any point the dough becomes too soft to cut and cleanly remove from parchment paper, slide it onto a cookie sheet and chill for a few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator. Gather any scraps of dough, combine them and roll them out, chilling as necessary. Transfer dough circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced 1 inch apart and bake until the edges are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
• To assemble the linzer cookies, spread about a teaspoon of raspberry jam onto the flat sides of the larger circles. Dust the tops of the cutout circles with powdered sugar and place on top of raspberry jam.

• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly spray an 1/3 pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, and salt.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, olive oil, water, and vanilla.
• Sprinkle the dry mix over the wet mix and stir until just combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the top. Bake for 40 to 48 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs attached. Cool completely before slicing.

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, sugar and anise flavoring until well blended. Combine the flour and baking powder, stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough. Divide dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a roll as long as your cookie sheet. Place roll onto the prepared cookie sheet, and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. When The cookies are cool enough to handle, slice each one crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices cut side up back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6 to 10 minutes on each side. Slices should be lightly toasted.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12- by 17-inch baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda; set aside.
• Using a heavy-duty electric mixer, cream together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter for 3 to 5 minutes at medium speed. Add vanilla extract and espresso. Mix for 10 seconds. Add eggs one at a time, mixing for 10 seconds at medium-low speed after each addition. Add sifted flour mixture and mix at low speed until dough comes together, 1 to 2 minutes. Add chocolate chips and mix just until chips are evenly incorporated, 15 to 20 seconds.
• Transfer dough to a work surface and divide in two, shaping into balls. Form each ball into a log 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Transfer logs to prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly. Brush tops of logs with egg wash and sprinkle each log with 1 tablespoon raw sugar. Bake until biscotti have spread, have a few cracks and bounce back slightly when pressed with fingertips, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut logs into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch slices. Place each slice with a cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or nonstick liner. Bake until firm, crisp and slightly dry, about 15 minutes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days, or freeze for up to three months.

Make Cookies

• Adjust oven rack to low center position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Place peanuts in a food processor and pulse until the texture of bread crumbs. Set aside.
• In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping sides as necessary. Then beat in crunchy peanut butter until fully incorporated, followed by eggs and vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Fold in ground peanuts just until incorporated.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop dough onto sheet in spoonfuls a little bigger than a golf ball, about two inches apart. Dip a fork in cold water and then press the back into dough, repeating to make a crisscross.
• Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges, but not top, 11 to 12 minutes. They will not look completely baked. Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 3 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Make Frosting

• Combine 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a small bowl adding enough milk to make for a creamy, frosting like texture. Spread frosting on one cookie and top off to make "sandwich".

• Sift together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, peanut butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and light brown sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat until well blended. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing thoroughly. If the dough is very soft, refrigerate for about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray, oil or line a cookie sheet with nonstick liner and set aside. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. (For a precise number of cookies, divide the dough into 5 pieces, and shape each piece into 12 balls.)
• Roll cookies in sugar and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake until very light brown and puffed, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and lightly press a candy kiss into center of each cookie, allowing it to crack slightly. Return to oven until light golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from oven, cool completely and store in an airtight container.

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Blend in flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
• Mix 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon together. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until just set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

• Put pecans, 1 cup of the sugar and salt in food processor and blend until nuts are ground fine. Cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces and add it to nut mixture with processor running. Process until smooth. Add vanilla extract. Add flour and continue blending, using pulse mechanism of processor.
• Scrape dough into a bowl. Cover tightly and refrigerate one hour. 3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Scoop dough with tablespoon and form 1-inch balls by rolling dough between palms (lightly flour hands, if necessary). Place balls 1 1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 15 minutes or until the cookies barely begin to brown. Cool for 2 minutes. Use small spatula to lift cookies from sheets. Roll the cookies in the remaining sugar.

• Cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy.
• Slowly incorporate the eggs and yolk and extract, scraping the bowl down in between.
• Sift the flour and mix in until just incorporated.
• Prepare a piping bag with a large star tip.
• Fill the bag about 2⁄3 full.
• Applying gentle pressure on the bag, pipe uniform rosettes onto your prepared sheet pan.
• Bake at 350F for 10-18 minutes until done.
• The outer edges of the cookie should appear light golden brown.

• Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
• Working with a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.
• Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.
• Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly.
• Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.
• Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half.
• Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and put in freezer until very cold.
• Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 325 °F.
• Line two ½ sheets with parchment
• Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick.
• Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.
• Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for exactly 12 minutes.
• Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.
• Garnish with melted chocolate and crushed nuts.

Make the macarons:

• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the powdered sugar, almond flour, and ½ teaspoon of salt, and process on low speed, until extra fine. Sift the almond flour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl.
• In a separate large bowl, whip the egg whites and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add the granulated sugar until fully incorporated. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form (you should be able to turn the bowl upside down without anything falling out).
• Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add the food coloring and beat until just combined.
• Add about ⅓ of the sifted almond flour mixture at a time to the beaten egg whites and use a spatula to gently fold until combined. After the last addition of almond flour, continue to fold slowly until the batter falls into ribbons and you can make a figure 8 while holding the spatula up.
• Transfer the macaron batter into a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
• Pipe the macarons onto the parchment paper in 1½-inch (3-cm) circles, spacing at least 1-inch (2-cm) apart.
• Tap the baking sheet on a flat surface 5 times to release any air bubbles.
• Let the macarons sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until dry to the touch.
• Preheat the oven to 300˚F (150˚C).
• Bake the macarons for 17 minutes, until the feet are well-risen and the macarons don’t stick to the parchment paper.
• Transfer the macarons to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.

Make the buttercream:

• In a large bowl, add the butter and beat with a mixer for 1 minute until light and fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Add the cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat to combine, until desired consistency is reached.
• Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
• Add a dollop of buttercream to one macaron shell. Top it with another macaron shell to create a sandwich. Repeat with remaining macaron shells and buttercream.
• Place in an airtight container for 24 hours to “bloom”.