It may seem like nothing to add five new cookie recipes to one’s Christmas repertoire, but it is. The choices of what to bake are limitless and it can almost paralyze a cook to decide between recipes.

Do you want to make thin, delicate cookies which you drape over a wooden spoon or rolling pin to finish? Is chocolate to be a theme?

Will nuts be a big part of the cookie tray? Are filled cookies on the menu? Bar, drop or rolled, that is another question?

I looked through cookbooks, new and old, magazines and online and was tempted by so many I started making lists. Then I signed up for e-mails of the Food Network’s 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. I looked through my food editor mail and found recipes mailed by trade groups and companies.

In the end I was looking for ease this year and that narrowed things down considerably. As soon as I saw instructions like “Process rice until fine then put through a sieve,” that cookie was out of contention. Likewise I wasn’t in the mood to be buying lavender for one cookie recipe.

What I loved was the look of some recipes from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board ( www.wisdairy.com ). I thought the Sea-Salted Coffee Toffee Bars sounded dreamy with their combo of two layers that mixed sweet and salty flavors and crunchy pecans. This bar cookie was indeed a crowd pleaser but so rich you should cut them into 1 inch slices, not the two-inch size the recipe says. That will also give you three dozen pieces to share and enjoy.

I also admired the concept in a brand new book called Olive Oil Baking by Lisa A. Sheldon (Cumberland House Publishing, $19.95), with an introduction by Rhode Island’s own Mary M. Flynn. Flynn has three degrees in nutrition (including a Ph.D.), is a registered dietitian, and works in research at Miriam Hospital studying how food can have an impact on chronic disease development.

The Chocolate Crinkles cookie on the book’s cover caught my attention and I loved that there was no butter in the recipe but olive oil instead. It also mixed whole wheat pastry flour, which I always keep on hand, with all-purpose flour. It makes a divinely light cookie which is amazing when tasted warm. Bring on the milk.

I always go back to one book, Dede Wilson’s A Baker’s Field Guide to Christmas Cookies. Not only are these beautiful cookies but she tells a story about each one This year I went for making Benne Wafers and what a great choice.

These crunchy, translucent sugary cookies are so delicate and, with the taste of sesame seeds, irresistible. She writes that sesame seeds are called “benne” seeds in the South Carolina low country and this recipe is from that tradition. The only problem is that it makes a ton of batter and the cookies are to be dropped in one-quarter teaspoon amounts. It makes a lot of small cookies, but as they are addictive, I understand the size. They just require patience and more than a couple of cookie sheets.

Next, I went to the Web for previous years’ recipes from the Food Network and loved one from Ina Garten for Toasted Coconut Marshmallows. While my son can’t get enough of them, and the coconut toasting in the oven made the house smell heavenly, making them ended up like a bit of a taffy pull. Garten says to whisk them in a standing mixer for 15 minutes, but that was too long in my kitchen on the day I made them. I think it was done after 8 minutes but let it run to 12 or so. The mix was hard to handle but there’s no denying the taste is dead on.

Finally, I always look for a new sugar cookie recipe in search of perfection. This year I turned to The Taste of Home Baking Book, a new cookbook from the cooking magazine. It uses confectioners’ sugar rather than granulated and made a different style of cut-out cookie.

I combined a little tip from Betty Crocker with this and bought mini candy canes. After cooking the stars and ornaments and gingerbread men for five minutes, I took them out of the oven and added the top of the canes. This creates a hanger for putting cookies on the tree. Then they go back and bake for another couple of minutes. It makes a cute cookie to eat with the added color and flavor. I wouldn’t waste a cookie on a tree. They are simply too precious.

You will find all these recipes here, as well as a few of my favorites from past years.

Happy baking!

gciampa@projo.com