It’s almost Christmas. For today’s treat, I thumbed through my own recipe book to pull out a Christmas favorite from my childhood. These cookies are so easy, I could make them all by myself when I was a little kid. I will warn you, if you are looking for instant gratification, these are not the cookies you are looking for.” *intoned in my best Obi Wan Kenobi voice* Also, you can do lots of variations for whatever holiday you want to celebrate. See the tips below. Also, don’t freak over the total time.

Total time: 8-10+ hours
Prep time: 15 mins. (approximately)
Makes around 24 cookies (could be more)

Ingredients:
3 large or jumbo eggs (you only need the whites)
1 – 12 oz. package chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla

How to Make:
1 – Preheat oven to 350
2 – Separate eggs, whites into mixing bowl, yolks elsewhere*
3 – Beat egg whites until stiff
4 – Add chocolate chips, pecans, and vanilla, stir gently until mixed.
5 – Line cookie sheets with foil. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls.
6 – Turn off oven. Put all cookies sheets in oven, staggering on two racks if necessary.
7 – Leave in oven overnight with oven door closed to retain heat.
8 – Store in air-tight container.

Kitchen Tips
1 – Chocolate chips: You can use regular size, mini-size, and different flavors. I often use the mint chocolate chips at Christmas. You can use white chocolate, peppermint, dark, semi-sweet, milk.
2 – Color: You can add red or green food coloring for pink and light green meringue. This can be for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Paddy’s Day, Easter (add yellow to the mix), do batches of red, white and blue for the 4th of July, Halloween or Thanksgiving (orange), or blue along for Hannekah. And that brings us back to Christmas. FYI, they are pretty just left alone as white.
3 – Use the nuts of your choice but whatever you use should be chopped pretty finely.

4 – *Egg yolks: If you have a pan of boiling water on the stove, you can drop the yolks in and cook them for bite-sized munchies while you’re prepping the cookies. Again, this is a family thing, but way better than just tossing the yolks.

Note: Chips and nuts “float” to the bottom of the cookie as the maringue bakes.

No link to check out the nutritional details because I have no idea. My grandmother made these cookies. So did my mother. And me. I just make and bake them. I don’t pay attention to how long it takes or how many cookies. My bad. I’ve given them as gifts, I’ve shared them at office Christmas parties, and I’ve made them just because they are tasty and I was feeling nostalgic. I’m not the only one. Kathleen Tate, mother of the Tate boys of Red Dirt Royalty fame, loves these cookies too. It might be an Oklahoma thing. The boys call them foo-foo cookies but they sure stuff their mouths with them. Trust me when I say that Kathlenn ensures all her daughters-in-law can make these cookies to continue the tradition. This includes Quin Kincaid. Our intrepid Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper admits she could scorch water and if it can’t be microwaved, she can’t cook it. Guess who’s making the Forgotten cookies for this years family dinner on Christmas Day? And yes, All the Tate boys, their wives, and their cousins, the Barron brothers, and their wives, will all be there to celebrate. If you’d like to find out how country music superstar Deacon Tate hooked up with Quin over one snowy Christmas, grab THE COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS PROPOSITION. Just click on any pic with the cover or the title. The link takes you to the book’s landing page on Harlequin. You can get it there or find links to all the on-line bookstores where you can snag your copy of this sexy and fun Christmas tale.

What about y’all? Do you have a favorite family recipe for this time of year?