These lovely Stained Glass Cookies are from Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu. To make the windows, hard candy is pounded to a dusty texture and baked in holes in the cookie dough.

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The Providence Journal John Freidah

What joy exists in the bite of a good cookie?

This mini treat can cut across many barriers to bring a smile to just about anyone.

As I went into the kitchen to test a bunch of recipes, including ones from new books including Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu and Christmas Cookies: 50 Recipes for the Holiday Season by Lisa Zwirn, I realized again that baking is one of my favorite holiday activities. In this year with so many financial and other stresses bearing down on us, what a great time to rediscover the simple things we love about the holiday season.

It wasn’t hard to find some winners which will become part of my annual bake-a-thon which produces cookies to share with friends and family. This was the year I found the perfect sugar cookie. The recipe, from Zwirn’s book, was for lovely little Baby Butter Sandwiches, which are filled with preserves. But when I tasted the cookies naked, I knew this was the perfect buttery cookie that would become the standard dough for cut cookies in any season. The dough is just perfect for rolling, too.

Her sandwiches are meant to be tiny, so she suggests using a round cookie cutter of 1 1/2-inches. But if you don’t have one, she noted that the medicine cup that comes with cough syrup works, too. That’s what I used and it’s the perfect size for a bite-size cookie.

From Chu’s book comes the lovely stained-glass cookies. The beauty of these relatively easy cookies is that they don’t have to be in the shapes of trees or other Christmas themes. I made them in apple shapes for the Thanksgiving table and even as flowers, putting a circle to be colored right dab in the middle. I had big and little cookie cutters, so I could make different shapes without depending on my free-hand skills to cut out shapes. But Williams-Sonoma has a new set of Stained-Glass Holiday Cookie Cutters that come in a set of four for $19.95 and allow you to cut out the windows with one push of a plunger.

To make the windows, you need to select hard candy in colors that you want and pound them to a dusty texture. This is a good job for your kids to channel their aggression positively.

A Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti from Zwirn is the perfect cookie to enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea or cocoa. The flavors and textures, from nuts to dried fruit to orange zest, are just wonderful. And they look so pretty, too.

Sometimes the simplest things are the best, and so it is with Chu’s Amaretti, which are thin slips of cookie with a world of flavor from almonds and anise.

For something chocolate-y, I turned to Zwirn’s Cocoa Meringue Kisses with their glossy exterior and cake-like insides. Eat this one warm. Then try another. Zwirn’s book is published by William Morrow, $16.95.

Cindy Mushet, who works for Sur La Table and penned a new cookbook, The Art & Soul of Baking, for the upscale kitchen store, shared a five-ingredient recipe with Food and Wine magazine and that was the simple Vanilla Crescents.

As you head into baking land once again, or perhaps for the first time, let’s review some cookie basics.

•Set the eggs and butter out of the fridge to rise to room temperature. But don’t forget that butter that is too soft will make cookies that flatten and spread as they bake. Amy Scherber, proprietor of Amy’s Bread, a celebrated bakery in New York City, addresses this topic in her new cookbook, The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread (Wiley, $34.95). She said butter should be soft enough to take an imprint of your finger with a bit of pressure but not so soft that it’s just on the edge of melting. Sticks of butter left at room temperature for an hour are usually soft enough, she writes.

•Don’t overbake. This is important enough to say twice: Don’t overbake. Everyone’s oven is a bit different, and I know from experience that I can’t ever bake a cookie as long as directed. They will brown too much on the bottom and dry out. Once you commit to making cookies, stay in that kitchen. I know, you are tempted to run to the washer and dryer or make a call, but the cookies always suffer. For a tender cookie, keep a close eye on them while baking. But don’t open that oven too much when checking.

•Cream that butter. During the process, sugar cuts little air pockets into the butter, giving cookies a fine, fluffy texture. If the directions say beat to cream for two or three minutes, don’t cut the time; follow the instructions. Patience yields a light cookie.

•Use a wire rack for cooling. Most cookie recipes call for 5 minutes cooling the cookie sheet on a wire rack before removing off the pan and letting the cookies continue to cool. Wire racks are essential for cooling cookies properly, as explained by Chu in Field Guide to Cookies (Chronicle, $15.95). They let air circulate around the cookies; cookies will continue to cook on a hot baking sheet.

•Don’t forget the parchment paper, which is a cookie baker’s best friend. Or silicone baking mats. Nothing stops a cook quicker than all those cookie sheets piled up in the sink. But don’t ever bake with waxed paper, which will melt.

•Measure, measure and measure. Maybe even weigh your ingredients if you want to get it right.

•All these recipes are made with butter, not shortening, and have a short shelf life of about a week. So share them early and often. Those happy smiles you bring will be your reward.

BABY BUTTER AND JAM SANDWICHES1

BABY BUTTER AND JAM SANDWICHES

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting the cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Raspberry preserves (or strawberry or apricot preserves or some of each)

Cookie cutter needed: 1 1/2 inch round

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy. Beat in the ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar until fully blended. With the beaters on low speed, mix in the flour and salt until thoroughly combined. Using your hands, gather the dough into a ball, then press it into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 1 hour or until the dough is firm enough to roll out. (If refrigerated longer, let the dough sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes to soften before rolling.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface to a thickness of between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Using the cutter, stamp out circles close together and arrange them about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared sheets. Re-roll the scraps two or three times. (Working the dough too much can make it tough.)

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through baking, or until the cookies are just beginning to color and the edges are pale golden. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

To assemble, spread a little of the preserves on the bottom side of half of the rounds, taking care not to spread it too close to the edge. Top with another round, right side up. Just before serving, sift confectioners’ sugar over the sandwich cookies.

Store the plain rounds in an airtight container for up to one week. Once the cookies are spread with jam, they will start to soften after one to two days. Makes about 36 sandwich cookies.

—From Christmas Cookies: 50 Recipes

to Treasure for the Holiday Season

COCOA MERINGUE KISSES1

COCOA MERINGUE KISSES

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened (natural) cocoa powder

4 large egg whites at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line one or two cookie sheets with parchment paper. If using two sheets, make sure to have one oven rack at the bottom of the top third of the oven and one at the top of the lower third, so that they’re separated by at least 4 inches.

Sift the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa through a sieve set over a medium bowl.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the egg whites and cream of tarter in a large, clean bowl until the whites hold soft peaks. Increase the speed to high and gradually beat in the granulated sugar one tablespoon at a time, until the whites are thick, stiff and glossy. Beat in the vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the cocoa mixture, making sure it’s completely absorbed, but don’t get stir-happy or the whites will deflate too much.

Drop the meringue by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared sheet(s), using a finger of your free hand to push the batter off the spoon. The meringues should be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and at least 1 1/2 inches high with charming pointy, craggy tops; place them about 2 inches apart on the prepared sheet(s).

Bake the meringues for about 25 minutes or until the outside feels dry but the inside is still soft. (Overbaking will produce meringues that are dry and crisp throughout.) There’s no need to rotate the sheets. Carefully slide the parchment off the cooking sheet and onto a rack. When the cookies have cooled, gently peel them off the parchment.

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place (but not in the refrigerator) for up to three days; but these are best the day they’re made.

—From Christmas Cookies: 50 Recipes

to Treasure for the Holiday Season

AMARETTI1

AMARETTI

1 cup blanched almonds (see notes)

2/3 cup sugar

5 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 egg whites

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Confectioners’ sugar for sifting

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Using a food processor, grind almonds, sugar, flour and salt to a fine meal. Place ground almond mixture in a large bowl and add the egg whites and almond extract. Mix with a rubber spatula until combined.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. If desired, sift confectioners’ sugar over cookies before baking. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through; when Amaretti are done baking, the edges will be golden brown. Cool sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes before transferring cookies directly onto wire racks with a metal spatula to finish cooling.

 Notes: Grind the almonds to as fine a consistency as possible — sift out any large bits. Grinding them with the sugar prevents the nuts from being pulverized into a paste, as the sugar absorbs some of the nut oils.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

—From Field Guide to Cookies

CRANBERRY PISTACHIO BISCOTTI1

CRANBERRY PISTACHIO BISCOTTI

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (from 1 orange)

1 1/4 cups shelled unsalted pistachios

1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet or baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy. Add the granulated and brown sugars and beat until fully blended. Beat in the eggs, then the vanilla and orange zest. With the beaters on low speed, mix in the flour mixture just until the dough starts to clump together. Mix in the pistachios and cranberries. Using your hands or a rubber spatula, gather the dough into a ball, then divide it in half.

With lightly floured hands, place each half of the dough lengthwise on one side of the prepared sheet. Shape the dough into rectangular loaves about 13 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide. Make sure the loaves are at least 3 inches apart on the sheet.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the sheet from front to back about halfway through baking, or until the loaves are nicely golden and the tops feel mostly firm when pressed. Transfer the sheet to a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Peel the loaves off the parchment paper and transfer them, one at a time, to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife in a long sawing motion, cut the loaves on a slight diagonal into ¾-inch-thick slices. Discard the parchment and place the biscotti, cut side down, on the sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the biscotti over to the other cut side and bake for about 10 minutes longer or until lightly toasted. Transfer the biscotti to a rack to cool.

Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks; freeze for up to two months. Makes about 34 biscotti.

—From Christmas Cookies: 50 Recipes

to Treasure for the Holiday Season.

VANILLA CRESCENTS1

VANILLA CRESCENTS

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting

1 1/2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position one rack in the upper third and one in the lower third. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with ½ cup of the confectioners’ sugar until pale white, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour and salt and beat at low speed just until combined.

On a lightly floured surface, roll level tablespoons of the dough into 3-inch ropes. Taper the ends slightly and form the ropes into crescents. Carefully transfer the crescents to the baking sheets, placing them about ½ inch apart.

Bake the crescents for 22 to 24 minutes, until the bottoms are golden and the tops are pale blond; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through for even baking. Trans- fer the baking sheets to racks and let cookies cool for 10 minutes.

Fill a small bowl with confectioners’ sugar. While the cookies are still warm, coat them in the sugar and transfer to a clean sheet of parchment paper to cool slightly. Roll the cooled cookies in the sugar again and let cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper for up to 1 week. Dust the cookies very slightly with confectioners’ sugar before serving. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

—From Cindy Mushet in Food and Wine magazine

STAINED GLASS COOKIES1

STAINED GLASS COOKIES

3/4 cup softened unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Various colors of hard candy

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until combined.

Add flour, salt and vanilla, and mix until combined.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough 1/4-inch thick. Use various sized cookie cutters to cut cookie shapes and then cut smaller “windows” into these shapes. Transfer to the cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.

Crush candy in separate sealed plastic bags with a rolling pin or meat mallet. Fill the cookie windows with crushed candy.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden, rotating cookie sheets halfway through. Let cookie sheets cool on wire racks for a few minutes before gently removing cookies with a metal spatula to continue cooling.

Makes 3 to 4 dozen cookies depending on cookie-cutter size.

—From Field Guide to Cookies

gciampa@projo.com