Pinch salt

1/3 cup molasses

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light. Beat the egg.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt.

Add flour to butter and sugar alternately with molasses. Add walnuts.

Drop the dough by teaspoonful on a parchment paper–lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake for about 15 minutes.

Makes 4 dozen

I tested several almond cookie recipes, hunting for the perfect one, before choosing this as my 2009 cookie party contribution because of its robust almond taste and crunchy texture. My Dutch publisher had created darling tins, whose lids were embossed covers of my book, as a marketing tool and sent me some so I could nestle the cookies in those special containers. My friends and my readers loved this recipe.

Almond Cookies

23/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup butter-flavored Crisco

3 eggs

3 teaspoons almond extract

60 blanched roasted almonds

To blanch almonds, put them in boiling water until the skins crinkle. You can test this by taking one out, running it under cool water, and seeing if the nut will easily pop from its skin. Drain the almonds and let cool. Remove the skins and roast the almonds until light brown. I roast them at 350°F and watch them very closely so they do not burn.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in the butter and Crisco with a pastry knife until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add two eggs and the almond extract and mix.

Roll the dough into one inch balls. The mixture is crumbly. Set the balls on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Press one blanched and toasted almond on top and press down to flatten. Beat the final egg with a little water and brush on top of each cookie. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Cool. They are even yummier the next day. Makes 60 cookies

The following recipe also uses almonds, but the dough is easier to shape and mold because it is less crumbly than the one above. This is one of Marybeth’s recipes, and they are so much fun to make as they give the baker a chance to be creative. You can try caramel instead of chocolate. Fill them with any kind of preserves you love. I tried raspberry and they were delicious!

Chocolate Thumbprints

Almond Cookie Dough

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (4 ounces) whole almonds

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut in large chunks and slightly softened

4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

3 cups (13 1/2 ounces) bleached all-purpose flour

1/3 of a batch (10 1/2 to 11 ounces or 1 1/4 cups) freshly made Almond Cookie dough (above)

1/4 cup coarse sugar, such as turbinado, demerara, or sanding sugar

2 1/2 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

5 teaspoons unsalted butter