Cookies take less time and fewer ingredients than almost anything else you’ll bake, and this list runs from five-minute drop cookies to a few worth the extra folding and filling.
A few to start with if you’re not sure where to begin: Air Fryer Peanut Butter Cookies, made in small batches without turning on the oven, Black Sesame Cookies, nutty and unlike anything from a standard cookie jar, and Quaker Oatmeal Cookies, the classic recipe done right. From there, the rest are organized by category below.
AIR FRYER PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
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Classic peanut butter cookies with the fork-tine crosshatch, made in the air fryer in small batches so there’s no reason to heat up the whole oven for a dozen cookies.
Get the Recipe: Air Fryer Peanut Butter Cookies
BLACK SESAME COOKIES
Toasted black sesame seeds give these cookies a nutty, faintly savory edge and a striking speckled look, unlike anything from a standard cookie jar.
Get the Recipe: Black Sesame Cookies
QUAKER OATMEAL COOKIES
The classic recipe off the Quaker Oats canister, chewy in the middle with crisp edges, exactly as good as you remember.
Get the Recipe: Quaker Oatmeal Cookies
HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIES WITH MARSHMALLOWS
Cocoa-rich cookies studded with mini marshmallows that toast and blister in the oven, basically a mug of hot cocoa reworked into cookie form.
Get the Recipe: Hot Chocolate Cookies with Marshmallows
AIR FRYER HOT COCOA COOKIES
Soft, chewy hot cocoa cookies loaded with chocolate chips, made entirely in the air fryer, no oven required.
Get the Recipe: Air Fryer Hot Cocoa Cookies
CHOCOLATE THUMBPRINT COOKIES WITH DULCE DE LECHE
A thumbprint pressed into a chocolate cookie gets filled with dulce de leche, rich enough that one is genuinely enough.
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies with Dulce de Leche
DULCE DE LECHE COOKIES
Soft cookies built around dulce de leche’s deep caramel flavor, less fuss than the thumbprint version but just as rich.
Get the Recipe: Dulce de Leche Cookies
FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE COOKIES
Whipped egg whites and cocoa give these a crackly, almost brownie-like top with a chewy center, and they happen to be gluten-free.
Get the Recipe: Flourless Chocolate Cookies
RHUBARB COOKIES
Diced rhubarb folded into a soft cookie dough, holding onto its tartness even after baking — an unexpected way to use rhubarb outside of pie.
Get the Recipe: Rhubarb Cookies
GINGER SNAP COOKIES
Molasses and a heavy hand with the ginger give these their signature snap and warmth, best with a crackled sugar coating.
Get the Recipe: Ginger Snap Cookies
CINNAMON SUGAR COOKIES
A simple sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking, the kind of straightforward cookie that always gets eaten first.
Get the Recipe: Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
SALTED TOFFEE COOKIES
Toffee bits melt into pockets of caramel throughout the dough, finished with a scatter of flaky salt to cut the sweetness.
Get the Recipe: Salted Toffee Cookies
HONEY COOKIES WITH ORANGE AND CINNAMON
Honey, orange zest, and cinnamon flavor these soft cookies, a nod to the same flavors as the honey cake for Rosh Hashanah.
Get the Recipe: Honey Cookies with Orange and Cinnamon
PECAN PIE COOKIES
All the gooey, buttery pecan filling of a pecan pie, baked into individual cookie form instead of a whole pie.
Get the Recipe: Pecan Pie Cookies
EASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE: THREE-INGREDIENT GIANDUIA SANDWICH COOKIES
Two cookies sandwiched around a gianduia (hazelnut-chocolate) filling, needing only three ingredients despite tasting far more involved.
Get the Recipe: Easy as One, Two, Three: Three-Ingredient Gianduia Sandwich Cookies
THE BEST EASY HAMENTASHEN RECIPE
Triangular cookies folded around a sweet filling for Purim, simple enough to make with kids and good enough to make again outside the holiday.
Get the Recipe: The Best Easy Hamentashen Recipe
CHOCOLATE RUGELACH WITH PECANS
Cream cheese dough rolled around chocolate and pecans, then curled into crescents, a Jewish bakery classic.
Get the Recipe: Chocolate Rugelach with Pecans
CZECH KOLACKY WITH POPPY SEED FILLING
Tender, slightly sweet dough cradles a poppy seed filling in these traditional Czech cookies.
Get the Recipe: Czech Kolacky with Poppy Seed Filling
CARAMEL WHOOPIE PIES
Two soft cake-like cookies sandwiched around a caramel filling, more indulgent than a typical whoopie pie.
Get the Recipe: Caramel Whoopie Pies
LEMON COCONUT MACAROONS
Coconut macaroons brightened with lemon, crisp outside and chewy inside.
Get the Recipe: Lemon Coconut Macaroons
