Fay kuhn's thumbprints

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
  
       Title: 1988 1st Place: Fay Kuhn's Thumbprints
  Categories: Cookies, Holiday
       Yield: 24 servings
  
     1/2 c  Butter
     1/4 c  Sugar
     1/2 ts Vanilla
       1    Egg, separated
       1 c  Flour
     1/4 ts Salt
   1 1/4 c  Finely chopped nuts
     1/4 c  Raspberry jam
  
      Preparation time: 20 minutes Chilling time: 1 hour Baking time: 15
     to 18 minutes
   
       1. Beat together butter and sugar in a mixer bowl. Add vanilla and
     egg yolk. Mix well.
   
       2. Mix flour and salt, add to butter mixture and mix well. Cover;
     refrigerate at least 1 hour.
   
       3. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Beat egg
     white lightly in a small bowl. Put nuts in another small bowl. Dip
     each ball into egg white, then roll in nuts. Put balls 1 inch apart
     on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb in the center of each to make
     an indentation.
   
       4. Bake until light golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
     Fill indentation with a small amount of raspberry jam.
   
       Faye Kuhn, of Earlville, Illinois, recalled growing up in the tough
     times of the '40s: "Despite the lack of finances, no holiday was ever
     ignored in our household. Christmas, however, held the highest of
     honors. . . We all boarded the train and off to the city we would go.
     We would arrive home loaded with 'Evening in Paris' cologne, mittens,
     socks, handkerchiefs and coloring books bought at Kresge's and
     Woolworth's. Mom would then visit the local A & P for turkey,
     cranberries, sweet potatoes, fresh ground coffee, nuts, apples,
     oranges and one pound of butter to baste ol' Tom with. However, there
     was one thing my mother didn't do in those days and that was to bake
     Christmas cookies, for neither time nor money allowed such a luxury."
     But when her mother retired, she started baking Christmas cookies,
     Kuhn recalls. The family wanted her to make the thumbprints, yet no
     one knew the name or the recipe. "Mother put on her coat, crossed our
     back yard and knocked on our neighbor's door. She returned somewhat
     later, victorious, with recipe card in hand." from the Chicago
     Tribune annual Food Guide Holiday Cookie Contest December 8, 1988
  
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