Recipes from The Washington Post

Goran Kosanovic for The Washington Post

Nutella lovers will appreciate the addition here of Spanish smoked paprika, which makes these cookies just different enough from the now-ubiquitous versions of salted Nutella cookies.

Goran Kosanovic for The Washington Post

Baci di Alassio

These petite treats, made in the Italian town of Alassio in Liguria, are called kisses, perhaps because of the way the pairs of cookies meet, with only a touch of filling between them.

Dixie D. Vereen for The Washington Post

Chai-Spiced Snowdrops

This take on the Russian tea cookie or Mexican wedding cookie blends almond flour instead of chopped nuts into the crumb, and chai spices into the final confectioners’ sugar coating.

Dixie D. Vereen for The Washington Post

Cinnamon Pretzels (Zimtbrezeln)

These crisp cookies, a German specialty, are great for dunking in hot chocolate.

Cornmeal Thumbprints With Tomato Jam

Here, a corn bread sweetness meets the tang of tomato jam.

Crumbly Lemon Crème Bars

This recipe comes from medal-winning U.S. volleyball player Lauren Gibbemeyer, and it combines the sweet-tart creaminess of lemon filling with a sturdy rolled-oats cookie base.

Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Cream Cheese Chewy Cookies

This recipe produces a batch of cookies that are chewy and rich-tasting, although they are relatively low in fat.

Dorie Greenspan’s Do-Almost-Anything Vanilla Cookie Dough

In her new cookbook, Dorie Greenspan offers four recipe variations to make with this dough, which she says is “full of vanilla flavor.

Dorie Greenspan’s Sour Cream Everything Seed Knots

Although a kind of knot is used to form these cookies, they bake into a shape that's altogether different.

Gingerbread Almond Nuggets (Biberle)

Here, gingerbread dough is wrapped around a thin log of almond paste.

Gingerbread Chocolate Chunk Biscotti

These twice-baked cookies have a satisfying crunch and just the right level of sweetness.

Gingerbread Panels

Centrolina pastry chef Amanda Cook has created a simple yet stunning project for this year's Holiday Cookies edition.

Halvah Fudge Bars

These unusual moist and fudgy bars may introduce pantry ingredients you haven't used before -- teff flour, date syrup and the dense sesame-paste candy called halvah -- but we're betting you'll find further uses for all of them.

Holiday Gems

These are light and not too sweet, with just a hint of festive candied fruit.

Jam and Coconut Meringue Cutouts

These cookies start out crispy and crunchy, but their texture improves significantly by the next day; the time in the refrigerator causes them to soften and crack (which is a good thing).

Masala Palmiers

Use store-bought puff pastry, and these can come together in minutes.

Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake

This is the one cake that can see you through the holidays -- easy to assemble and serve, and it freezes well.

Pocky Sticks

Inspired by the Japanese treats, this version is scaled up so that one cookie will satisfy.

Reindeer Gingersnaps

These are the cookies that kids will love to help decorate; they begin with a store-bought gingerbread mix, but you can certainly use your own favorite firm gingerbread recipe.

Salted Caramel Sandwich Cookies

The buttercream filling is so well balanced, you may want to undo this sandwich cookie, a la Oreo-eating style, to get to it.

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