These lovely confections — which happen to be my father’s favorite Christmas cookie — go by many names: thumbprint cookies, Swedish tea cakes, and bird’s nest cookies, to name a few. But whatever moniker you give them, you will surely call them delicious.

When I think Christmas cookies, I think ginger crackles.

Oh, of course there are shortbread, sugar and gingerbread (wo)men cookies, too. Not to mention Swedish tea cakes… but ginger crackles are one of a few cookies that I only make during the holiday season. There’s something about their chewy, gingery bite, their crackled top and sugary sparkle, and the warmly fragrant aroma that fills the house when ginger crackles are in the oven — it just feels like the holidays.

Get your tastebuds and a tall glass of milk ready (dairy, soy, rice or otherwise): these are chocolate chip cookies, the chips gone wild edition. Slightly crisp, with a soft, chewy, melt-in-your mouth inside and three types of chocolate in the chips, the classic cookie has been kicked up a notch.

I’m not a coffee drinker, but if I were, this is the cookie I’d want to nosh on while sipping my cup of joe, espresso, or caramel macchiato. But don’t take my word for it: my java loving hubby gave the partnership two thumbs way up after “testing” the hazelnut butter “nutella” cookie with cup after cup of his favorite Just Us Coffee brew.

Talk about a mouthful. This is a suped up version of my traditional (and somewhat famous) oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. In addition to the loveliest plump organic Thompson raisins, I’ve added  a handful of crushed cashews to boost the crunch factor, and malt-sweetened carob chips to amp up the melt-in-your-mouth quotient.