7 traditional cookie recipes

Buttery crescent cookies with ground nuts, chilled overnight, then shaped into half moons and rolled hot in powdered sugar. A traditional Christmas cookie with crumbly shortbread texture.

Italian chocolate nut cookies (mostaccioli) are dense, spiced cocoa cookies with chopped almonds and raisins on whole wheat flour. A traditional Calabrian holiday cookie with deep chocolate-clove flavor.

Kolacky cookies made with a tender cream cheese pastry dough filled with fruit spread, pinched into tri-cornered shapes, and baked golden. A Czech holiday cookie tradition.

Authentic biscotti di Prato (cantucci): the traditional Tuscan twice-baked almond cookies, made with no butter for a hard, crunchy bite built for dunking in coffee or vin santo.

This recipe is a tradition in my husband's Swedish family. It makes enough cookies to feed the Swedish Army.

Traditional German sauerbraten marinated for 3 days in vinegar and spices, then braised until fork-tender with a sweet-sour gravy thickened with gingersnap cookies. Authentic old-world pot roast flavor.

Rosettes are delicate Scandinavian fried cookies shaped on a decorative iron, crisp like a wafer and dusted with powdered sugar. A Christmas tradition in Nordic and Midwestern kitchens.