Trying something new in the baking department for no particular reason except that it’s Christmas? I hadn’t done that in years!  But, I cut an interesting looking recipe out of the newspaper at least ten years ago, and decided it was time to make it or purge it from my collection.

Faye’s Cherry Bells, it was called. The illustration, as I remembered, had looked so cute. I thought they’d be darling on a plate for the neighbors. But that was before I entered the workforce. These days I don’t do much of that stuff, and I knew if they failed I’d be mad at myself for wasting the time. But I decided to throw holiday caution to the wind. It was sort of empowering.

Luckily, they turned out pretty darn delicious, and quite cute. Plus, the mixing and baking gave me that old Christmassy warmth and excitement my kitchen used to have at this time of year. My heart grew like the Grinch’s on top of Mt. Crumpet. I shared the cookies all around and began to feel the spirit of the season for the first time this December. “Dah-who-doray. Christmas day is in our grasp so long as we have [cookies] to clasp.”

FAYE’S CHERRY BELLS

3 cups flour                                                     1/4 cup dark Karo syrup

1/2 tsp. baking soda                                        1 egg

1/2 tsp. salt                                                      1 Tbsp. heavy cream

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup butter, softened

1-1/4 cups brown sugar

*Nut filling:

1-1/2 cups finely chopped pecans                   3 Tbsp. maraschino cherry juice

1/3 cup brown sugar                                        About 72 maraschino cherries

**Sift dry ingredients and set aside.  Cream butter with mixer.  Add brown sugar; mix well.  Blend in Karo, egg and cream.  Add dry ingredients and mix to make dough.  Chill well.  *To prepare filling: combine nuts, brown sugar and cherry juice; set aside.

**Roll out 1/3 of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 2-1/2 inch rounds and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Place 1/2 tsp. of filling in the center of each cookie, then shape into a bell by folding the sides over the filling, making the tops narrower than the bottoms.  Place cherry at the wide end for the clapper.  Bake in a pre-heated 350 oven for 12-15 minutes.  Cool for 1 minute on a baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool.

 Faye's Cherry Bells