On Strike for...Never!

This recipe is one that I began baking about nine years ago. I was going into my first holiday season as a married woman and wanted to find some kind of treat that I could make that would become a new tradition for me. My husband and I watched a holiday movie on Lifetime called “On Strike for Christmas”, and the uncredited star of that film were the cookies that the leading lady baked. From then on, I was hooked. I adapted a recipe for them the very next day and have been making them multiple times for every holiday season since then.

Do you know how some recipes become instant classics: the go-to recipes that you can rely on for just about any occasion? These cookies are that recipe for me. I have taken them to potlucks, family get-togethers, game nights, school events, birthday parties, office parties, I have packaged them up in cute boxes to give as gifts, and I have baked a batch for an evening at home with my son. No matter the occasion, they always turn out perfect and they are always a hit!

They were the first thing I learned to make on my own that hadn’t been passed down from my mother or my grandmother and great-grandmother. They were mine alone, and that is one of the reasons I love making them. One of the many, many reasons. Another big reason revolves around a little boy who has my heart – as well as my cheeks, nose, and eyes.

My son has Autism, and occasionally has difficulty relating to the world around him in what is generally considered a socially-acceptable manner. He has meltdowns, to put it mildly, when things go any way other than what he had expected or wanted. When that happens, Mommy always knows what to do. I put my apron on, pull up my hair if it’s not up already, and gather together my flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, an egg, and whatever jam and nuts I have in the house, and I set to work.

Usually when he sees this after he’s had a meltdown, he “harrumphs”, crosses his arms, and pointedly looks away. I don’t let that detract me from my goal, however. I set to mixing my dry ingredients, creaming the butter and sugar, adding the vanilla, separating my egg to add in the yolk and to save the white. By the time I have mixed in my dry ingredients and rolled out twenty (exactly, every time) balls of dough, I have piqued his interest enough that he will watch me, grudgingly, from across the room.

Once the dough balls have been rolled in the reserved, beaten egg white and the roasted, chopped nuts, he is curious. By the time they have been filled with the jam, he is expectant and wanting to help me put the tray into the oven. Twelve minutes might seem an eternity for most kids to wait for their sweets to bake, but not my kiddo. He will plop himself down in front of the oven every time, drying his remaining tears with his stuffed rabbit, Lamb-Lamb – who is his constant companion – and watch and wait patiently.

The cookies finally come out and, after a few minutes of cooling time, he is finally allowed to take one. It’s almost as if a switch is flipped for him; all of a sudden he is happy, smiling and giggling, offering a bite to Lamb-Lamb, and has forgotten all about what had made him so upset less than an hour before.

I now bake many different things during the holidays. I have adapted dozens of recipes from around the world and my oven during the fall and winter months is almost never shut off, but these will always be my favorite, my go-to recipe that I utilize whenever I am in a pinch or when sensory overload needs to be soothed.

The character in the film that started this tradition for me had gone on strike (along with the other women in her town) because she felt taken for granted and under-appreciated. For me, it matters little the verbal recognition. I bake these cookies because I enjoy doing it, and the joy they bring to others – especially to my son – is all the thanks I ever need. On strike for Christmas? Not this momma!

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 egg, separated

1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 pinch salt

Toasted and chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Jam (any flavor but I really like blackberry)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts onto a dry baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes for until you can smell them and they have turned a shade or two darker. You could also roast the nuts in a dry saute pan on the stove, but they don’t heat as evenly, in my opinion.

2. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil (I prefer parchment – again, for more even cooking, but aluminum will work in a pinch).

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

4. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer (or in a large bowl with your handheld mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer or don’t like pulling it out – which is me on some occasions) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and extract and beat until combined.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until just combined, then allow to rest in the refrigerator for about twenty minutes.

6. In a small bowl – or a breakfast bowl, as my son affectionately terms them – whisk up the egg white until it is broken up and lightly frothy. In a food processor, finely chop the toasted and cooled nuts then pour into another breakfast bowl.

7. Roll the batter into walnut-sized balls…there should be enough to make exactly twenty. Coat each dough ball in first the egg white then the nuts and place on the lined baking sheet spaced a couple inches apart.

8. With the end of a wooden spoon – or with your thumb, as they are called Thumbprints – make a well in the center of each cookie and fill it with the jam of your choice. For this, I really like berry jams for their darker colors: blackberry or raspberry are especially good. Lighter jams such as apricot or pineapple work, too, but the colors really pop more with the darker jams.

9. Bake for twelve minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

10. Eat and enjoy! These cookies are a staple for the holidays, but delicious all year long!