Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich No-Bake Cookies

1 box (15.1oz) Ritz crackers
3 bags (11.5oz each) milk chocolate chips
peanut butter (how much you need will depend on how much you like)

1. Make sandwiches using a dab of peanut butter sandwiched between two crackers. Make sandwiches until all of the crackers have been used.

2. Empty one bag of chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on 50% for four minutes. Stir until smooth.

3. Carefully drop each sandwich into the melted chocolate, turning with a fork until it is fully coated. Remove from chocolate using a fork and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Repeat until all the melted chocolate has been used. Add more chocolate chips to the bowl; melt, and continue coating sandwiches until all sandwiches and chocolate chips have been used.

4. Set cookie sheets aside for the chocolate to set; decorative sprinkles or a white chocolate drizzle may be added at this point, if you wish. (They may be placed in the refrigerator to speed the setting process.) Once chocolate has hardened, cookies may be stored in tightly closed containers with wax paper between the layers.

Makes approximately 60-70 cookies.

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Shortbread Bites

1.25 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter (no substitutions), cold, cut into pieces
1.5 tbsp red and green nonpareils or sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 325 with baking rack in top third of oven.

2. In a food processor with knife blade attached, pulse flour and sugar until combined. Add butter and pulse until dough begins to come together. Place dough in a medium bowl. Gently knead in nonpareils or sprinkles until evenly blended and dough forms a ball.

3. On lightly floured wax paper, pat dough into 8x5" rectangle; freeze 15 minutes. Cut dough into 1/2" squares. Place squares 1/2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake cookies 18-23 minutes, rotating once, or until lightly browned on the bottom and just beginning to get a hint of light brown on top. Transfer cookies to wax paper-lined wire rack to cool. Store cookies in tightly covered container at room temperature for up to one week or in freezer up to 3 months.

Makes approximately 100 pieces.

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Sugar Cookies

2.5 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

1. Whisk together flour and salt in a small bowl.

2. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 6 minutes with a handheld. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

3. Form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6" disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

4. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350.

5. Roll out 1 disk of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into an 8.5" round (1/4" thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, rewrap in plastic and chill until firm.) Cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with cutters and transfer to 2 ungreased large baking sheets, arranging cookies about 1 inch apart.

6. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

7. Meanwhile, gather scraps and chill until dough is firm enough to reroll, 10-15 minutes. Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll scraps only once) and bake on cooled baking sheets.

8. Do not ice cookies until completely cooled. Let icing dry completely (about 1 hour) before storing cookies.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies.

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