I have always found cookies to be the perfect dessert, snack...and sometimes breakfast. They're small (at least usually they are) and just happen to come in an almost endless amount of flavours, textures and tastes. They're amazingly versatile little things and oh-so-simple to whip up a batch whenever necessary...or a few batches, when the need arises.

Remember that bridal shower I catered the desserts for not so long ago? Well, part of the order was a cookie platter -- described in her order sheet as 100 cookies; probably 4 different types. I knew I was also working with a nut allergy on this order so the cookies couldn't have almond meal, pecans or even peanut butter. Hmmm...there go most of my best cookie recipes, out the window. Also I knew that one batch would be Martha Stewart's ever-delicious, always scrumptious dried cranberry shortbread, so the rest couldn't very well be butter-laden smackerels.

What to do, what to do...? Perusing my piles of recipe clippings left me wanting more. Looking up cookies on sites such as Epicurious and Martha Stewart made me wish butter had never been invented, and certainly never been used in a cookie recipe. Then I remembered the small bedraggled binder of my mom's, sitting on my buffet in the kitchen and I began to flip through the pages, finding recipe after recipe that reminded me of cookies she had baked when I was a child. And then I found it, recipe no. 2: molasses sugar cookies. So crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, redolent of mom's gingerbread and of tasty sugar cookies. Perfect.

Now what? Two down, two to go. The Williams Sonoma Essentials of Baking glared at me from it's perch above the fridge chanting "use me, use me" until I pulled it from the shelf. Flipping through it I noticed a few recipes that looked more than good enough for a bridal shower...unfortunately my two favourites were 1st laden with butter and 2nd full of peanut butter AND peanuts. Not going to happen. And then, there it was; a cookie that looked classy and whimsical at the same time...but, of course just did not have a taste combination that I could force myself to make. I am not (that should be in caps -- NOT) a fan of the whole chocolate and orange flavour combination. Nope, couldn't fathom it, won't be responsible for bringing them together. But, a glance at the variations corner and the choice was made; recipe no. 3: chocolate and coffee pinwheels. Very good with coffee, obviously, not too heavy and nice and crisp. Perfect.

And? Number three? I turned to my old trusty, tried and true, always has great recipes, Donna Hay's Classics 2 cookbook. She has some really great cookie recipes (why I skipped over this book the first, second and third times I have no idea) in there. And the recipe that I chose jumped out at me: jam jewels. How perfect for a bridal shower! Little, delicious, sweet (but not too sweet), jam-filled jewels. Yay!