Cary baker Lorry Zilavy inherited this recipe for sugar cookies from her mother, Rose Zanski of Omaha, Neb., and made it her own. She sells dozens of gorgeously decorated cut-out cookies each year at her fundraiser for Stop Hunger Now.

Her tips: Sifting the baking soda and cream of tartar into the flour before adding to the rest of the ingredients keeps you from biting into a bitter chunk of soda or cream of tartar once the cookies are baked. Use a small strainer to do this.

When decorating the cookies, synthetic paint brushes, toothpicks and skewers are useful for spreading frosting and creating details. When frosting a cookie with more than one color, let each color dry completely before adding an adjacent color. This will keep the colors from running together.

The cookies can be stored in a freezer for several months. Pack layers of cookies between wax paper and store in plastic containers. When thawing, leave cookies in the plastic containers until they come to room temperature.

Nothing says "I wish you were here" like homemade goodies arriving in the mail. Here are some tips from Chris Duke, owner of Anna's Gourmet Goodies of Wake Forest, that should help your treats arrive intact.

• Allow cookies to cool before packing to prevent moisture buildup inside the bag.
• When packing cookies to ship, put them in cellophane or polypropylene bags and seal with a twist tie or ribbon to maintain freshness and prevent foreign matter from coming in contact with the cookies.
• When preparing for shipping, place the bag of cookies inside a small box or tin, put this in a shipping box and include enough packing material (Styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, shredded paper, etc.) to prevent the container from shifting inside the shipping box.

This recipe from Gary L. Jurkiewicz's will produce lovely, puffy cookies with a blend of coconut and chocolate flavors, a subtle saltiness and a soft, chewy texture.

We've included the weight equivalents for most of the ingredients because Jurkiewicz says measuring the ingredients by weight rather than by cups and spoons will result in more consistent cookies from batch to batch.

Use a small digital scale for weighing. Put a piece of wax paper on the scale before you measure, then use the wax paper to move the ingredients to the bowl.

Be sure to use cake flour not all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour will give you a flatter cookie.

Use a high-quality coconut extract for good flavor. Jurkiewicz uses McCormick's.

Hand folding chocolate chips and coconut flakes keeps them whole. If combined with a mixer, some chips may break apart into smaller pieces that could melt in the cookie. The coconut will also break up into smaller pieces if stirred with a mixer, which will give the baked cookie a mealier texture.

Bridgette A. Lacy

Chris Duke's recipe for Date Nut Pinwheels calls for the dough to spend the night in the refrigerator. Duke says it's important to wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and possibly in a plastic container or bag to prevent the dough from losing moisture.

He also recommends that home cooks buy a small oven thermometer to check baking temperatures. Oven temperatures may not match what's on the dial, and a small thermometer makes it easier to get just the right temp.

He uses parchment paper on top of the baking sheet instead of greasing it with shortening, butter or other fats. Cookies come off smoothly, and it makes cleanup easier.