Dessert, Cookie Recipes

Chocolate and cherries - always a great combo - are enhanced in this winning shaped-cookie recipe by a coating of cocoa and powdered sugar. It was submitted by Lois A. Hernandez of West Allis.

Persimmon walnut coconut cookies fold ripe persimmon pulp into a soft, cake-like dough with toasted walnuts, sweet coconut, cinnamon, and allspice. A late-fall cookie when persimmons hit the markets.

These delicious and melted in your mouth cookies don't last long.

Buttery macadamia nut biscotti with half the nuts ground into the dough and half left whole. Twice-baked for a crisp, crunchy cookie with rich tropical flavor.

Apple cheddar wontons deep fried until golden and coated in cinnamon brown sugar. Sharp cheddar melts into sweet apple inside a crispy wonton shell for an addictive snack.

Freeze-ahead oatmeal cookie dough made with vegetable shortening, ready to slice and bake whenever cravings strike for chewy raisin nut cookies.

Lemon poppy seed biscotti twice-baked until crisp and golden with fresh lemon zest throughout. A crunchy Italian cookie perfect for dunking in tea or coffee.

Fruit puffed cookies made with angel food cake mix, dried fruit, and pecans. Just 4 ingredients for light, airy cookies that puff up golden in under 10 minutes.

Buttery drop cookies loaded with oats, vanilla milk chips, flaked coconut, and macadamia nuts. Sour cream keeps them soft and chewy. Makes 5 dozen for the holiday cookie swap.

Honey sour cream anise cookies bake into pillowy, soft drop cookies with brown sugar, honey, tangy sour cream, and aromatic aniseed. A licorice-scented old-country cookie for big batches.

Traditional Scottish shortbread with all-purpose and rice flours, butter, and a mix of white and brown sugars. Buttery, sandy-textured cookie scored into wedges and baked golden.

Mint Surprise Cookies hide a melty chocolate mint wafer inside soft brown-sugar dough, each one crowned with a toasted walnut. Chill the dough so it seals the surprise neatly before baking.

Melt-in-your mouth balls topped with crunch sesame seeds are a delicious, not too sweet, accompaniament to coffee or tea.

Hoernchen are German almond crescent cookies made with ground almonds, butter, and vanilla, dipped in colored sugar or sprinkles for a festive holiday cookie.

No-bake oatmeal cookies made with strawberry gelatin, coconut, and chopped nuts. Cooked to soft-ball stage on the stovetop and dropped onto waxed paper to set. Quick, chewy, and fruity.

Homemade fig newtons: a tender brown sugar and sour cream cookie dough wrapped around real homemade fig jam, baked in logs and sliced into soft bars. So much better than the boxed kind.