WINNER: This Cookie Recipe Beat Out Nearly 400 Others in the First Dayton Daily News Holiday Baking Contest

Lightly grease cookie sheets. Grate nuts and set aside. Sift together and set aside flour, cinnamon, and cocoa. Cream butter, lemon peel and juice until butter is softened. Add sugar, gradually creaming until fluffy. Blend in grated nuts. Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture in fourths, mixing until blended after each addition. Cover bowel with plastic wrap and let dough rest 15 minutes.

Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut in rounds or use a fancy cookie cutter. Place rounds about 1-inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake in oven at 350 degrees 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Watch closely. Remove cookies to cooling racks.

While cookies are cooling, set out the jam and the whole blanched almonds. When cookies are cooled, turn half of them upside down and spread 1/2 teaspoon jam on each. Make cookie sandwiches by placing remaining cookies on top of jam; set aside. Set 2 cooling racks over waxed paper.

Partially melt chocolate over simmering water; be careful not to overheat. Remove chocolate from the water and stir until completely melted. Dip top of sandwich cookie into chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip onto wax paper. Excess chocolate on paper can be reused later. Immediately top each cookie with blanched almond. Cool cookies until chocolate is firm. Refrigerate if necessary.

Sift together the flour and nutmeg. Cream well the butter and sugar. Add the sifted ingredients gradually and mix thoroughly. Blend in the egg, vanilla, and rum flavoring. On a lightly floured board shape pieces of dough into long rolls about 1/2-inch in diameter. Cut in 3-inch lengths. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool. Prepare frosting.

Cream butter with vanilla and rum flavoring. Blend in 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar alternately with cream. Beat well. Then add remaining powdered sugar and blend until spreadable. Spread frosting lengthwise on the tops and sides of each cookie, using the tines of a fork. Sprinkle each cookie lightly with nutmeg.

Cream butter and sugar add flour, sesame seeds, coconut and brickle; mix well. Divide into 3 parts and roll into a log. Wrap each in wax paper and refrigerate overnight. Slice 1/4-inch and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Cookies become crisp when cool.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy; add almonds, vanilla, lemon zest, cinnamon. Cut in flour with pastry blender. Form dough into walnut-size balls, place in bottom of greased, floured muffin size tins. Flatten slightly and add a dab of strawberry jam in the indentation. Roll strips of dough pencil thin and use to form a fence around the side of each cookie to hold the jam. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Check oven during baking. Cookies should be golden, not too brown.

Work butter until creamy. Stir in 1/2 cup of the sugar; beat until fluffy. Beat in egg yolk and salt. Stir in flour. Mix well. Pat into thin layer in two 9-by-13-by-2-inch pans. Set oven at 350 degrees. Beat jelly with fork and spread on dough. Whip egg whites until stiff. Add remaining 1 cup sugar. Whip until it stands in peaks. Fold in finely chopped nuts and flavoring. Swirl over jelly. Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until brown.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar, vanilla and 1/3 cup of the nuts. Add flour and baking powder. Shape by rounded teaspoonful into balls. Flatten one side by pressing on ungreased baking sheet. Pinch top to a point to resemble an acorn. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes. Cool. Melt the caramels in the water on top of a double boiler. Dip the flat ends of the cookies into the caramel mixture about 1/4-inch deep then into the remaining chopped nuts. Cool on wax paper.