Christmas Thumbprint Cookies

nonpareils substituted for the jam

We had a neighbor who made these delicious, small, and very tender cookies and I always loved getting one when going by her house. Mrs. Schillig was grey-haired as long as I could remember and she was always very nice though she talked "nervously". I can still remember her rather strange son, Billy. Other kids made fun of him but the only thing "strange" about him that I saw was a perpetually bad case of acne and a horrendous overbite. 

Mrs. Schillig used to give me these cookies whenever she made them. Sometimes, when I was delivering papers (yes, I was a girl with paper route- talk about breaking glass ceilings!) she would call to me and place two of these small treats in my hand. Once, during a very cold winter, when I went to collect the paper money, she invited me in and offered me cocoa and cookies. We weren't supposed to have chocolate but we were also told to never turn down kindness, so I went for the kindness! 

The Jam on these cookies varied. Sometimes it was strawberry and sometimes mint, but I loved the apricot filling the best. So make a bunch and make a variety!

•  1/2 cup softened butter
•  1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
•  1 egg
•  1/2 tsp vanilla extract
•  1 cup AP flour
•  1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
•  2/3 cup red or green jam

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Separate the egg yolk from white and set aside.
3. Cream the butter, sugar, and yolk together.
4. Add vanilla, flour, salt and mix well.
5. Shape into balls.
6. Roll in egg white *then walnuts
7. Place apart on the sheet and bake for 5 minutes.
8. Remove and dent in the middle.
9. Fill with jam and back 8 more minutes.
10. You can opt for casting sugar instead of nuts.

Now this was my twist: I took nonpareils and placed them in the middle of the still warm cookie and pressed them down slightly. They adhered well AND looked more Christmas like in my opinion!