When the Weather Outside Is Frightful...Eat Food that is Delightful

I can't believe that it has been over two months since my last post...THANKS COLLEGE FOR GETTING IN MY BLOGGING WAY! I just finished my last class of the semester so I thought it was an appropriate time to take a study break and rekindle my love for this blog. This is not enough space to write about my food experiences over the past few months, not to mention the most important holiday of the year, Thanksgiving, so I think I'm just going to start from scratch (after all the best tasting things are the ones made from scratch!!).

Upstate New York is finally seeing some traditional December weather, filled with high winds and snow, and I have to say it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The scenery along with the constant bombardment of holiday songs on every radio station/Starbucks/store that I enter is making me start to think of the most important part of the season...holiday cookies. Every culture and family has their traditional and favorite cookie. Of course gingerbread cookies are the face of the season but there are also butter cookies, linzer cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, fruit cookies, nut cookies, cut outs OH MY! The list goes on and on. Which got me thinking, what is my favorite cookie? It is a question that I had to ponder long and hard about. I have a sweet tooth so every cookie is amazing to me (good thing I get to sample a large variety this time of year!!!).

I'm not sure if it is my all time favorite cookie, but my memories of the holidays, cookie exchanges and cozying up on cold days with warm tea, surround my mom's raspberry thumb print cookies. The dough itself is made from scratch and has a nice crisp texture of a butter cookie, without being too hard. After the dough is formed she would make little balls and roll them in egg white and cover it with finely crushed walnut pieces. If that doesn't sound heavenly enough, she would leave a thumb print in the middle and when it was almost done baking fill the centers with a good quality raspberry preserves and put it back in the oven to finish crisping. They are perfect with any warm beverage and completely satisfying. My holiday season wouldn't be complete without them.

Get in the kitchen with your loved ones and cook up a batch of memories!

Happy Holidays,

Nora