| 1 | Preparation time: 20 minutes chilling time: 1 hour baking time: 15 to 18 minutes |
| 2 | Beat together butter and sugar in a mixer bowl. |
| 3 | Add vanilla and egg yolk. |
| 4 | Mix well. |
| 5 | Mix flour and salt, add to butter mixture and mix well. |
| 6 | Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour. |
| 7 | Heat oven to 325 degrees. |
| 8 | Shape dough into 1-inch balls. |
| 9 | Beat egg white lightly in a small bowl. |
| 10 | Put nuts in another small bowl. |
| 11 | Dip each ball into egg white, then roll in nuts. |
| 12 | Put balls 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. |
| 13 | Press thumb in the center of each to make an indentation. |
| 14 | Bake until light golden, 15 to 18 minutes. |
| 15 | Cool on wire racks. |
| 16 | Fill indentation with a small amount of raspberry jam. |
| 17 | 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. |
| 18 | Christmas, however, held the highest of honors. |
| 19 | . |
| 20 | . |
| 21 | We all boarded the train and off to the city we would go. |
| 22 | We would arrive home loaded with "evening in paris" cologne, mittens, socks, handkerchiefs and coloring books bought at kresge"s and woolworth"s. |
| 23 | 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. |
| 24 | 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. |
| 25 | The family wanted her to make the thumbprints, yet no one knew the name or the recipe. |
| 26 | "mother put on her coat, crossed our back yard and knocked on our neighbor"s door. |
| 27 | She returned somewhat later, victorious, with recipe card in hand." from the chicago tribune annual food guide holiday cookie contest december 8, 1988 |
