Peppermint Candy Cookies

The Dough
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, soft
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 teas. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla together until fluffy. Add the flour and walnuts and blend to form a dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Candy Mixture for Garnish
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1/4 pound peppermint candy (candy canes), crushed fine
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
In a small bowl combine both ingrediants. Set aside. Three Tablespoons of this mixture is used in the filling below and the remainder is used to garnish the cookies.
The Filling
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2 Tablespoons cream cheese, soft
1 teas. milk
1 drop red food coloring
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
3 Tablespoons candy cane mixture (see above)
In a bowl blend together the cream cheese, milk, food coloring, and the confectioner's sugar until smooth. Blend in the 3 Tablespoons candy mixture.
Remove dough from refrigerator and for each cookie pinch off a rounded teaspoon of dough. Form into a ball and shape the dough around your thumb to make a little compartment in the middle. PLACE ABOUT A QUARTER teaspoon of the cream cheese filling in the depression. Pinch the dough back together and roll it back into a ball. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough and filling. Place the balls on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven 350...for 10-12 minutes. Do not brown.
Remove the cookies to a cooling rack. To garnish, roll the cooled cookies in the remaining candy cane mixture. Makes about 1 dozen cookies.