1 c butter — softened
1/2 c confectioner’s sugar
1 ts vanilla
2 1/2 c flour, all-purpose
1/2 c walnuts — chopped
: candy mixture
1/4 lb peppermint candy — crushed
1/2 c confectioner’s sugar
: The Filling
2 TB cream cheese — softened
1 ts milk
1 dr red food coloring
1/2 c confectioner’s sugar
3 TB candy mixture — see above
Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until fluffy. Add the
flour and walnuts and blend to form dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and
chill for 1 hour.
Candy mixture: In a small bowl combine both ingredients. Set aside.
Three tablespoons of this mixture is used in the filling and the
remainder is used to garnish the cookies.
The filling: In a bowl blend together the cream cheese, milk, food
coloring and the conf. sugar until smooth. Blend in 3 T of the cnady
mixture.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and for each cookie pinch off a
rounded teaspoon of the dough. Form into a ball and shape around your
thumb to make a little compartment in the middle. Place about 1/4
teaspoon of the cream cheese filling in the depression. Pinch the
dough back together and roll it back into a ball. Repeat the process
with the remaining dough and filling. Place the balls on a nonstick
cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 10-12 minutes. Do not
brown.
Remove cookies to a cooling rack. To garnish, roll the cooled
cookies in the remaining candy mixture.
Yields
36 Servings