Halloween is almost here. The costumes are coming together, the ghosts are swooping in, the kiddies are getting restless and there is simply no time to make fancy graveyard cupcakes or malted eyeballs. But Halloween-themed brownies and blondies are still a snap! When time is of the essence, witch fingers are a great treat to whip up, and they will certainly elicit kudos from the crowd.

These crunchy Halloween cookies have run their way back and forth across the Web, but we've come up with twists and style updates that are sure to please. Hit the jump and visit the gallery for inspiration.

Just the other day, I was perusing my RSS feed and wondered when Pim would once again make me salivate with some amazing, but simple, recipe. Wonder and ye shall receive, I guess, because she's just done it again in the most delightful way -- Chocolate-Caramel Shortbread Sandwiches.

I might not be a big chocolate fiend, but make it a dark chocolate, and team it with shortbread and salty caramel? I can't think of much that would be tastier. Basically, these cookies are small slabs of shortbread that have a chocolate ganache ring inside that holds in gooey caramel. So, not only are they a mixture of delicious flavors, but they're cookies with a creamy explosion inside.

I just wish these went up the other night when I was baking for the company I had tonight.

I first spotted this recipe on Tastespotting and knew instantly that it had my name written all over it. I am a sucker for baked goods that incorporate herbs and so this one called to me (I also have a recipe for Lemon Basil cookies that I want to try). I made some adjustments to the recipe. It didn't come together easily, so I added several tablespoons of milk. For the first time in my life (I normally reduce the amount of sugar in things), I actually added more sugar than the recipe called for, because when I tasted the dough, it tasted like there was hardly any sugar in it at all. I was happy with the way the cookies turned out and I loved the fact that it didn't hurt the dough at all to hang out in the fridge for a full 24 hour period. Check out my adapted recipe after the jump.

When I think of shortbread, I think of nothing else but butter. Butter is what gives shortbread that rich, crumbly, crisp-in-some-places texture, so I couldn't imagine how someone could make vegan shortbread -- without butter.

But vegan food blog Vegan Yum Yum has done it, and has gone the extra step of making it a Lavender Shortbread! The simple recipe has but five ingredients, one of which is Earth Balance, a butter substitute that seems to work quite well for this shortbread. The recipe is on the post.

I supposed I should confess this now: during the 1990s, I had serious addiction.

Luckily, it wasn't to heroin, crack, or even cigarettes. But it was just as insidious. I had an addiction to Samoas. Those are the round-ish Girl Scout cookies that have toasted coconut and caramel, covered in chocolate (they're called Caramel deLites in some areas). Oh, I could easily - easily - polish off a whole box of these while watching TV. They're spectacular. I found a version that's pretty similar, from Little Debbie, called German Chocolate Rings, but my local supermarkets haven't carried them in months.

But now you can find out all about the cookies online! You can find out about the Girl Scout Cookie Program, visit the Girl Scout Cookie MySpace page (of course), and check for troops that sell the cookies by zip code.

Is it too late to make another batch of Christmas cookies this year? Dessert First's Cranberry-Cherry Icebox Ribbons are just gorgeous. The recipe originally came from The All-American Cookie Book, which is a great source for recipes for all occasions and at all levels of difficulty, from dropped cookies, like chocolate chip, to more elaborately shaped ones. These cookies fall in between the two extremes, although they are certain to impress with their looks, as well as with their flavor. The cookies have layers of shortbread-like butter cookie dough sandwiching layers of dried cranberry and cherry preserves. The thing that makes them much easier than they look is that the cookies are icebox cookies, meaning that the dough is assembled and frozen, then the individual cookies are sliced off of a larger log when you are ready to bake. No shaping is necessary and the resulting cookies are still picture-perfect. Different fillings can be substituted for the cranberry/cherry combination, so look for your favorite seasonal jams to complement the cookie.

There seem to be an endless variety of cookies that people trot out for the holidays. I know that I like to have a lot of variety when I'm just offering cookies (and perhaps hot chocolate) for dessert. Lex Culinaria has gone one better and made a batch o sweet and savory Cheddar and Cranberry Cookies. The cookies are very similar to shortbread, but with the salty tang of aged cheddar that makes them extremely snackable, much like a good cracker. The cookies are of the slice-and-bake variety, so the dough is rolled into logs and stored in the freezer. LC makes a very good point about how convenient it is to be able to just slice off a few rounds for baking when you want some, so you'll always have fresh snacks for entertaining and won't be overly tempted by having a huge batch sitting around.

Anyone who enjoys baking cookies will really appreciate Cathy's blog, my little kitchen, where she has been diligently baking her way through one of the best cookie books you could hope for, Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies. Where else could you get feedback on every recipe in a book before you try baking them yourself? This week, she made a batch of mouthwatering Rum Raisin Shortbread. Packed with rum-soaked raisins, these are cookies that even a die-hard chocoholic could crave. Like all good shortbreads, they are light and crumbly, with the raisins add some substance to a cookie that would otherwise just melt in your mouth. Fortunately, I have a copy of the book, so these are definitely going on my holiday cookie tray this year. If you don't have one, though, Amazon has copies for as little as $1.49 - which is suprising for a book that is, for the home baker, priceless.

Melting moment is a name that is applied to many different, yet similar, types of cookies. Some are crunchy, while others tend toward a softer feel. The most common ingredient is cornstarch/cornflour, but they occasionally contain finely ground nuts (this makes them Mexican Wedding Cookies, but I've still seen them called melting moments). The one thing that they all have in common is the property that gives them their name: they are so tender that they melt into your mouth. JenJen, at Milk and Cookies, posted these Melting Moments, which she made with high quality butter and cornflour. They're lightly sweetened, dusted with powdered sugar and, of course, melt into your mouth. I love the jar that she presented them in, too. Not only is it a nice visual touch, but it looks like the cookies are ready to ship out to anyone who wants to taste them, unless you want to try making your own.

Richard Lochhead, a candidate in the Scottish National Party, has added a food issue to his platform that he things will help his campaign. He has promised to fight to give Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status to shortbread. PDO is a classification by the EU that aims to ensure that goods, if given a particular name, originate from a single location. This would mean that the only official shortbread could come from Scots bakers, if the biscuits were given protected status; other shortbreads would have to be described as "shortbread-like." The Walkers bakery is a local employer in the area Lochhead is campaigning in, so it seems like a good stand for him to take, even if shortbread is unlikely to receive PDO status.