Christmas Cookie Week: Rudolph Cookies

It's Day 3 of Christmas Cookie Week and I have a cookie recipe for you that came with a rather plain name - Cottage Cheese Thumb Prints. Yawn!  I first made these cookies years and years ago and when the hubster saw them he said they looked like Rufolph's nose.  And so they were christened Rudolph Cookies.

Ingredients:
1 container (16 oz, 500 gm) cottage cheese
2 cups (4 sticks or 1 pound) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
granulated sugar
1 cup seedless raspberry preserves

 Method:
1.  Puree cottage cheese
2.  Add butter and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy
3.  Stir in flour and salt until well blended
4.  Shape into a ball, cover, and refrigerate 30 minutes to firm
5.  Preheat the oven to 400F
6.  Spray cookie sheets with vegetable cooking spray
7.  Roll pieces of dough into balls the size of small walnuts 
8.  Roll dough balls in sugar and place on cookie sheets 2 inches apart
9.  Make indentations in the middle of each cookie with your thumb
10. Fill each indentation with about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry preserves
11. Bake for 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned (watch them carefully as the sugar likes to brown quickly) and remove promptly to a rack to cool.

I love thumb print cookies.  They always look fancy and yet are so easy to do - mix the batter, roll the balls, shove your thumb in the middle, and fill 'er up with something yummy.  I've made ones filled with chocolate kisses, M&Ms (like I did yesterday), and jam.  Have you ever made thumb print cookies?  What did you fill them with?

Don't forget to check Angie's blog at Echoes of Laughter to see what cookies she has baked today.

Linked to Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage,
Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring,
Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm,
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing,
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now