Halloween Treat or Any Day of the Week Treat!

These Praline Thumbprint Cookies are one of the best cookies ever! I cannot say “the best cookie of all time” because that would have to be my mother’s tea cakes or maybe my mother’s chocolate chip cookies. However, Praline Thumbprint Cookies are certainly in the race for top three designation. The recipe is easy, but you need to be very careful when you bake cookies…they may brown too quickly depending on your oven! These cookies are fairly quick to make…and they look festive! Plus…they are almost like the vintage chip commercial…no way can you eat just one…so be careful or there might not be any left for everyone else! That is a sign of a good recipe!

I have had this recipe since Christmas, 1992. I was teaching Pre-K at at a wonderful Methodist day school and one of my young students gave me a cookbook for a Christmas present. The cookbook was from her “very own” church…Countryside Bible Church. I remember the child bouncing in the room carrying a Christmas gift bag with tissue flying out everywhere. “Mrs. Davis!! Open this now! You’re gonna’ love it!”…and I did love it!

Merry Christmas note from Holly’s mother on the cookbook title page!

Collecting cookbooks is one of my favorite things to do…  then and now. Perhaps I have too many cookbooks, but I am always on the look-out for another. Bountiful Blessings became my one of my favorite cookbooks from the moment I pulled it from the Christmas gift bag.

My special Christmas present cookbook…well used as you can see!

As the dedication page reads: We dedicate this book to all cooks. In our homes today, as always, life is centered around the kitchen. Some of the recipes are treasured family keepsakes and some are new; however, they all reflect the love of good cooking!

Praline Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sifted powdered sugar

2 cups flour

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions for cookies: Cream butter; gradually add powdered sugar, beating well at medium speed of an electric mixer. Add flour, mixing well. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Press thumb in center of each cookie to make an indentation. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Be careful NOT to brown. Cool on wire racks. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon Praline Filling (recipe follows) into each cookie indentation. Yield: about 3 dozen.

Praline Filling for Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Dash of salt

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter in a medium saucepan; add brown sugar and salt; bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in evaporated milk. Bring mixture to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes or until 232 degrees. Remove praline mixture from heat. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla; beat with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. As the cookie recipe says: Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon Praline Filling into each cookie indentation!

ENJOY!

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