Being the son and grandson of two excellent home and professional bakers, my mother and grandmother, I probably have a unique perspective on the Christmas season. As I've shared many times before, beginning in the first week of December those two wonderful cooks started their holiday baking, an expression of their philosophy that you could never have too many cookies to offer to visitors or to give as gifts for family and friends.

Fortunately, they left me many of their own recipes, which I still love to bake; and I have many more that I've developed with the pastry chefs in my own restaurants. That means I have what may sometimes seem like an endless supply of favorite cookie recipes to share as we move into the festive season. So, I'd like to offer you a few great cookie recipes in these weeks leading up to Christmas.