Cookie days: Christmas baking, sugar cookies galore

My little sister Abby is my best baking buddy, and she was living with me in 2003 when Martha Stewart first published her "1 Dough, 4 Cookies" recipes. Now, you can find the recipe in her new Holiday Cookies 'zine. We made a variation on the Orange Spritz, pictured, and my sister altered the Chocolate-Raspberry Thumprints (for one, we used blackberry jam). We also adapted her basic sugar cookie dough, just a tad, for our own purposes. I suggest using this dough as a basis for one or two - and not four - recipes, because four? That's just a bit much of a good thing.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together one cup softened butter and one cup sugar until light and fluffy. And one egg, one tablespoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and mix well. Combine two cups flour, 1/2 cup walnut meal or other nut meal or flour and 1 teaspoon salt into separate bowl; stir into butter mixture and blend well.

Refrigerate dough for one hour (or up to a week). For thumbprints, combine one cup chocolate chips and one cup walnuts or almonds; chop coarsely in food processor or with a nice hefty chef's knife and huge cutting board (it'll get everywhere). Roll cookie dough into one-inch balls and roll in chocolate-nut mixture. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, indent with thumb (ok, you got me, I use my index finger), and back about 12 minutes, just until firm. Remove from oven, let cool, and fill with a spoonful of jam - preferably homemade marionberry or blackberry jam. Yum.