CIJ Day 30: Eggnog Thumbprint Cookies

Today was spent prepping for my CIJ crop party tomorrow. I had a little hiccup with my help, so I've been in the kitchen for hours now. I'm finally done with my salad prep, my cupcakes and my Christmas Cookies. Now I've just got to get all the small items and details put together, so I don't forget anything. Like a camera to start!! That would be disastrous!

I asked each guest to bring a plate of "Christmas" cookies. I decided to use the Eggnog Thumbprint Cookie recipe my Advent partner sent me last year.  It's a fairly easy recipe, but I didn't realize I was out of rum extract, so I had to make one of those frustrating, last minute runs to the store. Ugggg!!

Here's an actual photo of the recipe and I think it's big enough for everyone to read if you'd like to copy down the recipe.

My husband is a huge eggnog fan, but does not eat nuts. So when he walked in the door and I was making a batch of cookies WITH nuts, he kindly reminded me I could make some WITHOUT nuts for him to try. Being, the nice wife I am...I did! The picture shows the recipe as is, but on my second batch I omitted the part that tells you to roll them dough in egg white and chopped walnuts. I just rolled them into balls and pressed with my thumb. After tasting both, I thin I prefer the cookies without all the nuts. The cookies without nuts, had a stronger eggnog flavor for me. BUT the recipe does call for finely chopped walnuts and I wouldn't say mine were fine...they were more like "small" since I did them by hand. I think making a little extra filling wouldn't hurt either. That way, they each get a nice big filled center! So over all, this recipe was a thumbs up! But at Christmas, I will make them without the nuts!