The First of the Christmas Cookies

The coffee cart at church has become very popular. People love having the welcoming coffee cart with all the goodies. It says “welcome to the church”. It has become so popular that Pastor Matthew has asked me to do the coffee and cookie cart for our two services on Christmas Eve’s “Eve”. It will be filled with hot chocolate, apple cider, coffee, and lots and lots of cookies. I made the first batch cookies yesterday, and will continue to make some more everyday until we have our celebrations.

The first batch of Christmas cookies is a batch of colorful thumbprint cookies.

When we decorated all the cookies with Janet and Bob last week, Janet gave me all her leftover frosting. Silly me though, I didn’t think it was stiff enough to pipe on to the cookies, so I made more. Janet’s would have been perfect for piping; it was mine that was to soft. Don’t worry, I have plenty more cookies to make, and I have no doubt all the frosting will be used up. I never let these little hick-ups get me down though. Rather than piping the frosting onto the cookies, I just spooned it in instead. I think they still look fun and festive. What do you think?

These cookies are super easy to make and only require a few simple ingredients.

Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup or 2 sticks of softened butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp rum extract, optional – if not using, add another tsp of vanilla (that’s what I did since I am making them for kids)

2 cups flour

1 tsp nutmeg

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy then add the egg and vanilla and mix again. Add the flour and nutmeg 1/2 at a time, mixing in between each addition. Do not over mix or the dough will be tough. Once the dough has been formed, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it set in the refrigerator for at least one hour before using.

When you are ready to make the cookies, remove he dough from the fridge and let it rest for a few minutes before making the cookies.

Preheat the oven to 325* F or 165* C.

Form the dough into dough balls about 1 inch in size. Then punch down in the center of each dough ball to form a pocket. You can use the end of a wooden spoon, your thumb, or get creative like I did and use the end of a wine cork. (Wine corks come in handy when you least expect them to). Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the are slightly golden. If the centers fill up while baking, while they are still hot, punch them down again to form a well. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a cookie rack before filling the centers with frosting.

The Frosting

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

3 TBSP softened butter

1/2 tsp either vanilla or rum extract

2-3 TBSP milk

food coloring

Mix everything together and depending on the consistency, either spoon in or pipe into the cookies. Add colorful sprinkles too if you like. After all, these are supposed to be colorful and festive.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy, safe holiday season. ‘Til next time.