“They’re cutting down trees…They’re putting up reindeer…And singing songs of joy and peace.” (Thanks, Joni M.)

My 11 year-old granddaughter wrote me today with a “Florida Rap” about Christmas: A parody on the contrast of Christmas’ traditional imagery of snow, freezing cold and being all bundled up in wool and down, compared to her daily experience of sunny, warm days, tropical breezes and alligators. I love it when my grands and greats show their creative stuff!

I’ve had a couple of Florida Christmases, wearing my Aloha shirts, going for walks in shorts and sandals.  Being with my little family is the best, helping the kids make gifts for their parents, then watching those same kids dive into THEIR presents on Christmas morning.  Being home with a chance of snow is pretty good, too.  A bittersweet taste of my life is that my immediate family is spread all over the continent, and now far beyond this land mass as my bro and his wife anchor in Hawaii for a few years.  But then my family has always been that way. I’ve never really known anything else. Growing up I celebrated Christmases in Texas, Idaho, California, the Philippines, New York, Massachusetts, California again, Texas again, Michigan, California again, the Philippines again–Pilot’s daughter, ya know.

It’s coming on Christmas…no matter where you are, no matter who you are with this year.

So, this year I fly home from a quick visit to see my little mama in Washington.  I hurry to get ready for Christmas with my sweetie and his mom; to grab some time with my California grands and daughter. Get the tree (a live one, no cutting one down this year), put up twinkling lights, wrap a few small gifts, run to the bookshop for one more small gift, plan menus, bake, bake, bake.  As I can, I grab some sweet moments of conversation with dear friends and local family, try to get in touch with old friends who are far away. And remember.

While in Washington I made thumbprint cookies with my great nephew Rane.  Now, I know lots of people have lots of recipes for various versions of thumbprint cookies, but I swear hands down that none can compare with my mom’s thumbprint cookie recipe.

She got the recipe from a neighbor around Christmas 1954, and we have baked those little buttery balls of delight every year since (and there have been lots of mid-year batches, too).  This year marks the  55th year of baking thumbrpint cookies.  And this year also marks my FIRST year of OFFICIAL  LEGACY mentoring, getting ready to pass down my “vast knowledge and experience.” (PLEASE…note the quotes.) So, I thought I’d share the recipe with you all:

1 cup softened real butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

BLEND TOGETHER LIGHTLY, THEN ADD…

3 cups all-purpose white flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons real vanilla

2 tablespoons of 1/2 & 1/2

BLEND ALL TOGETHER.  PRE-HEAT THE OVEN TO 375º.

NOW… Gently roll into little marble size balls.  Don’t be too rough; you’ll make the cookies tough!  Just enough pressure to help the dough hold together.  These cookies don’t spread much, so you can put them fairly close on the baking sheet.  When you’ve got a full sheet, it’s time to PRINT!  Poke your thumb into each little ball to create a nice deep well.  THEN BAKE FOR 12 MINUTES.  You might check them at 10 MINUTES.  They just need to be golden brown on the bottom for perfection.  When they’re done, set them aside to cool and get ready for CHOCOLATE FUN!

Do you have a double boiler?  Wow!  You do?  You must be a true gourmet.  Most of us just rig up our make-shift double boilers by finding the just-right sized heat-tempered bowl to gently rest in the just-right sized saucepan with some water in it.  Well, after you’ve gotten your “rig” set up, open a bag of SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS!

Have I ever told you how incredibly fussy I am about chocolate?  Well, here ya’ go!  As far as this chocoholic is concerned there is really only one brand of chocolate chips:  GUITTARD!  Nothing else will do, unless, of course, you are regionally impaired like I was in Washington where they do not sell Guittard chocolate chips at my niece’s fantastic gourmet market, in which case we settled for Ghiradelli (how plebeian!).  In a pinch Ghiradelli semi-sweets are just fine, but I DO avoid Nestlé for many reasons.

But I must go on!

In the double-boiler, or make-shift version MELT…

2 cups of GUITTARD semi-sweet chocolate chips

MAKE SURE THAT YOU MELT IT SLOWLY, STIRRING FREQUENTLY TO KEEP THE CHOCOLATE CREAMY WITH A NICE LUSTER GLOSS.

Add 2 tablespoons of real butter

2 tablespoons of light corn syrup

2 tablespooons of milk or 1/2 & 1/2

BLEND AND CREAM TOGETHER TO MAKE A LOVELY GANACHE.

Now, put about one cup of powdered confectioners’ sugar into a plastic bag.  Place the cooled cookies into the bag and SHAKE!  Soon they will be coated with a dust of powdery sweet snow.  Place them on a sheet of wax paper and get ready to drop.   Into each little cookie well put one small spoonful of chocolate ganache. Drop, plop, drop, plop! Yum.  You are done!  Thumbprint cookies extraordinaire!  In the style of my sweet little mommy, Cora Elizabeth “Betty” Zane Walker Smith–a modest homemaker, a terrible cook, an OKAY seamstress and an excellent BAKER!  My dad fell head over heels in love with her when he first met her.  She was covered with flour from baking pies.

If you’d like, feel free to fancy them up even more before the ganache cools.  A slice of dried apricot or crystallized ginger, a bit of pecan or a cluster of pine nuts–All good.  But that basic chocolate thumbprint cookie?  It’s a family legacy, a Smith Family Christmas Tradition.  We’ve baked them at home, for school, for church, for neighbors, for friends and co-workers.  We’ve made them and gobbled them up before they are even cool.  We’ve mailed them half way around the world. And some day, for my wonderful nephew-in-law, I’ll try out a Vegan version…maybe.

But in the meantime, as I remember Christmases Past, I can hear my dad:

“Betty, I went to the store and bought you a sack of flour so you can make me some thumbprints.  Oh, I suppose the kids can have a couple.  Then we can mail some to Brother Nelson and his crew.  Send them to Nan and Bill, too.  Your brother Kenny, he likes them.  Your sisters?  Oh, I suppose so.  You could teach them something about baking!  And you could teach them something about being nicer, too.  Make some up for the neighbor who waters the lawn when we’re away.  And what about the mailman?  He’ll like ’em.  Are you done yet?  B.Z., bring me a plate of those cookies that your mom made.  I’d better test them before we let anyone else eat them.  Is that all you brought? You durn-near missed ’em, kid.  You’d better bring me a couple more.  And wait, I still have a sip of milk here.  I think I need one more cookie…to make things come out even.”

I’m B.Z. Smith….I tell stories…Here’s one.