By Amy L. Hatch
Each year in late November I begin discreetly buying up all the butter, sugar, flour and vanilla extract in Chambana.
Why?
Because it’s cookie season, silly! I mean, Christmas is great and all, but for me December is really just an excuse to bake my fool head off. I love to bake. It isn’t even that I love to eat cookies and cakes and pies and banana bread and muffins and…where was I?
Oh, yeah. I just enjoy the process of baking. I like taking a bunch of stuff and mixing it together to make something delicious. And I love the way my kids stand around the oven waiting for the treats to come out. I love that, when they grow up, they will remember the mint peekaboo bars and the candied nuts.
I know I do: I remember every year when my own mom would start baking. It was, indeed, the most wonderful (tasting) time of the year.
In the last few years I’ve had to cut down on my holiday baking because I was juggling a lot of different balls. This year, however, I did my best to make time for it–for me, it’s like a day at the spa. It totally relaxes me.
My sister likes to bake all the same cookies my mom always baked, and I make some of them, too. But over the years I’ve also added a few of my own specialties to my list. This recipe for cherry poppy seed thumbprints is one of them.
I stumbled on this recipe when I was searching for a non-chocolate cookie for my husband and they became a family classic almost immediately. The poppy seeds add a nice, nutty flavor that counterbalances the tart sweetness of the cherry preserves. I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!
Cherry Poppy Seed Thumbprints
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1/2 cup cherry preserves