Some recipes to tempt those holiday taste buds

Walnut Balls
You'll be surprised by how
yummy such a simple recipe can be.
1 cup (2 sticks) butter,
softened, no substitutions
6 tablespoons granulated
sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoons salt
1 bag (8 ounces) walnuts,
chopped
1 1/4 cups confectioners'
sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour and salt just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl. Stir in walnuts.

2. Shape dough by rounded measuring teaspoons into 1-inch balls. Place balls, 1 inch apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet. Bake cookies 13 to 15 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

3. Place confectioners' sugar in pie plate. While cookies are hot, with metal spatula, transfer 4 or 5 cookies at a time to pie plate with confectioners' sugar. Gently turn cookies with fork to generously coat with sugar. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

4. Repeat with remaining dough and confectioners' sugar. Store cookies in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 1 week or in freezer up to 3 months. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar before serving if you like. Makes about 6 1/2 dozen cookies.

. Each serving: About 65 calories, 4g total fat (2g saturated), 7mg cholesterol, 30mg sodium, 6g carb., 1g protein.
Czechoslovakian Cookies
These rich buttery bars are a
Christmas tradition.
COOK: 25 minutes
TOTAL: 1 hour 10 minutes
MAKES: 30 bars
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
(do not use margarine)
1 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup strawberry preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 9-inch-by-9-inch metal baking pan.

2. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and sugar until mixed, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to high; beat until light and fluffy.

3. With mixer at low speed, beat in egg yolks until wellcombined, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Add flour and salt, and beat until blended, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in walnuts.

4. With lightly floured hands, pat half of dough evenly into bottom of pan. Spread strawberry preserves over dough. With lightly floured hands, pinch off 3/4-inch pieces from remaining dough and drop over preserves; do not pat down.

5. Bake 45 to 50 minutes until golden. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. When cool, cut into 3 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 10 pieces.

. Each bar: About 200 calories, 2g protein, 11g carbohydrate, 9g total fat (4g saturated), 31mg cholesterol, 70mg sodium.

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