Giles's Jelly-in-the-Mix Thumbprint Cookies

Okay, so I'm not going to give a recipe for jelly donuts. The reason is quite simple. I don't know how to make them, and from what I've heard, they are both difficult and involve boiling oil, something that doesn't sound pleasant to yours truly. This is a good old fashioned Christmas cookie recipe for jelly thumbprint cookies. Now, if you're feeling slightly naughty and want to replace the jelly with melted chocolate, I shant tell a certain librarian.

1/2 cup soft shortening (I usually use 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup margarine)
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 egg whites
3/4 cup of finely chopped walnuts
One jar of strawberry jelly (you won't use the whole thing)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 Farenheit.

3. In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour and salt.

4. Stir the flour/salt combination into the large bowl, combining all the ingredients well.

5. Roll the dough into one inch balls (think a little smaller than a ping pong ball). Roll the balls through a dish of the egg whites, then roll them in the nuts until they are coated.

6. Place the balls about one inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake them for five minutes.

7. After the cookies have baked five minutes, remove them from the oven. Quickly mark a dent about 1/4 of an inch deep in the top of each cookie using the end of a spoon. I know, I know, they're called "thumbprint cookies." I've used my thumb in the past. It usually gets burned. Use the spoon. It won't shriek in pain. You might.

8. Return the cookies to the oven and bake them 8 minutes more before taking them out and putting them on a cooling rack.

9. Once the cookies are cool, put a dollop of strawberry jam in the dent of each cookie. If you want to get crazy, you can use chopped candied fruit, confectioners sugar icing, or that melted chocolate we talked about earlier.

Makes roughly 2 dozen cookies.