Christmas where I’m from means sweets and treats at each and every meal. A lovely family favorite is thumbprint cookies. A buttery ball of dough covered in pecans and “thumb printed” for a drop of jelly in the center, how could you go wrong? They give a special sense of decadence and color to the dessert table. Look at these beauties.

Originating from the Betty Crocker cookbook, its easy to see my family has clearly loved this recipe to its core.

Because the recipe is a bit mangled, I’ve rewritten it here:

Ingredients:

(makes about 30 cookies)

1 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
Your Favorite Jelly

Heat the oven to 350 deg. F. Mix the butter, brown sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Slowly add the flour and salt until fully mixed. Easy, right? Now here comes the messy (or fun!) part. Spoon tablespoons full of dough into your hand. Roll dough into balls, dip in the egg whites, and roll in the chopped nuts. Place each ball onto the baking sheet and press your thumb into the center to create a small crater. Bake about 9-10 minutes until lightly browned. Immediately remove them from the baking sheet and place on a cooling rack, as the nuts will start to stick to the pan otherwise. Let the cookies cool a bit and fill with a drop of jelly when ready to eat!

The recipe makes about 30 cookies, almost enough to keep my family going for a couple of days. These cookies freeze delightfully, but make sure to only place the jelly in the cookies when ready to serve, otherwise they will get soggy. Enjoy these festive morsels throughout the holiday season. I hear Santa’s quite fond of these homemade cookies!