Peach Cookies Or Plums - cookie

Method

• Preheat oven to 325. Mix cookie dough ingredients using only 2 c of flour. Blend 1 min on low, then 2 min on med, scraping bowl. Then stir in remaining flour.
• Shape dough into smooth 3/4" balls (each ball makes half a peach or plum). Place 1" apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 15 min; lightly brown on bottom. Cool on wire racks. As soon as cool enough to pick up, use tip of small knife in center of the flat side of each cookie and carefully rotate to make a hollow. Reserve crumbs.
• Mix 1 1/2 c crumbs with filling ingredients. Fill hollowed cookies with crumb mixture.
• Gently press 2 filled cookies, flat side together to make a plum (or peach). Brush each plum lightly with water, immediately roll in colored sugar. (You may need to blot the cookie dry with a paper towel so it doesn't dissolve the sugar. I use the largest size crystal colored sugar I can find.) Insert stem with leaves in top and set aside to dry. To make a blush spot mix yellow or red sugar with the background color and dip 1 spot of the wet plum first into this sugar, then spoon the background color sugar over rest of the fruit.