Last night, I got a wild hair and did this:

While its only a fraction of the wrapping I have left, it was enough to put me in the mood. The mood to start my holiday baking, that is.

Now that I am a Mom, I began getting a yearning for tradition. I want Daniel to grow up with memories of all the neat things Mom did while he was growing up. When I think about Christmas, I remember the huge spread of cookies and candies that my Mom made each year, and I decided I wanted to start making some of them in my own repertoire.

I bought Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book, in hopes of finding some old fashioned cookie recipes. Much to my delight, I found several of Mom’s tried and true ones in there! I decided one of the ones I would try would be her filled cookie recipe.

Mom always made hers round, and made the rasin filled ones for my Dad – they are his favorite. Since I had a jar of cherries in the cupboard, I decided to make cherry filling for mine. I also chose a different shaped cut out, just to make them “mine”.

They look different, but they taste just like I remember them. I hope my son will be able to look back fondly on things like this when he is grown, too.

(Cherry) Filled Cookies

from Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book

• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• filling (below)

mix sugar, eggs and shortening thoroughly

stir dry ingredients together and blend in

chill dough (I chilled mine for about 3 hours)

roll out dough on floured surface and cut out shapes with cutter approx 2 1/2 in in diameter

lay on lightly greased cookie sheet

place heaping teaspoon of filling in the center

cover with another cut out of same size

press edges together with floured fork tines or fingertips

bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, or until golden and edges are lightly browned

Cherry Filling

• 1 c. sugar
• 3 tbsp cornstartch
• 1 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c. marashino cherry juice
• 24 marashino cherries, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter

blend dry ingredients in saucepan

add remaining ingredients

bring to rolling boil and boil for one minute, stirring constantly

chill