Peppermint Kiss Thumbprint Cookies

 My daughter and I made our first batch of Xmas cookies yesterday.

 Here's the recipe:

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl cream together butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in egg yolks, vanilla, and almond extract. In another, medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until all ingredients are incorporated. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Use your thumb, or the end of a wooden spoon to make a well in the top if each dough ball.
3. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes. Remove and allow to cool 5 minutes before carefully removing from pan and allowing to finish cooling. When cookies are cool enough to touch, gently press down the center of the cookie to re-form the well.
4. In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and heavy cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring every 20 seconds until all chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Reserve ¼ cup of the chocolate and set aside. Add 3-6 drops (according to preference of color) of red food coloring to the large portion of chocolate and mix until smooth and even in coloring. Fill each cookie well with about 1 teaspoon of red chocolate. Spoon reserved white chocolate into a small ziplock bag. Seal the bag and snip off a TINY bit of one bottom corner. Drizzle the white chocolate onto the cookies in any pattern you like. Gently press one peppermint kiss candy into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool completely and let chocolate set 1 hour (or you can stick them in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to speed up the process!). Optional: sprinkle cooled cookies with granulated white sugar for a fun and fancy look!

 The tree is up but no lights or decorations yet.

How can something this small keep me so busy?

I also made this for the workmen yesterday and then I forgot to take a finished pic.   This is really easy to make and delicious.  Mix a bar of cream cheese with some chopped ham and shredded cheddar cheese.  Use store bought pizza dough or make your own.  Cut the dough into pieces and wrap about 1 T. of the cheese mixture in each piece.  You need 14 pieces for the outside ring and 9 for the inside.  Brush with melted butter of garlic butter.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes until golden.  Brush again with butter and sprinkle with chopped parsley and parmesan cheese to look like  a wreath.  Take my word for it...it looked really nice!