It's time for 12 Days of Cookies, FoodNetwork.com's annual cookie swap. Each day visit us here on the Dish for a peek at new holiday cookies, party-planning tips and top techniques for rolling, spooning, slicing, baking and decorating delicious sweet treats to give – or keep – from favorite Food Network chefs. Then visit Cooking Channel's blog for great takes on holiday baking from Cooking Channel chefs and Food People alike – cookies by the dozen to celebrate all season.

The secret that restaurant chefs don't always share is that simple can be sublime. Anne's gift to you: biscotti that are, well, simply sublime. These bold Dried Cherry and Almond Biscotti pack a crazy amount of flavor into what might otherwise be a quiet, ordinary cookie. Tart, chewy dried cherries are set off by lemon zest for extra zing and blanched almonds for nutty sweetness. Chef Burrell suggests dipping them in chocolate for those extra special occasions, but even without it they signal the party has begun.

Get Anne's recipe and check out our 12 Days of Cookies package for more sweet ideas.

• Check out Food Network's biscotti recipe collection.
• See which chefs baked which cookies in past seasons to get inspired for your own baking.
• Cooking Channel is joining in with a baker's dozen of cookies of their own. Today's: Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies baked by Unique Eats' Lee Anne Wong.

Melanie Rehak, author of Eating for Beginners, has been baking cookies since she was old enough to climb onto the kitchen stool. She and her family are partial to Zimtsterne—cinnamon stars—for the holidays, but love cookies of all kinds all year long.