One of my favorite cookie recipes – these buttery shortbread cookies are topped with raspberry preserves and drizzled with glaze icing. 

Guess what?  All of my Christmas decorations are up!  I finished decorating the tree yesterday afternoon and am enjoying its twinkling lights from my chair in the office.  I also hung Christmas lights, snowflakes, and sparkly poinsettias all over the house, so it looks a bit like a winter wonderland. 🙂  The temperature even got down to 40 degrees last night, so it almost feels like winter here too!

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I think I did get a little carried away with the glittery snowflakes though, because I’ve vacuumed several times and I’m still finding glitter on the floor.  🙂  Oops.

Today I’m excited to share one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes!  This recipe was given to me by my aunt, who is a great cook. 😉  These cookies are tasty any time of year, but I tend to associate them with Christmas.  I like having certain recipes that are kind of reserved for the holidays.  It makes those foods extra special and attaches memories to them.  Maybe I’m too sentimental, but I think it’s interesting how our favorite foods remind us of certain things.

For example, these Raspberry Thumbprint Shortbread Cookies bring to mind a particular Christmas during my freshman year of college.  (I’m sure my aunt made them on other occasions as well, but this is the time with which I associate the cookies.)  My family went up to spend Christmas with my uncle and aunt near Chicago.  We had a big family gathering and ate way too many cookies. 🙂  One evening, we took the train to downtown Chicago, and walked around looking at all the lights and the huge Christmas tree in Daley Plaza.  That was the biggest Christmas tree I had ever seen in my life.  We also walked to Macy’s; that year they were displaying scenes from The Nutcracker in their windows.  I had never been to a Macy’s store before (especially one of that size) and was enthralled with all the sparkling lights and Christmas ornaments.

To someone who has grown up near a larger city, those things might all seem commonplace, but for me they were new and amazing.  I took as many pictures as I could fit on my camera.  I still get excited about Christmas decorations and lights and snow.  Maybe that makes me a big kid, but I don’t really care; I know there are others who love those things as well.  (And then there are the Scrooges and the Grinches…but we won’t talk about them. 😉  Just kidding.)

I made a batch of these cookies last Friday so that I could take pictures for my blog, and we very much enjoyed eating them afterward.

As you can see, I was unable to resist taking a bite before finishing my photoshoot.  Of course the whole cookie disappeared very quickly after taking this picture.  You can’t eat just one bite of these cookies.  They’re buttery  and soft with a hint of tart from the raspberry jam.  (In other words, they’re perfect.)

Enjoy!

~K in the Kitchen