Author Notes: I make a spicy habanero jelly every summer and when making classic (sweet) thumbprint cookies one holiday season, I thought – Why Not Savory? And that’s how these cocktail cookies were born. If you don’t want the hot pepper taste, try apple butter for another direction. Either way, they’re a perfect holiday hostess gift, especially when paired with a bottle of wine. —MrsWheelbarrow
Serves: 48
Ingredients
-
12
ounces grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
-
4.5
ounces unsalted butter
-
1.5
cups all purpose flour
-
.5
cups toasted pecans, chopped
-
1
egg white, beaten
-
4
ounces hot pepper jelly, habanero jelly, or other onion jelly
Directions
- Cream together cheese and butter. Add flour and beat until the mixture forms a ball. Remove from mixing bowl and form dough into a disk. Chill overnight. (Or freeze for an hour.)
- Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat sheets. Put egg white, beaten, in one bowl and pecans in another bowl.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and break off 1 teaspoon sized pieces and form into little balls. Chill for two hours.
- Dip the cookie ball first into the egg white and then into the pecans and then place them about 1″ apart on the baking sheet.
- Slide the baking sheets into the oven for five minutes, remove them from the oven and poke a little indentation into each cookie with the end of a wooden spoon or a small dowel. Put a tiny spoonful of the jelly in the indentation.
- Return the cookies back to the oven and bake until the tops are very lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
- Cool on the sheet on a rack. These cookies will keep for three days, if they last that long. Store them in layers between wax paper. I package them in stacks in cello bags and tie with a holiday ribbon, attaching the recipe as a gift card.