When (another) rainy day and a chocolate craving take place simultaneously, a chocolate cookie recipe can’t be far behind. This one from an old issue of Bon Appetit is both heavenly and ridiculously easy. It’s a cross between a cookie and a brownie – the egg whites give it a chewy texture that contrasts beautifully with the deep chocolate flavor – and the cacao nibs provide an aftertaste of chocolate that immediately makes you think you need to eat another one. This is a shiny, beautiful cookie, worthy of a hostess gift or the final course of a festive dinner party. Keep this one in mind for Christmas!

Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Serves: Makes 2 dozen
Prep time: 45 minutes

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This time of year makes me think longingly of back-to-school treats, like a really special cookie to nibble on after a frenetic day of school. I liked having enticing snacks waiting for my kids after school, because it would make them slow down long enough to tell me about their day while they ate. It became our routine, and helped me know what was going on with their schoolwork, teachers and friends.

Our snacks were generally healthier things, like fruit and cheese, but for the first day of school I always added a new cookie to the happily-expanding cookie repertoire. This chocolate sandwich cookie from the Claridge’s cookbook is the perfect first-day-of-school snack. It’s meltingly delicious, crumbly cookies held together by a rich buttercream ganache filling. It falls apart in your mouth for an explosion of chocolate in multiple textures – pure bliss!

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Adapted from Claridge’s The Cookbook – and more commonly referred to as ‘biscuits’ in the UK
Serves: Makes 30 cookies
Prep time: 2 hours, allowing for chocolate to cool, plus 12 hours for ganache to rest

To assemble, match cookies in equal-sized pairs. Fill another piping bag with ganache and pipe a teaspoon of ganache into the center of the flat side of one of the cookies. Top with remaining cookie and press together gently. (Use any extra ganache to pour on ice cream, fruit, or cake.)

Cookies will keep up to three days at room temperature in an airtight container.

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Two of my very favorite flavors in one cookie-like bar: what could be more delicious (and not entirely unhealthy!) If you have a look at the ingredients in the bar, it’s oatmeal, coconut oil and other healthy things. How healthy you want to make the chocolate topping depends on whether you use chocolate or cacao. I used a bit of both because as much as I know cacao is healthier, the chocolate tastes better to me.

That’s the balance I’m always searching for with the things I make; it’s important to try to be healthy, but eating healthy takes a whole new way of cooking sometimes and can be time-consuming and expensive. And then there’s how it makes you feel when you eat it – if you feel deprived when you’re eating that kale bagel, you’re not likely to continue eating healthfully. As my husband says, healthy eating won’t make you live forever – you’ll just feel like it’s forever. And did I mention this is a no-bake recipe? Even better!

Chocolate Ginger Squares
Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour for base to set

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A jam heart is the kind of cookie you’d expect to find resting on a lace doily beside a steaming cup of tea. They look more complicated than they are: all you need are two sizes of the same-shaped cookie cutter, sugar cookie dough, raspberry jam, and powdered sugar. The original Linzer hearts have ground nuts in the dough, are rolled out very thinly, and look exquisitely perfect, but this heart recipe is the kind of cookie that you want to look homemade, to show you made an effort that comes from, well… the heart.

When my girls were little, we used to stop by the Watergate Bakery now and again for a jam heart. (There’s no escaping history in Washington; even the bakery has a political pedigree.) They would giggle as they blew the powdered sugar topping at each other, and when they got a bit older, we started to make them ourselves.

At first, we used Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, because it was more about the making of the cookie than the eating of the cookie. As the girls got older we made the dough from scratch to get a richer, butterier flavor. Of course, you don’t have to use raspberry jam – any favorite jam will work, and I made them in apricot and raspberry for today’s post. This recipe is adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Jam Hearts
Serves: 2 dozen large cookies
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus 15 minutes per batch to bake

In a large mixing bowl, mix together butter, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Beat until well combined. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Beat in as much flour as you can, then stir in the rest. Dough will become thick and hard to beat with a mixer as you are adding in the last of the flour. Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for an hour before rolling out dough.

When dough has been chilled, roll dough out into ¼ inch thickness.

Using the larger cookie cutter, cut out 6 cookies and place on baking sheet, using a silicon baking pad. I like to make them in batches of six, to make sure I have enough dough to match the tops and the bottoms together. Cut out six more cookies with the large cookie cutter, then, using the smaller cookie cutter, cut out the middle of the cookie, creating a rim-shaped cookie to put on top of the larger cookie when the jam is added and the two cookies are assembled. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 300 degrees. Do not let cookies turn brown.

Remove cookies from baking sheet and allow to cool. Spread jam on the large, whole cookie, being careful not to get the jam on the sides of the cookie. Set aside. Sprinkle cookie “rims” with powdered sugar, then carefully place powdered cookie on top of jam-covered cookie. Serve.

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