Making Four Kinds of Festive Christmas Cookies!

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla and mix well using a mixer. Add flour and blend until dough forms.
• Shape dough into 3 dozen balls. Dip each ball into beaten egg white, then into chopped nuts. Place on cookie sheet and place your thump into center of cookie to make an indentation.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until light brown in color. Remove cookies to cooling rack. Cool completely.
• To make butter cream icing, beat butter, Crisco, powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to make the icing the consistency you like. (You may not need a full Tbs of milk.) You may add food coloring for special holiday effect.
• Fill the indentation of completely cooled cookies with butter cream. Makes 3 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
• In a bowl, using a mixer, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and flour. Mix well. Dough will be crumbly, but moist.
• Place a heaping teaspoonful of dough in palm of your hand. Flatten a little, than place cherry half in center of dough. Form dough around cherry and roll dough into a ball.
• Place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Do not let cookies brown. They should be light in color. Cool slightly on wire cooling rack. While baking, blend confectioners' sugar and butter in a bowl, with a mixer, on low speed. Gradually add milk, a teaspoon at a time, until a frosting that spreads easily forms. Add vanilla and beat until creamy.
• While cookies are still very warm, frost tops of cookies and place a piece of cherry on top of frosting Makes 4 dozen cookies. Enjoy!

Cookies

• With a mixer, cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Add egg and butter flavoring. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Slowly add to butter mixture. Place dough in a zip top bag and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out a portion of dough on lightly floured surface (keeping remaining dough refrigerated). Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes and place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake cookies for 6 to 10 minutes or ur1til the edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

Frosting

• Mix 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup butter and 2 teaspoons vanilla in small mixer bowl. Beat at low speed, adding enough milk (3 tablespoons) and scraping bowl often, to reach desired spreading consistency. Decorate cookies with frosting and sprinkle with colored sugars. Makes about 4 dozen depending on the size cookie cutter you use. Enjoy!

• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk, sour cream and vanilla; add to crumb mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
• Divide dough into thirds. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 10 inch. circle. Combine the walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon; sprinkle 1/4 cup over each circle. Cut each circle into 12 wedges.
• Roll up each wedge from the wide end and place point side down 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets. Curve ends to form crescents. Whisk egg white until foamy; brush over crescents. Sprinkle with remaining nut mixture.
• Bake at 350° for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store crescents in an airtight container. Makes 3 dozen. Enjoy!