Sweet Season

Cookie hive, assemble.Why? Because it’s the most wonderful time of the year.I’m Vaughn! You may remember me from last year, but if not, I’m the emcee of this tradition my colleagues and I at New York Times Cooking call Cookie Week.

It’s a larger-than-life celebration of one of those little things that make the holidays so sweet — cookies! This year we rolled out seven cookies, along with fun video tutorials, from all-stars like Sohla El-Waylly, Melissa Clark and Eric Kim.I might be in there, too — you never know.A big part of our process is thinking about how to modernize the classics: colorful takes on classic shortbread, interesting yet festive flavor combinations, shapes beyond your classic circle.

Cookie Week is as much a visual experience as it is a taste experience, and this year we wanted our collection of recipes to have something for everyone.In July, when we started planning this year’s cookies, we leaned heavily into nostalgia for inspiration.

Yule logs, rocky road and hot buttered rum all came to us like visions of sugarplums.After months of planning, testing, filming, photographing, designing and eating (I live for quality control), our cookies finally made their debut last week.They go together like Elphaba and Glinda, and much like our favorite witches of Oz, I have been changed for good by this year’s lineup.Three gemsI don’t play favorites, but I have found myself gravitating to Sohla’s holiday rocky road, a no-bake confection that’s essentially marshmallows, nuts and other fun things enrobed in chocolate and sliced into bars.

She adds cookie butter to the melted chocolate so that it slices more like fudge, giving it a hint of spice and a lovely melt-in-your-mouth quality.It’s also beautiful — bejeweled with gumdrops and adorned with fun sprinkles — and comes together in minutes, making it perfect for gifting and even better for snacking....