• falalala on November 28, 2024

  Beautiful shortbread. Tender and short. Added cranberries, pistachios and citrus peel

• sck on July 28, 2010

  This is the go-to cookie book on my shelf. Everything has turned out beautifully.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Gingersnap palmiers

  • amandabeck on December 11, 2021

    These were a hit and turned out quite nice. They would be a good looking addition/nice contrast to a cookie box, and they look much more difficult to make than they are. Highly recommend using a metal offset spatula to flip when it comes time. I started off using a large plastic one and ended up ruining a few before I changed tools.

• Soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies

  • julesamomof2 on February 18, 2018

    This were deemed 'the best chocolate cookies ever' by my girls and their friends. I doubt I will look beyond this one with that vote.

• Chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies

  • swegener on February 01, 2015

    I love these--SO good. I'm kind of a ginger fanatic, and I had no idea how great it went with chocolate!

  • JKDLady on April 11, 2016

    We love these cookies. They are slightly time-consuming, but well worth the effort!

  • Kinhawaii on December 22, 2023

    I haven’t made these in a long time - I forgot how good they are. I think I will flatten them more next time because I prefer them thinner- they don’t spread that much.

• Chocolate malt sandwiches

  • KCKB on December 24, 2022

    When I was a kid, there was a bakery in our hometown that had amazing “sour cream” cookies. When I tasted these, I had a sensory flashback á la Ratatouille: the cookie portion of these is that same cookie! You can sub in a vanilla cream cheese or sour cream filling, or do a mint filling for the holidays, etc. (Note: other than calling for Dutch vs. natural cocoa, the cookie portion of this recipe is identical to the one on p. 97 of Martha Stewart’s Cookie Perfection. Having made it both ways, I think the Dutch cocoa version is superior.)

• Grammy's chocolate cookies

  • Cheri on December 08, 2013

    These are very easy, really satisfying for a chocolate craving, and reasonably quick (dough needs an hour in the frig before baking). Needs full baking time, and still quite soft at 12 min., could extend to 13-14 min. Nice in a mix with others for Christmas cookie plate. Make sure to have sanding sugar on hand.

  • SACarlson on September 05, 2015

    Really delicious. Almost like a brownie in cookie form. I didn't have any sanding sugar on hand and used caster sugar with no problems.

  • cellenly on July 25, 2019

    One of our favorite cookies to make. I cut the sugar a little. It feels fully chocolatey without being overly sweet. My daughter made it once not using demerara sugar and just used brown cane sugar to do the final roll, and it was a sad version of itself. Demerara is my preferred sugar, giving it the large grain crunch without the sugary taste. I prefer my demerara over my turbinado in this application, but I'm not sure if that's due to the brands I use.

• Snickerdoodles

  • julesamomof2 on December 24, 2022

    These tasted of baking powder and didn't spread at all after a rest in the fridge despite the notes saying they would. I suspect these cookies are written to not require a chill, so may give them a go another time. But this Christmas they went in the trash and I started over with another recipe.

• Cream-filled chocolate sandwiches

  • Rachaelsb on January 01, 2024

    Good! Nice chewy cookies-not as sure about cream. Delish but intrigued to try other creams.

• Pecan logs

  • Cheri on December 08, 2013

    Easy, buttery, very good. Needs the full cooking time. Nice compliment to Grammy's Chocolate Cookies from the same book for a Christmas cookie plate. Definite repeat.

  • purrviciouz on February 16, 2020

    I used hazelnuts instead of pecans. The log shape is a fun variation on little nut cookies. I might add some nut flavored extract next time. They were done at 18 minutes.

• Springerle

  • Frogcake on November 25, 2022

    This was unsuccessful. I followed the recipe closely and found there were a number of challenges: the dough was dry and difficult to roll out, and they tasted plain. I was looking forward to the anise taste - so disappointing! As well, I was glad I made half the recipe, which I found made four dozen cookies. I won’t be repeating this one.

• Lime meltaways

  • Breadcrumbs on January 12, 2013

    p. 121 Fabulous! I found these while nosing around on the www in search of baking books. In my travels I came across a video of Martha making these cookies and I was smitten. They’re quick and easy to prepare and they taste fabulous! The dough is extremely easy to work with and I loved Martha’s tip of using a ruler w the parchment to round out the dough. Essentially this is a slice and bake shortbread but w less sugar in the dough itself. The dusting of icing sugar is a perfect counterpoint to the tartness of the lime juice and zest in the cookie itself. NB that the book has you use the paddle attachment but the video suggests the whisk. I went with the latter and was very pleased w the results. I typically reserve the whisk for eggs so this was a small revelation for me. Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/884276#7824250

• Apple-cherry crumble bars

  • Kinhawaii on October 16, 2022

    Good use for a mix of dried & freeze dried apples I had. I was worried that the freeze dried Granny Smith apples would be too tart but I think I liked the mix in the end which made it less sweet. I made half a recipe in an 8 inch pan.

• Maple-pecan shortbread

  • Rachaelsb on November 30, 2023

    Yum! Great buttery-pecan flavor. Dough was very crumbly which wasn’t expecting. Took some work to roll. I have been fixated on these salty pecan shortbreads available at the amazing Sofra bakery -think Soframiz cookbook. The recipe for these is unfortunately not available so tried my own interpretation and added Maldon salt to the turbinado sprinkle. Not nearly as good as Sofra which are just as maxing, but still very good.

• Cherry almond biscotti

  • Frogcake on December 10, 2016

    Delicious and easy to make. I froze all but a dozen for Christmas and the do freeze well too. Recommend saving the amaretto cherry liquid (all but two tbsp) to drizzle over vanilla ice cream.

• Giant chocolate sugar cookies

  • Frogcake on December 10, 2016

    Also delicious and they freeze well. I made small cookies -about two and a half dozen-which I baked for 13 minutes at 375F.

• Banana-walnut chocolate-chunk cookies

  • thekitchenchronicles on May 14, 2013

    These cookies were moist and chewy with just the right amount of banana, walnuts and chocolate chip. Such a hit.

  • thekitchenchronicles on November 03, 2014

    http://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2014/02/11/banana-walnut-chocolate-chunk-cookies/

• White chocolate-chunk cookies

  • Frogcake on December 12, 2016

    These are outstanding cookies! And arguably very healthy considering all of the rolled oats! Perfect on our Christmas treat tray. I replaced the walnuts with chopped almonds. Will be adding these to my cookie portfolio.

  • amandabeck on December 11, 2021

    Delicious! Reminded me a bit of ANZAC cookies. Would make again.

• Fruit and nut cookies

  • fultre on March 04, 2025

    Fabulous cookies, great flavor and chewy nubby texture. Used KAB dried fruit blend, and subbed walnuts/hazelnuts for the nuts. 12 minutes to cook through, bottoms fairly dark golden brown and caramelized but not burnt.

• Gingerbread-white chocolate blondies

  • Medamida on January 25, 2014

    These are best eaten a row at a time. I double the spices and add crystallized ginger.

• Brown-butter toffee blondies

  • thekitchenchronicles on May 19, 2013

    These blondies came together very easily and the brown butter added a nice touch- however, the nuttiness of the butter and the walnuts was overpowered by how cloyingly sweet these were (probably should have been warned by the 2.5 cups of sugar + 1 cup of toffee...)

• Orange-cardamom madeleines

  • jdjd99 on January 29, 2024

    I think this recipe requires some modification for larger Madeleine pans and/or silicone molds (which is what I have). Baked for about 16 minutes until baked through but never got browned or crisp at the edges. Other recipes with which I have had success baked at a higher temperature. Flavor was nice, but not sure I'll spend the time to perfect this one.

• Chocolate-orange-espresso thins

  • MarciK on August 04, 2019

    I’m not sure why these didn’t thin out for me, but they’re delicious anyways.

• Peanut butter-chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

  • sdeathe on April 05, 2022

    Easy to pull together, and a delicious take on both oatmeal cookies and choc chippers. Better by the second day. I'll repeat.

• Biscuit sandwich cookies

  • sdeathe on July 29, 2022

    Excellent. Love the cookie base. Be sure and get the dough to the proper 1/16 inch so the cookies are nice and crisp. Some of mine were a bit too thick. If the very thin cookies are hard to transfer to the cookie sheet without deforming, pop the parchment into the fridge for a minute. They're so thin they are firm very quickly. I found that using too much melted milk chocolate filling made the cookies cloying. I'd melt less chocolate next time and use less filling. Worth a repeat.

• Sugar cookie cutouts

  • Pandan on November 23, 2024

    Just needed a basic recipe for trying out new cookie cutters. Dipped the stamps in cocoa powder and omitted the royal icing. Preferred them rolled out quite thinly and baked crisp.

  • KCKB on April 26, 2026

    My daughter tried to make this recipe and it did not work well at all. Dough was too dry and crumbly to roll out. Not sure if it was her error or a problem with the recipe?

• Chocolate-black pepper cookies

  • MarciK on January 29, 2020

    I made this for a holiday party last month along with several other cookies. I was nervous about the black pepper at first, and almost left it out, but decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did. It wasn't overwhelming or too spicy, but gave it a subtle special something. There was one person in particular who kept coming back to eat these, even though she didn't eat much of anything else at the party.

• Cassis crisps

  • hbakke on December 20, 2021

    I had an old bottle of creme de cassis lingering in the cupboard so decided to make this cookie. The cassis flavor is almost entirely undetectable and the cookie overall is unremarkable. Not a repeat for me.

• Lemon-poppy seed crisps

  • Churchim808 on November 18, 2025

    These are so wonderful and came together very quickly. Such simple ingredients really packed a punch. I used the zest from two lemons but only need one and a half for the quarter cup of lemon juice.

• Chocolate-ginger brownies

  • kariholsberry on February 08, 2026

    Delicious unique, doubled the recipe.

• Butterscotch-cashew blondies

  • IvyManning on February 20, 2015

    This are very dry and don't taste like much of anything.

• Chocolate thumbprints

  • Jviney on June 01, 2020

    These were very sweet little bites for the effort required, and everybody loved them. I piped the chocolate into the thumbprints, and it went very quickly. Would make them again.

• Sarah Bernhardt cookies

  • amandabeck on December 22, 2019

    Fussy and no balance-- super sweet macaroon, topped with super sweet mousse, topped with melted chocolate. Wasted a ton of high quality chocolate to glaze. When glazing, instructions say to cool glaze so as not to melt the chocolate mousse-- but you will get ugly chunks of glaze if it is not pretty warm. I ended up putting on the glaze pretty hot and then just popping them in the fridge right away. But again...the end product is not worth the effort.

• Key lime bars

  • jeanine on May 16, 2026

    I made a vegan version and they didn’t come out as photogenic as Martha’s, but they tasted great!