A parchment covered counter with lines of raw peanut butter cookies and a meat-tenderizing mallet.
Frankie Frankeny
1 of 12

Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies

These peanut butter cookies, made with just the right proportion of granulated and brown sugars, are crisp, shortbread-like, melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness just like what you find at San Francisco’s Miette Bakery.
Recipe
A plate of chocolate chip cookies with with potato chips and toffee pieces baked in
Sally McKenney
2 of 12

Potato Chip Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

These potato chip toffee chocolate chip cookies are made with all the salty crunchy sweet chocolatey ingredients the title suggests.
Recipe
A stack of several oatmeal raisin cookies on a wire paddle.
fahrwasser
3 of 12

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

These oatmeal raisin cookies are soft and chewy, buttery and brown sugary, like the quintessential oatmeal cookie. Add in a handful of raisins and you've got yourself something close to cookie perfection.
Recipe
Six tahini cookies on a piece of parchment with chopped pistachios on the cookies and on the parchment.
Lisa Cohen
4 of 12

Tahini Cookies

Yes. Tahini. In a cookie. Besides the added bonus of being gluten-free and paleo-friendly, these little lovelies are nutty, chewy, and a little exotic.
Recipe
A single compost cookie from Christina Tosi.
Momofuku Milk Bar
5 of 12

Compost Cookies®

These compost cookies, created by Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar, have a pretty surprising and impressive array of mix-ins, including ground espresso, potato chips, and pretzels. Salty, sweet, chewy, gooey, and soul satisfying.
Recipe
Coconut lime cookies drizzled with icing and garnished with lime zest on wax paper.
Ty Mecham
6 of 12

Coconut Lime Cookies

Coconut and lime go hand in hand and these crispy sugar cookies with lime glaze are no exception. They're like a tropical vacation, in cookie form.
Recipe
Three stacks of chewy molasses cookies on a white marble cake stand.
Ekaterina Smirnova
7 of 12

Chewy Molasses Cookies

These chewy molasses cookies have pretty much everything going for them. Easy to make, slightly sweet, sorta chewy, and filled with a blend of traditional holiday spices. The hardest part is having the patience to let them cool.
Recipe
Nine chocolate thumbprint cookies and a chocolate covered spoon on a round wooden board.
Alexandra Rowley
8 of 12
These chocolate thumbprint cookies are like a traditional thumbprint cookie except they’re filled with chocolate instead of jam. Because who doesn’t want a chocolate-filled chocolate cookie?
Recipe
Eight homemade Milano cookies in a metal loaf tin.
Dan Goldberg
9 of 12

Homemade Milano Cookies

Milano cookies. You know what we’re talking about, yes? The buttery cookies made by Pepperidge Farm that are darn near impossible to not inhale by the fistful? This is the homemade version. And they’re better than you can even imagine.
Recipe
Ten whole, plus one broken butter cookies on a piece of crumpled parchment paper.
Guillaume Czerw
10 of 12

French Butter Cookies

This French butter cookies recipe, aka Breton butter cookies or sablés, are classic Christmas cookies. Easy, traditional, crispy, crunchy, buttery, salty, homemade loveliness incarnate.
Recipe
A stack of Neiman Marcus cookies on wooden board with a bottle of milk and a jar of chocolate chips.
Clare Barboza
11 of 12
This Neiman Marcus cookies recipe, made with oatmeal and nuts, is an urban legend and very likely a hoax but makes a darn good chocolate chip cookie.
Recipe
A salted caramel and pretzel cookie topped with flaked sea salt and pieces of pretzel.
Johnny Miller
12 of 12

Salted Caramel and Pretzel Cookies

These salted caramel and pretzel cookies, made with buttery sugar cookie dough, pretzel pieces, and dulce de leche, have it all. Sweet, salty, chewy, and crunchy. Sorta like everything cookies. Need we say more?
Recipe



About David Leite

I count myself lucky to have received three James Beard Awards for my writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and more.


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