Cookies: The Best Recipes for the Perfect Anytime Treat

by Vaughn Vreeland, New York Times Cooking

Delight your friends and family (and yourself) with 100 delicious cookies from NYT Cooking.

Dessert is sometimes seen as a bonus, but what could be more essential than delightful treats? From NYT Cooking and curated by recipe creator, video journalist, and YouTube personality Vaughn Vreeland, Cookies is the ultimate collection of treats–from classic recipes that taste like home, to flavor-packed bites that will become your new go-tos. 

When you need a trusted recipe for the Best Chocolate Chip or Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, look no further. If you'd like something fresh, try the Salted Margarita Bars or Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookies. Feeling a little nutty? Rum-Buttered Almond or Peanut Butter Miso Cookies might do the trick. And when you can’t wait to break out the holiday cookie tin, Gojuchang Caramel Cookies and Pistachio Pinwheels will have you feeling festive all year long.

Featuring time-tested recipes and expert guidance from trusted writers Yossy Arefi, Melissa Clark, Sohla El-Waylly, Dorie Greenspan, Eric Kim, Genevieve Ko, Yewande Komolafe, Samantha Seneviratne, Susan Spungen, Vaughn himself, and many others, Cookies will serve up delight and inspiration for any party, picnic, or regular Tuesday night. Because you deserve a cookie.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking

272 pages, Hardcover

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[Jackson Isaacson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m going to be making cookies for yeaaars. I saved so many recipes from this. If you ever bake cookies, like ever, this is the baking cook book for you. There’s an incredibly variety of types, and it’s extremely engaging and easy to follow. Vaughn has a charming voice and tone and it’s going to be a problem how many cookies I eat because of him.

[Maureen Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wide selection of mouth watering Christmas cookies.

The selection of cookies is over whelming. You can't figure out which one to make first. I have made some of these cookies by name from other recipes but these recipes take them up a notch. Will be making a few for a trial run and see how they stand with my taste testers.. Brownie cookies are first, followed by linzer bars and the cranberry lemon bars. Good idea to make a few for Thanksgiving to see how they stand up.

[Kristen Barenthaler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decadent, delicious cookies are the best part of any day.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of cookie recipes from many chefs & food bloggers and the NYT’s team. There is a cookie recipe to appease any appetite. From a half dozen chocolate chip ones to fruity cookies/bars to basic sugar cookies to spicy sweet gochujang caramel cookies to no-bake chocolate clusters to a the crisp finish cookie piparkakut to eggnog snickernoodles. You’d have to hate cookies to not want to make or eat these cookies. Bonus: photos of all the cookies!!

[Alys · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment! I was really looking forward to this book. Alas, it did not work for me at all. Never have I been happier that I got a book from the library. Mr. Vreeland lost me in the "How to Use This Book" section. He states that the recipes were tested with Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt -- then acknowledges that it is not widely available. WTW? He goes on to say that other salts may be saltier. Then gives a recommendation that you halve the amount of salt if you use those. No "guarantee" that you will not end up with salty cookies; just a recommendation. Ugh. And as if that wasn't bad enough, many of the ingredients he chose also are not widely available. He also seems to think that his readers have endless amounts of money to spend on difficult to find, often very expensive, ingredients. My third strike against the book -- and I'll freely admit that this is a personal pet peeve of mine -- is that almost all of the recipes make 18 or less large cookies. Even holiday cookies! Does he not know that many of us give out cookies as gifts?! So, I spend a couple of hours making a batch of his cookies and I have sufficient for one, possibly two, gifts? Ugh. I refrained from giving the book only one star because, reading through the recipes that (originally) interested me, I felt that the instructions were reasonably clear and easy to follow. I also will give the book kudos for the attractive layout and excellent photos.

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook by Vreeland includes a quick table of contents such as “Choose your own Chocolate Chip Cookie”, “Fun, Fruity and Tart”, etc. We then jump into the introduction where Vreeland explains how he got into his love for baking from his Nannie and how it continues with his job on the New York Times Cooking Show. I enjoyed his section on “Need help Deciding” with titles such as “One Bowl for Minimal Cleanup” or “Especially for Kids” and follows with a Table of Cookies which shows a picture of every cookie in the book. Lastly, we now get into the heart of the book about the recipes. This was my favorite part because I am a baker at heart and love to bake cookies. I went in and tried the following recipes (Best Chocolate Chip Cookie, Orange, Pistachio, Chocolate Shortbread, Rainbow Rave Cookies, Brown Sugar Anise Cookies and finally Cinnamon Toast Cookies) which came out amazing and have now been added to my list of holiday baking. The recipes were easy to follow; measurements were in both metric and volume, plus each recipe included tips to help when making each cookie. This is a keeper that should be added to your cookbook shelf. I highly recommend it. I would like to thank Ten Speed Press for providing me with a free copy for an honest review.

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in Cookies. This book is a handsome and well-made reminder of all the cookie recipes that are already on the New York Times Cooking website. It's worth the price if you aren't already a NYT Cooking subscriber. If (like me) you do subscribe, the book is a bust.

Let me say, however, that this is filled with delicious cookie recipes. I've made many of them and every one that I've made is excellent. It's just that none of the recipes is new.

I think the reason I thought they would all be new recipes or at least mostly new is that it says quite prominently that this is a book by Vaughn Vreeland (love him), and he went on a book tour for the book. I assumed (incorrectly) that the recipes would be Vaughn's recipes. They are not. In my own line of work we make a distinction between a book that a scholar writes and a book a scholar edits that is filled with writing by other people. These two things are not the same. Cookies is an edited volume, filled with recipes by Samantha Seneviratne, Melissa Clark, Susan Spungen, Yewanda Komolafe, and many others. There are about eight or so by Vaughn Vreeland.

[Rakhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cookies by NYT Cooking, curated by Vaughn Vreeland, is a delightful book! The photographs alone are worth buying the book for. The quote at the beginning of the book says it best: "This is a book for anyone who has ever had a strong emotional response to a cookie." It was speaking to me! It was hard to pick the first cookie to bake, I could not decide so I made two to start: Fruity Meltaways and Peanut Butter-Miso Cookies. It was a good combination, the 2-hour refrigeration for the Meltaways and the Peanut Butter-Miso Cookies gave me time to make Toasted Almond-Coconut Financiers! The Table of Cookies is inspirational. The book is well-structured, uses easily accessible ingredients, and every recipe is clear and straightforward. A big thank you to the excellent contributors. Ten Speed Press provided me with a free copy of this book; the opinions are my own. This is a wonderful cookie baking book, for all bakers, all the time.

[Brenda Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten Speed Press provided me with a free copy of this book; the opinions are my own. This is one beautiful book with 100 cookie recipes! There is something for everyone from Chocolate Chip to Best Sugar and everything in between,
There is a great introduction from Vaughn and also a How to Use This Book section that is excellent. There are 100 scrumptious sounding cookie recipes to try and I intend to make all of them. This book is just in time for a great big, beautiful Christmas tray of cookies or any holiday or special occasion.
I am in Cookie Heaven for sure.

[Donna Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a really good baking cookbook with plenty of cookie recipes, even from some different bakers as well. I enjoyed the variety of recipes provided, and I look forward to creating the recipes I saved sometime in the future. Even in the chapter list, some recipes are broken down by time, so it is helpful to determine what cookie to make if you are on a time crunch.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of these recipes (I think?) are already on NY Times Cooking, so if you have a subscription it's probably not worth the double-dip. Unless you prefer hard copies, maybe? Or if you don't have a subscription.

I had already tried a bunch of these recipes, and they're generally great. They're well tested and well written recipes.

[Anna Winer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed. The cookie recipes are good, but most of them were familiar from the NYT Cooking website, in fact I've already made many of them. I thought the recipes would be new. If you have a subscription to NYT Cooking, don't bother getting this book. If not, then you'll certainly find some great recipes here. As for me, I wish I'd saved my money.

[Annie Robb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bunch of cookies developed by Vaughn Vreeland (🥰😍🤩) and his colleague pals. I've made a few with terrific results and can't wait to make more.

Addendum, per other comments...I do subscribe to NYX cooking and have seen some of the recipes before,. Seeing them all together in a nicely styled book is an additional treat.

[Mary Ressner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A better title would have been: cookie-greatest hits.
If you don’t already own a Martha Stewart cookie recipe book or insert celebrity author’s name of your choice: this is your book.
Braving a whole chapter of chocolate chip derivatives that could easily have been compressed into 3 pages was worth it to get to page 147. This is genius. No spoilers.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vaughn has curated the best of his NYT Cooking pals’ noms, and we are all a little sugar-higher for it. I only wish we could have had more of his writing—if his screen presence is any indication, he’s a perkier David Sedaris!

[Cyn (RaeWhit) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely buy books. I bought this one. Excellent variety of cookies, with one chapter devoted to old favorites. The rest were mostly new to me; most are doable for an intermediate baker like myself.

[Karlyn Marcantonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW! I feel like I just stumbled onto one of the best cookie cookbooks I've ever seen. I haven't attempted any of the recipes yet, but I am greatly enjoying the early access from Edelweiss.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

delicious approachable recipes and then some challenging ones for when you perfect a few techniques! Vaughn is humorous and charming!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to cook every single recipe in this book. Maybe someday I will. For now, I begin with Millionaire's Shortbread, because it is New Year's Eve after all.