“It’s family tradition to make pressed Christmas cookies and thumbprint cookies every year. The only problem is both my mother and grandmother each had their own recipe so each year I was torn as to which recipe to use. Having experimented, I came up with a third generation recipe of my own! For my Grandmother’s recipe see Grandma’s Shortbread Cookies and for my version see Shortbread Spritz Cookies.”
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups flour
DOUGH
- Preheat oven to 350F. Use ungreased cookie sheet.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Add salt and flour.
PRESSED COOKIES
- Press unchilled dough through cookie press, add dragees or small cut-up pieces of candied cherries for decoration.
- Bake 10 minutes.
THUMBPRINT COOKIES
- Roll dough into walnut sized ball. Roll ball in finely chopped pecans, walnuts or coconut.
- Place on cookie sheet, press hole in centre of cookie with finger. This will flatten cookie somewhat.
- Add small amount jelly in centre hole (raspberry or black current is best).
- Bake 12-15 minutes.
SHORTBREAD SQUARES
- Flatten dough into base of 9 by 9 inch pan. Score cut lines and add small marks with fork for decoration if desired.
- Bake 20-30 minutes.
- Let cool. Cut into squares.
Yield: varies, depend on size of cookies