Germs: In the Eyes of a Three Year Old

Thoughts from a three year old while baking "snowball" cookies:

When she dropped some dough on the floor while she was rolling it, I told her she needed to put it in the trash now because it had germs on it. After inspecting it closely she said, "I don't see any germs, it's okay."

When she dropped another one that only fell to her step stool and I said it should go in the trash too, she said, "It's okay Mama. It only falled on my toes. My toes don't have any germs."

"Why do we need to give some to Mr. Sherman (our elderly neighbor)? We already gived him cookies last Christmas."

"Mama? Can't we please keep some cookies for my belly, too? Our friends don't need lots and lots of cookies."

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Snowball cookies are an important part of Christmas from my childhood, one of my fondest cookie memories. I even go so far as to buy white flour and sugar when I make them (because if they were made of whole wheat flour, they would look more like dirt balls instead of snow balls.) Here's the recipe my mom gave me the year I moved out of my parents' house:



Russian Teacakes (or Snowball Cookies)
1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 1/2 cup white flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar for decoration

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Once baked, while still hot, roll in confectioner's sugar until coated. Let cool, then dust with more confectioner's sugar.

Makes 24 cookies.

(If you want to freeze them for later, freeze them after rolling in confectioner's sugar the first time, then dust them with more sugar after they're thawed.)