Tuesday, March 09, 2010

TWD: Thumbprints for Us Big Guys

I'm glad this was finally picked. I've been eyeing this recipe for about as long as I've owned the book. This is essentially a butter cookie filled with jam. What could be bad!?

On the fuss scale, this was really low. The original recipe called for ground hazelnuts, but I can't stand them. And, I have ground almonds on hand. Easy substitution. The dough came together quickly. I made a half batch, so some of my measurements were a bit of a guess. (the flour and nuts were a generous 3/4 cup). The dough was pretty crumbly. It took a bit of squeezing, but I got the dough into 28 balls. I used the end of a fairly wide wooden spoon to make my holes. I've made this kind of cookie before, and I've learned to start with bigger holes because they fill in as they bake.

Here is the unbaked cookie. The hole is pretty deep.

Here it is baked. See how much it spread and leveled out?

I did make a minor change to the recipe. Instead of boiling the jam to make it spreadable, I just put glops on the cookies while they were hot. The jam filled in the holes very easily. I used four jams for variety. Clockwise from the left -- blackberry, apricot, strawberry, and orange-vanilla marmalade (homemade!)

I only tried the marmalade version. I really liked it. The sandy quality of the cookie was a nice contrast to the smooth jam. The Girl liked that the cookie wasn't sweet and the jam was so "it met in the middle." The Boy wasn't so sure about the orange, but he liked the apricot. This wasn't my favorite dough to work with, but the fuss factor was so low I might have to make this again if I need this kind of cookie. They ended up being very pretty, so I could easily see them on a dessert table.


Look for the recipe on Mike's Blog; Ugly Food For an Ugly Dude.

16 comments:

Marthe said...

Sandy cookies? Yum!! I was all pooped out from baking an army of cupcakes that I didn't do this weeks TWD.... Instead I posted one of the cupcakes :)

Jessica said...

I love all of the flavors of jam that you used, the cookies all look sooo pretty! How smart of you to skip the boiling step -- I'm always in favor of anything that cuts on the dirty dishes factor of a recipe. I'm glad your family enjoyed these cookies!

Nickki said...

They look so good! These cookies were also a hit here :-)

Leslie said...

Your cookies look amazing! I also used almonds and really liked the subtle flavor.

chocolatechic said...

I didn't boil my jam either, I just heated it in the microwave.

Tia said...

4 types of fillings make for aq very pretty platter :)

also, i saw your pie for pi day thing. 3/14. cute! i never clued into that before.

Anonymous said...

They look great! I like your assortment of fillings.

Teanna said...

Ooohhh that orange vanilla marmalade sounds amazing! Gorgeous cookies!

Flourchild said...

Yum they all look so pretty and colorful! I love them!

Bella Baker said...

your cookies look so yummy and that homemade marmalade sounds AMAZING!!! YUM!

Kayte said...

Oh, I am happy you did not serve these to me as I would have needed to try each and every variety! They all sound really really good...and they look great, too, who could resist?? Not me!

Nichicakes said...

yours look perfectly perfect... orange-vanilla marmalade yum!

Katrina said...

Love all the colors. Orange vanilla marmalade sounds de-lish!
I probably would have skipped the boiling, too. But I went with Nutella, so I piped it out of a piping bag.

Pamela said...

What a pretty and colorful plate of cookies you've got there! Very nice.

Liz said...

Yum, I love the four jam varieties. As I was eating them I was thinking I would love them with an apricot or peach jam, so your choices sound perfect.

Cakelaw said...

Yummo - love all the different flavours!