Dear Santa…
Dear Santa,
Let’s face the hard cold facts. I haven’t really been all that nice this year. I haven’t really been nice most years for that matter. But, I’m materialistic and still want stuff. So please, give me some stuff (preferably from Anthropolgie). If you do, you can have one of these cookies.
Love,
Peabody
P.S. My parents are coming for Christmas this year and it will make them suspicious if you don’t leave anything under the tree for me. I would like for them to be under the illusion that I am nice and not naughty. 
These were this years contribution to the cookie exchange I go to yearly. I also gave some to my physical therapy place. Yes, that’s right kids, I’m back in physical therapy. Shocking. They were a big hit at PT and seemed to be a crowd pleaser at cookie exchange as well. The original cookies have a caramel center, but again, I pulled the lazy card because they idea of unwrapping caramels and melting them was a bit much for me. They also originally had white chocolate drizzled on them. I would have done that, had I had white chocolate. But that involved a trip to the store…so again with the lazy card.
This is definitely a keeper cookie.
Dulce de Leche- Cashew Thumbprints
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
1 1/3 cups all-purpose
1 egg white
1 tsp water
1 ½ cups salted cashews, chopped
1 ½-2 cups dulce de leche (depending on how much you fill)
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add egg, vanilla extract, and salt to creamed mixture. Beat on low speed until fully combined.
Add in flour, beat on low until fully combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a fork, beat together egg white and water in a small bowl. Place cashews in a separate bowl.
Remove dough from fridge and shape into 1-inch balls. Dip balls in egg white, allowing excess to drip off. Roll dough balls in cashews to coat.
Transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies 2-inches apart. Using a 1-tsp measure, or your thumb, make an indentation in each cookie.
Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set, 12-13 minutes. I like to at this time repress my thumb or tsp measure to make the indentation really big in the cookie when the cookies come out of the oven. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
When cookies are cool, pipe dulce de leche into the indentations.
Leave out for Santa and hope for the best!
Adapted from Cuisine at Home Magazine Special Production: Holiday Baking
40 Responses
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December 16th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Those look fabulous – love the way you piped the dulce de leche.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Lovely cookies! I’m sure with all of these sweet treats, you couldn’t have been too naughty =D.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Great cookies! So pretty!
Cheers,
Rosa
December 16th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
i’m sure santa is willing to get into that deal. i would! these look great pea!
December 16th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
YUM! My dad loves cashews, I know what he’s getting for Christmas!
December 17th, 2009 at 2:31 am
These are delicious and I am sure that Santa will leave you something beyond a lump of coal.
December 17th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Santa will love your letter – no coal for you this year
And I loooooove those cookies!! You know I feel about dulce de leche – holy yum stuff.
December 17th, 2009 at 6:17 am
P.S. – they won’t let you out of physical therapy if you keep bringing tantalizing treats!
December 17th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Those look really yummy. I love baking with cashews.
December 17th, 2009 at 8:09 am
These cookies look delicious! And I love your Dear Santa letter…too cute!
December 17th, 2009 at 9:09 am
haha, can I be Santa this year? I’d do anything to get one of those!
December 17th, 2009 at 9:20 am
These cookies looks amazing. I love the dulce de leche centers.
December 17th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Oh, yum. I like the dulce de leche piped better than if you had done them thumbprint-style. Much prettier. They look delicious!
December 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
These look really good! Such a delicious mix of ingredients!
December 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
peabody these are just perfect!
December 17th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
These look amazing. If I were Santa, I’d be willing to overlook a lot to get a hold of a couple of these!!! Happy Holidays and thanks for the many gifts you’ve given your readers all year long!
December 17th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
These look delicious. Good luck with PT!
December 17th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
What a great use of cashews. I do not use them a lot in my baking. I will have to give this recipe a try
December 17th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
These look sooo good. Im seriously going to try to make a batch for my Pop-Pop, he loves cashews.
December 17th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Oh my goodness, those cookies look *wonderful*!
December 17th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Nice that your parents will be with you for Christmas! Happy Holidays Peabody! I suspect Santa will bring you gifts if you leave out cookies as fine as these.
December 17th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I can see why people were attracted to them, I’m full and they’re making my mouth water!
December 18th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Only one picture? Sad! I adore your pictures. Merry Christmas!
December 18th, 2009 at 7:00 am
I took one look at those cookies and thought “could that be dulce de leche in the center?” And it was. My favorite. I could eat spoonfuls of it with nothing at all. You deserve a present for this recipe!
December 18th, 2009 at 9:14 am
These are right up my alley, Pea – can’t really resist anything with dulce de leche.
They look so pretty! The dulce de leche on top looks like a flower.
December 18th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Whether you were naughty or nice, that is one heck of a bribe!
December 18th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Gorgeous!! I love the cashew-dulce de leche combo!!
December 18th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Fantastic! I don’t eat/bake with cashews enough!
December 18th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
YUM!
December 18th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
These sound delish and it’s okay that you have been naughty….I have too:)
December 19th, 2009 at 8:05 am
WOW. *speechless*
December 19th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I am making these today…wow.
December 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
They look absolutely de leche-ious.
Happy holidays!
December 20th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Those cookies look so good! Nice combo with the dulce de leche and the cashews,
December 20th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Gorgeous, gorgeous cookies! The dulce de leche swirl has my mouth watering
December 20th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
With this cookie, you will get anything you wish for!
December 20th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
I think Santa will forgive you if you leave him a couple of those cookies! They look yummy!
December 21st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
These look great! I love cashews but I pretty much never bake with them. Anything with dulce de leche obviously has to be awesome.
December 29th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
I made these and they turned out fabulous! Thanks so much for such a great recipe.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:15 am
These look awesome and would be a great excuse to not miss physical therapy! (hopefully it’s going well for you).