Monday's with Mom...Walnut Cookies

My mom LOVED walnuts. She always had a bag in the freezer and put them in almost every cookie or bar she made. You know how the recipes often say,"nuts optional?" Well, they were always an option for her!

She often baked cookies to take to various meetings and organizations, and lucky me...I would get to taste one before she left! BUT only one,"these aren't for home" she would say when I complained.

I think she often baked at home when she was growing up too, as I found one of her very old cookbooks from her hometown church with lots of recipes that had comments or were circled from when she was a kid.  I guess growing up in a family of eight, one would need lots of goodies! Her father ran a "five and dime" variety store and I know she often worked there, especially around the holidays. But she must have had time for baking too, from the looks of this cookbook.

This recipe she had marked as "good" and if I remember correctly, she made them to take to a teachers meeting once,too. Of course, they had walnuts!

I had to find out if this was the recipe I remembered, and so I made them. I couldn't wait to take a bite, so I ate one right from the oven.

 I was kinda disappointed.

While they tasted ok, they just weren't what I remembered. 

SO I went and ran a few errands, came back and decided to eat another one.

NOW they tasted how I remembered! 

Yes....a delightful, slightly crispy, sugary coating that dipping them in the egg white and sugar gives them, with the soft center and crunchy walnut on top. 

A great sugar cookie!

This has happened to me before with different baked goods, they taste MUCH better later, sometimes even the next day. I'm not sure why that is,but I'm glad I gave them another try...delicious! Just like mom had made.

Old Fashioned Walnut Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

2 c. flour

1/2 c. walnut halves

1 egg yolk (reserve white for dipping)

vanilla ( I used about a teaspoon)

Combine ingredients and form dough into balls and dip each into egg white and sugar. Place a walnut on each one, pat down and bake on greased cookie sheets at 350 for about 5-10 minutes until lightly brown on the bottoms. Cool a bit and remove from cookie sheet.