If it’s winter, it’s time to bake the cookies!

They say if you want to sell your house, you should bake some chocolate chip cookies just before an open house. Make sense to me — nothing smells as welcoming as cookies baking in the oven. And at this time of year, my oven is often busy with delicious treats at all times of the day and night.

Cookies can be a simple after school snack or a gourmet dessert. They can stand alone or be the basis for a cookie sundae, an ice cream sandwich and so much more. Cookies can bring smiles and brighten days and are favorites among old, young and in-between. They are the perfect special treat when the snow drifts are high, or the sun is scorching and are equally delicious with hot cocoa or iced tea making them a great year-round treat.

Cookies are actually ancient and date back to the seventh century in Persia, now Iran, one of the earliest areas of the world to use sugar. It is believed that cookies were the earliest oven thermometers. They were actually small cakes that were placed in an oven. If they burned in a certain amount of time, the oven was too hot and the test cake discarded. If they baked properly, the test cakes were eaten by the bakers.

By the fourteenth century, cookies were commonplace and sweet wafers were sold on the streets of France and beyond. A cookbook dating back to 1596 offered a cookie recipe of flour, sugar, butter, egg yolks, mace, cloves and saffron.

The cookie gained popularity and as the recipes changed through time, people added currants, more spices and other flavorings. Cookies evolved in all kinds of ways and in every culture.

By the eighteenth century, hardtack, a version of a cookie, was the food that sustained people as they travelled westward, sailed the high seas, and fed soldiers in our earliest wars. Cookies helped make America!

Regionally, the northeast and Massachusetts in particular, can claim a lot of “cookie pride.” In 1892 an inventor, James Henry Mitchell, patented a machine that could place jam filling into a cookie. The resulting soft dough and fig filling confection was a hit without a name. He named it the Fig Newton after Newton, MA.

In 1937, Ruth Graves Wakefield created the Toll House Cookie after the Tool House restaurant which stood on the site of an actual 1700s toll house in Wakefield, MA. Today, 50% of cookies baked at home are some version of Toll House Cookies.

Cookies make perfect shalach manot (they use up chametz!) and, most importantly, they make memories. Do you remember your mom’s cookies? Your grandmother’s, A favorite aunt’s?

Make some delicious cookies and some great memories with your family, and smile, the snow will, eventually, disappear.

Chewy Coconut Toffee Cookies (Dairy or Pareve)

1-1/4 cups unbleached flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup butter or pareve trans-fat free margarine

2/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 extra-large egg

1-1/3 cups flaked unsweetened coconut

OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup toffee candy bits, 1/2 cup grated bittersweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the butter and baking soda in a bowl and mix. Set aside.

Place the butter sugars and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Scrape the sides as needed. Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and beat slowly to blend. Add the coconut, toffee bits and/or chocolate and mix by hand.

Drop by spoonfuls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until golden, but not burned. Let cool and remove to a plate. Keep in sealed container.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Spicy Molasses Cookies (Dairy or Pareve)

1-3/4 cups unbleached flour

1 rounded tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 rounded tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 (scant) tsp. kosher salt

3/4 cup sugar

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. blackstrap molasses

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 extra-large egg

OPTIONAL: Extra sugar for rolling the dough before baking

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place the flour, spices baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk together. Place the butter, sugars, molasses, vanilla and egg in another bowl and whisk together until well-blended. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Do not over-mix.

Drop by spoonfuls on the prepared cookie sheets or roll the dough in sugar and put then place on cookie sheets at least 2-es apart. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes until the edges look cooked but the middle is a bit underdone. This will make a chewy cookie. Bake a little longer for a crispy cookie.

Chocolate Hamantaschen Cookie Dough Base (Dairy)

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening or trans-fat-free-pareve margarine

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar, minus 1 tbsp.

1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed plus 1 generous tbsp.

2 large eggs

1/2 cup whole milk, almond milk, or water

2-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup dark cocoa powder (I use Extra-Dark)

4-1/2 to 5 cups unbleached flour

2 to 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3 Tbsp. grated bittersweet chocolate

EGG WASH:

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 to 2 tsp. water

1 tsp. sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the shortening, butter and the sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until very smooth, scraping bowl often.

Place the milk or other liquid and the cocoa powder in another bowl and whisk until the liquid becomes a paste, scraping the bowl as needed.

Add to the egg mixture and beat until fully combined.

Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the flour, baking powder and grated chocolate. Mix until fully combined. Divide the dough into three equal parts, mold into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 10 minutes and then refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove one disc from the refrigerator and place on a surface lightly covered with a flour and unsweetened cocoa mix.

Use a 3-1/2- circular cookie cutter or glass and cut out as many rounds as possible. Brush with the egg wash, fill with your favorite filling, and pinch the 3 sides closed at the edges. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar or regular sugar.

Bake for 15 to 22 minutes, until dry looking and golden at the edges. Repeat with the other two discs, using different fillings. Makes a total of 4 dozen or so.

Chocolate Flecked Mocha Meringues (Pareve)

These are deep, dark chocolate decadence on a low-fat, lower sugar scale. Still delicious!

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

2 tsp. to 1 Tbsp. instant coffee powder, to taste (I use decaf)

1/2 cup sugar, divided

2 oz finely grated bittersweet chocolate

3 extra-large egg whites, room temperature

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

Sift the cocoa powder, salt, coffee and half the sugar into a small bowl. You may have to press the coffee granules with the back of a spoon. Add the finely grated chocolate and mix with a fork to blend.

Place the egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl in another bowl filled with about an- of very warm water if the egg whites are cold. Let sit until the egg whites are about room temperature or a bit warmer.

Place the bowl on the stand and turn the mixer on low speed. Beat the egg whites until frothy, add the cream of tartar and increase the speed of the mixer to medium high, beating until soft peaks form.

Add the extract and turn the mixer to medium-high speed and add the remaining sugar, one teaspoon at a time until all the sugar is used and the whites are shiny and stiff peaks form.

Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the cocoa/chocolate mixture until completely blended.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls about 1” apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 25 minutes, for soft, chewy cookies or for about 40 minutes, for crispy cookies. Dust cooled cookies with cocoa powder or confectioners’ sugar.

Makes about 24 to 30 cookies.

Chocolate Dunked Toffee Almond Cookies (Dairy)

These are great for that office party!

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter, cut into chunks

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1 Tbsp. Golden Syrup or corn syrup

2 large eggs, well beaten

1 tsp. pure almond extract

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 cups almond flour

3 cups unbleached flour

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup toffee pieces like Heath

1 cup slivered or chopped almonds

12 oz semi or bittersweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place the sliced almonds in a flat bowl or on a plate. Set aside.

Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Set aside.

Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream until smooth. Add the Golden syrup and extracts. Blend completely. Add the eggs and ground almonds. Combine the flour and baking soda. Add to the egg mixture. Mix just until blended. Add the toffee bits and mix well.

Roll the dough into 1-1/2- balls. Place on the baking sheet. Flatten gently with a fork or fingers. Space cookies 2-inches apart.

Bake until golden brown, 10 to 13 minutes.

While the cookies are baking, melt the chocolate in 20 second bursts in the microwave. When melted, stir frequently to cool the chocolate.

Immediately transfer the cookies on the parchment to a wire rack to cool.

Cool the baking sheets and reline with parchment. Repeat until all the dough is used.

Once the cookies are cooled, dip one end in the chocolate and gently press a few sliced almonds onto the chocolate. Place on a foil-lined tray to cool.

Makes about 5 to 6 dozen cookies.

Almond Crunchies (Pareve)

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tbsp light brown sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

1 cup unbleached flour

1 cup almond flour

1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped almonds, plain or toasted

1 tsp. baking powder

Pinch salt

Almond icing (see recipe below)

OPTIONAL: Toasted almonds; Sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the vegan butter, sugars and extracts in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.

Mix the flours, chopped almonds, baking powder and salt together in another bowl. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix on very low speed until well blended. If the dough becomes too stiff, mix by hand. The dough should be a bit sticky.

Roll the dough into balls about an inch in diameter. Place on the prepared pans, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 3 minutes. If you are using icing, place the cookies on a plate, frost with almond icing and top with a toasted almond. Makes about 2 to 3 dozen cookies depending on size.

Almond Icing (Pareve)

1-1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

2 to 3 Tbsp. unsweetened vanilla almond milk, more if needed

Mix all ingredients, starting with about half the almond milk. Add more to thin, but the mixture should be fairly thick. Spread some frosting on each cookie and top with a toasted almond.

OPTIONAL: You can add about 2 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa to the sugar for chocolate almond frosting.

TO MAKE TOASTED ALMONDS: Place whole almonds on a cookie sheet. Toast in a 350 degree oven until fragrant, just a minute or two. Do not burn. Let cool. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com