Holiday Nut Cups And A Give-Away!

'Tis the season for giving, and I'm in that sort of mood.

The recipe I share, is really good food.

It comes from my mom, and was my favorite as a child.

It's tasty and nutty, sure to make your taste buds go wild!

And after the recipe you'll spy something new,

I'm doing a give-away of a painted pitcher for you!

So read to the bottom and I'll show you the way,  

To make these awesome cookies, and perhaps brighten your day!

This pitcher is perfect for the entire winter season.

So now let me share, my gift for that reason. 

 HOLIDAY NUT CUPS 

1 cup of butter, softened

2 cups of brown sugar

4 eggs (separated into whites and yolks)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups chopped nuts (any assortment)

-Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

-Prepare your mini-muffin tins by adding some mini-muffin liners into each compartment. 

 -Using a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer (or if you really want to burn some delicious holiday calories, use a whisk), beat the egg whites until stiff.

-Transfer your beaten egg whites to a separate bowl and refrigerate until called for.

-Chop your delicious looking nuts and set aside. 

I used almonds, walnuts, pecans.  I also used my handy dandy nut chopper.  If you don't have one, I highly recommend getting one.  It will save you so much time and effort.  I don't recommend using a food processor or blender as you will turn your chopped nuts into nut butter.  Another time perhaps, that would be a delicious thing, but not for this recipe. :) 

 -In a large mixing bowl, blend the delicious butter, brown sugar, egg yolks, flour and baking powder until thoroughly combined.

 

-Now using a wooden spoon or spatula, carefully add your delicious nuts and mix until well combined.

-Gently fold in your reserved egg whites (a 1/3 at a time) until your mixture is deliciously light and fluffy!

-You can now fill your muffin cups with approximately 1/2 teaspoon in each cup.  **Be careful not to over fill the cups as they will rise upon baking (do as I say, not as I did).  You can tell by the photos which cookies I over filled and which I filled with the proper amount.  Doesn't really matter, they're still delicious, just not as pretty!

-Allow the cookies to cool slightly before removing them from the tin to a wire rack to cool completely.  Don't they look delicious?

Now this is the point where my mom used to dot the tops of each cookie with a pretty little dollop of butter cream icing.  I had every intention of doing this step (honest I did) but after sampling 1 (maybe more) of these delicious little babies without the icing, I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't necessary.  These cookies are so flavorful and delicious, with just the right balance of nuts to sweet that I didn't want to mess with perfection. There, I said it! LOL 

What I did decide to do however, just to dress them up a bit, was to dust the tops with a tiny bit of powdered sugar.  In my opinion, it was just the right call and the perfect touch to add to these perfect little holiday morsels, and let me tell you...they are simply delicious!

Thanks for reading my recipe and viewing my pictures.

It's now time to find out how you can win this cute pitcher.

Hidden inside my well written post,

Is a word that I used a lot more than most.

Figure it out and tell me which one,  

on here or on facebook, 

Gosh, I hope this was fun!!!

I'll be choosing the winner in a couple of days,

And I'll be in touch with the winner...hooray!

With warm holiday wishes,

XO

Renée

p.s.  Thanks Mom! I love you!!!