Birds in the Nest Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or shortening
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons water
2 cups unsifted flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup ground nuts
Jelly or jam—your favorite flavor

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter or shortening. Add egg yolks, water, flour, vanilla and salt. Mix well and compress into a ball.
Break pieces off to form small, walnut-size balls. Dip each ball in unbeaten egg whites, then roll in ground nuts. Slightly flatten ball to form disk, then press finger in center to form a small well. Fill the well with a drop of jelly. Don’t put in too much or it will melt over the side of the cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes on a greased cookie sheet. Remove from oven and cool cookies on wire racks. Yield: about 4 dozen.

"Panic Cookies" Note:
I initially planned to make this cookie and it wasn’t quite turning out like I hoped. It was 9 pm and I panicked. The jelly was spilling over and creating a mess, so I bailed and threw in a bag of pecans and 1/2 bag of coconut into the dough and hoped for the best. After the cookies cooled, I rolled them in some powdered sugar. They taste pretty good. My son ate the ones that came out in the first two batches and loved them.

Submitted by Deede