This recipe makes a zillion little quarter-sized decorative cookies that fill out your Christmas Cookie plate with colorful and beautiful single bite cookies that show off all of your other cookies and are delicious morsels in their own right.

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sifted Powdered Sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 cup pecan halves

2 cups candied fruits of at least 3 colors (red cherries, green pineapple, yellow citron)

Cream butter; slowly add the sifted powdered sugar. Blend in the egg and the vanilla. Slowly add 2 cups of the flour. Toss fruit in remaining ¼ cup flour and fold into the batter, then fold in pecan halves. Divide into 3 equal balls of dough. Roll in wax paper into 3, twelve inch logs. Chill for one hour until firm – then freeze for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice frozen dough into 1/8 inch thick cookies onto parchment or silpat on cookie sheets. Reduce heat to 325, and bake for 12 – 15 minutes. They do not spread, so load up the sheet for baking, and enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Perry Mandanis