Evelyn Cera's Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

I made these this morning...I chopped up the walnuts in the food processor attachment that my blender has. Worked like a charm.
See the bowl of nuts, the bowl with the egg white?
I made 25 balls from this recipe and laid them on a cookie sheet. Then I took each one and dipped it in the beaten egg white and then rolled them in the nuts. It is kind of tricky to do this without getting lots of egg white and nuts sticking to your fingers. Half way through, you have to take abreak and wash your hands and start over. Then you press your thum into the middle of each unbaked cookie.


Evelyn Cera's Thumbprint Cookies
(Do read recipe thoroughly first)

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, separated
1/2 teasp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 teasp. salt (optional..usually there is enough salt in the butter)
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

350 degree oven

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Roll into balls (teaspoon size). Beat egg white until frothy in small bowl. Dip ball in egg white, roll in nuts. Place cookie balls 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb gently into middle of each cookie before baking. Bake 10-12 min. or until set. Cool, fill with jam (use the tip of a teaspoon to spoon your jam into indentation) or candied cherries. (sometimes, you have to make the indentation with your thumb a little deeper after they are out of oven...because they puff up a bit and lose their indentatation somewhat.) Joan likes to use 2 kinds of jam: Strawberry jam (red for christmas)...and apricot pineapple jam (Makes cookies look like golden jewels) These cookies, with 2 dif colored centers look so good on a plate. If you use candied cherries, just one or one half in the center of the cookie is fine. The nuts on the outside and fruit-y center give good contrast to the tender melt in your mouth body of the cookie. Joan's all time favorite Christmas cookie.