Holiday Baking

Off the top of my head, I believe this is the one cookie that I make for the holiday's that has nuts. Katie and Ian are not fans of the "evil n" as one of my college roommates referred to them. Brian on the other hand loves these cookies, because well he loves nuts!

Thumbprint Cookies

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly, packed brown sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs whites, lightly beaten

2 cups finely chopped walnuts

Seedless raspberry jam

Heat oven to 350 F. Beat butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla until light and fluffy. Stir in flour and salt until well mixed. Shape into 1-inch balls. Dip in egg white; roll in walnuts. Place 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each ball.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. You may need to indent the cookies gently. Remove from cookie sheets. Cool on wire racks. Put as much jam as you will think you need in a small bowl and stir. Fill each cookie with jam.

Variations: Instead of jam use your favorite frosting or chocolate as the filling. Another idea to try, replace the walnuts with almonds. Use almond extract, instead of vanilla. Fill with cherry jam or chocolate that has been spiked with a little cherry liquor.

This recipe is a twist on an old classic...buckeyes.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups peanut butter

1 pound confectioners' sugar

12 ounces milk chocolate

Melt butter and peanut butter over low heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar. Pat into a 9x13-inch pan. Melt chocolate in double boiler and pour over top. Chill until firm, remove from the refrigerator. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Susie and I get together after Thanksgiving to do our annual pretzel and cracker dipping. After all the work is done, our families have dinner together. It's a fun tradition.

Dipped pretzels

1 bag of large pretzel rods

1 pound of vanilla almond bark

Red and green sugar/sprinkles

Melt half of the almond bark in a double boiler. Place the melted almond bark in a tall glass. Take your pretzel and dip into the glass, tipping the glass and moving the pretzel so you are covering all but the bottom inch of the pretzel. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper and sprinkle with sugar immediately.

I'm not sure what these cookies are called, but they are my brother-in-law Ron's favorite!

Ritz cracker cookies

1 box of Ritz crackers

1 pound vanilla almond bark

Peanut butter

Red and green colored sugar/sprinkles

Spread peanut butter on half of the crackers, place the remaining crackers on top to make a sandwich. Melt the almond bark in a double boiler. Place the almond bark in a bowl. Dip each sandwich in the bowl using a fork to help coat it completely. Remove with the fork, tapping off the excessive almond bark. Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugars immediately.