eggnog cookies

white elephant gift exchanges are funny.

i participated in my first one of the season this past week,

and happened to be the 2nd to last person to choose a gift.

if you are familiar with the rules of the game,

you know that this is one of the most advantageous places to be, 

as you get to choose from every single gift that has already been opened,

as well as the unwrapped ones still in front of you.

so here's the dilemma.

do you choose something that is already in front of you

and know exactly what you are going to get,

OR do you believe there is something BETTER in the 

unwrapped gift options in front of you??

even though it could very well be WORSE 

than the rest of the gifts in the circle?

now, that is a deep holiday metaphor for life right there! LOL.

***

i've been thinking about making eggnog cookies ever since july.

i was just waiting for december to arrive! :)

these cookies were GOOD - but tasted like a slightly 

more festive version of a snickerdoodle.

even though i got some great reviews of these, 

they left me still wanted MORE eggnog flavor.

i'm pretty hard to please, so feel free to judge for yourself :)

recipe via mrs fields

ingredients

2 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 sticks salted butter, softened

1/2 cup eggnog

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

yields about 3 dozen

directions

1. preheat oven to 300 degrees

2. in a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg.

whisk and set aside.

3. in a large bowl, cream sugar and butter to form grainy paste.

add eggnog, vanilla and egg yolks and beat until smooth.

4. add flour mixture and beat at low speed until just combined. 

do not overmix.

5. drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets 2 inches apart.

sprinkle lightly with nutmeg.

bake for 23-25 minutes until bottoms turn light brown.

transfer to wire  racks to cool immediately.

(sorry the pic is a bit blurry... too many of these maybe??)