Hi there, guys and dolls! Welcome to Thursday. You know what that means, this week’s Raves n Faves.

Remember how I said the other day that my girdle needs some help? Let’s just forget about that, shall we? For goodness sake, Christmas is right around the corner and that of course means eating, drinking and being merry! Which also involves the sport of baking cookies. Yours truly just loves to do that, almost as much as eating them. There’s nothing like the smell of all that butter, sugar and spice coming from the kitchen, eating the dough and of course the cookies still hot and falling apart out of the oven. Here are three of my faves other than the usual sugar, oatmeal, peanut butter or chocolate chip.

Snickerdoodles – Now how can you not love the name? Makes me giggle just to say it. Made of sugar and spice and everything nice! My writer girls Heather and Andrea suggested a couple of more exotic spices than the original recipe to mix it up a little.

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose or unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

• Heat oven to 400°F.
• Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
• Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom. Roll balls in spice-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet (like my beat up black ones).
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Try not to consume immediately.

Thimble Cookies – sometimes known as Birds Nest or Thumbprint Cookies, these little delish nibbles of butter and flour are so cute and delightful. Try different fillings and crunchy bits to roll the cookies in to come up with your own scrumptious combinations. A few of my faves are cherry jam with crushed walnuts, peach jam with coconut and strawberry jam with ground almond.

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup crushed walnuts, ground almonds or unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup cherry, peach or strawberry jam

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Beat brown sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla and egg yolk in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, or mix with spoon.
• Stir in flour and salt.
• Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Beat egg white slightly with fork. Dip each ball into egg white; roll in walnuts,almonds or coconut.
• Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press a thimble into center of each cookie to make indentation, but do not press all the way to the cookie sheet.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Quickly remake indentations with thimble again if the indent for the jam has disappeared.
• Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Fill each thimbleprint with about 1/2 teaspoon of the cherry, peach or strawberry jam. Yum!

Rum Balls – did you really think I wouldn’t have something boozy in this list? Oh, come on! So technically, these are a no bake sort of thing and more of a bonbon than a cookie, but hey, with all that delightful rummy taste, do you think it really matters, one calorie to the next? Some recipes call for rolling the balls in powdered sugar, but I also like chocolate sprinkles, cocoa or coconut, too.

• 2 cups finely crushed chocolate cookie crumbs
• 2 cups finely chopped pecans
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup dark rum (some call for light, but I like the flavor of dark better with chocolate, this is experience talking)
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar, chocolate sprinkles, cocoa or coconut

• In a large bowl, mix cookie crumbs, pecans and 2 cups powdered sugar. Stir in rum and corn syrup. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls.
• In a small bowl, place 1/2 cup powdered sugar, chocolate sprinkles, cocoa or coconut. Roll balls in the coating of choice. Store in tightly covered container at least 5 days before serving to develop flavor but be sure to eat them all up before a month (as if that is a problem).

Hope you enjoy some of these along with your standby holiday faves. And don’t forget to save some for the big guy on the big day. Santa just loves his Christmas cookies!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more posts. And don’t forget to give my Poppy Cove Mysteries a try if you haven’t already. 

Toodles, Barbara Jean