Peppermint candy cookies

Ingredients

Directions

1 c butter -- softened

½ c confectioner's sugar

1 ts vanilla

2½ c flour, all-purpose

½ c walnuts -- chopped

: candy mixture

¼ lb peppermint candy -- crushed ½ c confectioner's sugar

: The Filling

2 TB cream cheese -- softened

1 ts milk

1 dr red food coloring

½ 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 ¼ 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.

Recipe By : Frugal Gourmet's Christmas ~0500 (