Drop Cookies

• Drop cookies are made by placing mounded spoonfuls of soft dough on the cookie sheet. These cookies do not require flattening as they spread out naturally while baking. Drop cookies include white macadamia nut, oatmeal, pumpkin and molasses cookies. Drop cookies typically bake up soft and cake-like. To prevent drop cookie dough from sticking to your hands or the spoon, lightly grease them before handling the dough.

Formed Cookies

• Formed cookies are made by forming the dough with your hands. This includes cookies that are rolled in a ball and flattened with the back of a spoon. They also include cookies formed with an indent in the center, such as peanut butter thumb print cookies. Russian tea cakes area kind of formed cookie that are formed into balls and baked to produce soft, slightly-flatten spheres that are rolled in powdered sugar while they are warm.

Rolled Cookies

• Rolled cookies are made from rolling stiff dough and cutting the cookies with cookie cutters. Typically the dough is chilled for up to 3 hours and then rolled thin with a rolling pin. Coating the cookie cutters with flour or powdered sugar prevents them from sticking to the cutter. Rolled cookies include traditional sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. When making rolled cookies, place them on a cool baking pan to prevent them from losing their shape.

Sliced Cookies

• Sliced cookies, sometimes called icebox cookies, are made from rolls of cookie dough that have been chilled in the freezer. Slicing rounds from the roll and baking them on a cool baking pan produces crunchy cookies that are perfectly round. You can also buy decorative cookies in rolls at the grocery store to slice and bake at home.

Bar Cookies

• Bar cookies may not fit the traditional definition of cookies, but for the busy baker these cookies make a convenient alternative. Bar cookies contain the same basic ingredients as other cookies, but are spread in a baking pan and baked. Allow bar cookies to cool completely before cutting to avoid crumbling or breaking. Bar cookies range from crisp and crunchy to soft and chewy depending on the recipe.