Cookies come in an almost endless choice of types and shapes. Most cookies can be baked ahead if properly stored to keep their fresh-from-the-oven flavor.

Bar Cookies: A cross between a cake and a cookie, bar cookies are baked in a pan. As a rule, they are then cooled and cut into bars, squares or diamonds. The unbaked dough is usually stiff and must be spread or patted into the pan.

After baking, the bar cookies should have a thin, delicate crust and a most crumb. Over-mixing produces a hard crusty top while over-baking results in a dry and crumbly cookie.

Drop Cookies: Named after the way they are formed on the cookie sheet, the dough for drop cookies is soft, usually mounds when dropped; then flattens slightly during the baking process. Be sure to allow for some spreading of the dough. 

Drop cookies are properly baked when lightly browned and a soft imprint remains after touching the center with a fingertip. Over-baked drop cookies will be dark and crisp while under-baked cookies will be doughy. 

Refrigerator Cookies: You can have freshly baked cookies at a moment's notice when you keep tightly wrapped rolls of refrigerator cookie dough on hand in your refrigerator or freezer. Store unbaked dough in the refrigerator for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to six months.

Be sure the dough is thoroughly chilled before slicing and baking. Use a back-and-forth sawing motion when slicing cookies to retain shape and prevent flattening of the dough.  

Rolled Cookies: Cutout cookie dough is stiff enough to be rolled out, then cut into assorted shapes. For easier handling, chill the dough before rolling and work with small amounts at a time, keeping remaining dough chilled until needed. 

Unchilled dough will pick up too much flour from the rolling pin resulting in tough, dry cookies. Excessive re-rolling also produces tough cookies. 

Shaped Cookies: This category includes cookies that are formed by hand into assorted shapes and those forced through a cookie press. Cookies shaped by hand usually are molded into small balls or rolled into pencil-shaped ropes and then formed into various designs such as wreaths or pretzels. 

Some cookies retain their shape during baking, while others flatten slightly and become crinkly on top.