Recipe by Nonna Cecilia
Bird’s Nests Cookies (Nidi di Uccelli) – Basket Cookies… lovely and delicate cookies to be enjoyed at all the major holidays and at all the family parties.
For the Crust:
3 Oz Cream cheese – 1 Stick of butter, room temperature – 1 Cup of flour
For the Filling:
1 1/4 cups brown sugar – 1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped – 2 large eggs – 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Get The Tamper. In a stand mixer, add the butter and work it a little bit with the paddle until it gets nice and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and let them mix well. Add the flour and continue to mix until all the flour is absorbed. Make a ball out of the dough, put it in a plastic bag and refrigerate it for one hour. Meantime you can prepare the filling. In a bowl add the eggs and beat them.

Add the butter and the vanilla extract and mix well. Add the walnuts and mix well. Add the brown sugar and continue to mix until the sugar is totally melted.

Take a mini-cupcake pan, roll a small piece of dough half the size of a golf ball and place it in each cavity of the pan. With your fingers spread the dough against to bottom and the wall of the cavity to form a little basket. Drop about one teaspoon of the walnut mix in each basket. Fill all your baskets and bake the for about 12-15 mins. at 375F.