Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I’m home for the holidays, and with the holidays come delicious food. Now that I’m 22, Christmas at my place, being an only child, is pretty quiet. But, mom and I love to cook yummy food. So, I decided to make my friends Amy’s thumbprint cookies (go to her blog here)..

They were really good!

On Christmas morning, mom and I re-attempted Eggs Florentine. See, last year, we both had a melt down because we ruined the hollandaise (haha, dramatic). So, we hd to make up for it. It turned out way yummy! I don’t have the recipe(cause mom did it, not me), but here is a picture..

YUM!!

Please, share any and all Holiday food recipes!

Raspberry Christmas Circles

By Beverly Hicks Burch

During the holidays we like to add a taste of Tall & Handsome’s southwestern cuisine to our menu. Years ago when he first celebrated Christmas with my family he brought Posole to the table in a nod to his New Mexican heritage. It was a big hit.

Unfortunately he lost his recipe, so I went into gear and after some research developed a Posole recipe that we can’t wait to cook every year when the weather turns cool. I usually make a big pot right after cool weather hits and then off and on until hot weather returns. One thing is for sure…we started our own New Year’s tradition around here. Every year we start the New Year off with a big pot of Posole and warm tortillas.

This year we’re doing something a little different for Christmas. Years ago T & H made some Christmas cookies he found in a little 1978 cookbook he has called New Mexico Magazine’s The Best from New Mexico Kitchens. The recipe reminds me a bit of a recipe I did for the Cookie Road Trip over at "A Steel Magnolia is an Iron Butterfly". The recipe is called Raspberry Thimbles and has been a big hit over there. Recently I’ve had the honor and pleasure of hearing from the original contributor of the recipe and she gave me a little background on her recipe.

I started the Cookie Road Trip when I decided to go through a little pamphlet that came with a fund raising (cancer…some of you may know I’m a two time NON-smoking lung cancer survivor) cookbook. The Raspberry Thimble Cookie represented the state of Connecticut.

Well, the original contributor explained to me she had been making these cookies all of her life. She had gotten the recipe from her mother who was a native of Castlebar Ireland!

So, two similar cookies…from two very different locations. Both cookies are what are known as thumbprint cookies.

The following recipe is inspire by the one T & H made years ago. You’ve probably read enough of my recipes by now to know I tinker with them or Bev-ize them as I call it, and this one was no exception. Hope you enjoy Raspberry Christmas Circles…

© 2009 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

Raspberry Christmas Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon pure vanilla flavoring

2 eggs, separated

2 cups all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups pecans, finely chopped

Seedless Raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 375º.

Cream butter with mixer until light. Next add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla flavoring.

Mix in egg yolks. Combine salt with the flour, then add to the butter/sugar mixture.

Form dough into 1 inch balls. Dip the balls into the egg whites and then roll the ball in the pecans.

Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart.

With your thumb make an impression in the center of each ball.

Bake for 5 minutes. At the end of 5 minutes repress the impression in the center of the cookies and fill with raspberry jam. (Be careful not to overfill.)

Cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!!

“They’re cutting down trees…They’re putting up reindeer…And singing songs of joy and peace.” (Thanks, Joni M.)

My 11 year-old granddaughter wrote me today with a “Florida Rap” about Christmas: A parody on the contrast of Christmas’ traditional imagery of snow, freezing cold and being all bundled up in wool and down, compared to her daily experience of sunny, warm days, tropical breezes and alligators. I love it when my grands and greats show their creative stuff!

I’ve had a couple of Florida Christmases, wearing my Aloha shirts, going for walks in shorts and sandals.  Being with my little family is the best, helping the kids make gifts for their parents, then watching those same kids dive into THEIR presents on Christmas morning.  Being home with a chance of snow is pretty good, too.  A bittersweet taste of my life is that my immediate family is spread all over the continent, and now far beyond this land mass as my bro and his wife anchor in Hawaii for a few years.  But then my family has always been that way. I’ve never really known anything else. Growing up I celebrated Christmases in Texas, Idaho, California, the Philippines, New York, Massachusetts, California again, Texas again, Michigan, California again, the Philippines again–Pilot’s daughter, ya know.

It’s coming on Christmas…no matter where you are, no matter who you are with this year.

So, this year I fly home from a quick visit to see my little mama in Washington.  I hurry to get ready for Christmas with my sweetie and his mom; to grab some time with my California grands and daughter. Get the tree (a live one, no cutting one down this year), put up twinkling lights, wrap a few small gifts, run to the bookshop for one more small gift, plan menus, bake, bake, bake.  As I can, I grab some sweet moments of conversation with dear friends and local family, try to get in touch with old friends who are far away. And remember.

While in Washington I made thumbprint cookies with my great nephew Rane.  Now, I know lots of people have lots of recipes for various versions of thumbprint cookies, but I swear hands down that none can compare with my mom’s thumbprint cookie recipe.

She got the recipe from a neighbor around Christmas 1954, and we have baked those little buttery balls of delight every year since (and there have been lots of mid-year batches, too).  This year marks the  55th year of baking thumbrpint cookies.  And this year also marks my FIRST year of OFFICIAL  LEGACY mentoring, getting ready to pass down my “vast knowledge and experience.” (PLEASE…note the quotes.) So, I thought I’d share the recipe with you all:

1 cup softened real butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

BLEND TOGETHER LIGHTLY, THEN ADD…

3 cups all-purpose white flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons real vanilla

2 tablespoons of 1/2 & 1/2

BLEND ALL TOGETHER.  PRE-HEAT THE OVEN TO 375º.

NOW… Gently roll into little marble size balls.  Don’t be too rough; you’ll make the cookies tough!  Just enough pressure to help the dough hold together.  These cookies don’t spread much, so you can put them fairly close on the baking sheet.  When you’ve got a full sheet, it’s time to PRINT!  Poke your thumb into each little ball to create a nice deep well.  THEN BAKE FOR 12 MINUTES.  You might check them at 10 MINUTES.  They just need to be golden brown on the bottom for perfection.  When they’re done, set them aside to cool and get ready for CHOCOLATE FUN!

Do you have a double boiler?  Wow!  You do?  You must be a true gourmet.  Most of us just rig up our make-shift double boilers by finding the just-right sized heat-tempered bowl to gently rest in the just-right sized saucepan with some water in it.  Well, after you’ve gotten your “rig” set up, open a bag of SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS!

Have I ever told you how incredibly fussy I am about chocolate?  Well, here ya’ go!  As far as this chocoholic is concerned there is really only one brand of chocolate chips:  GUITTARD!  Nothing else will do, unless, of course, you are regionally impaired like I was in Washington where they do not sell Guittard chocolate chips at my niece’s fantastic gourmet market, in which case we settled for Ghiradelli (how plebeian!).  In a pinch Ghiradelli semi-sweets are just fine, but I DO avoid Nestlé for many reasons.

But I must go on!

In the double-boiler, or make-shift version MELT…

2 cups of GUITTARD semi-sweet chocolate chips

MAKE SURE THAT YOU MELT IT SLOWLY, STIRRING FREQUENTLY TO KEEP THE CHOCOLATE CREAMY WITH A NICE LUSTER GLOSS.

Add 2 tablespoons of real butter

2 tablespoons of light corn syrup

2 tablespooons of milk or 1/2 & 1/2

BLEND AND CREAM TOGETHER TO MAKE A LOVELY GANACHE.

Now, put about one cup of powdered confectioners’ sugar into a plastic bag.  Place the cooled cookies into the bag and SHAKE!  Soon they will be coated with a dust of powdery sweet snow.  Place them on a sheet of wax paper and get ready to drop.   Into each little cookie well put one small spoonful of chocolate ganache. Drop, plop, drop, plop! Yum.  You are done!  Thumbprint cookies extraordinaire!  In the style of my sweet little mommy, Cora Elizabeth “Betty” Zane Walker Smith–a modest homemaker, a terrible cook, an OKAY seamstress and an excellent BAKER!  My dad fell head over heels in love with her when he first met her.  She was covered with flour from baking pies.

If you’d like, feel free to fancy them up even more before the ganache cools.  A slice of dried apricot or crystallized ginger, a bit of pecan or a cluster of pine nuts–All good.  But that basic chocolate thumbprint cookie?  It’s a family legacy, a Smith Family Christmas Tradition.  We’ve baked them at home, for school, for church, for neighbors, for friends and co-workers.  We’ve made them and gobbled them up before they are even cool.  We’ve mailed them half way around the world. And some day, for my wonderful nephew-in-law, I’ll try out a Vegan version…maybe.

But in the meantime, as I remember Christmases Past, I can hear my dad:

“Betty, I went to the store and bought you a sack of flour so you can make me some thumbprints.  Oh, I suppose the kids can have a couple.  Then we can mail some to Brother Nelson and his crew.  Send them to Nan and Bill, too.  Your brother Kenny, he likes them.  Your sisters?  Oh, I suppose so.  You could teach them something about baking!  And you could teach them something about being nicer, too.  Make some up for the neighbor who waters the lawn when we’re away.  And what about the mailman?  He’ll like ‘em.  Are you done yet?  B.Z., bring me a plate of those cookies that your mom made.  I’d better test them before we let anyone else eat them.  Is that all you brought? You durn-near missed ‘em, kid.  You’d better bring me a couple more.  And wait, I still have a sip of milk here.  I think I need one more cookie…to make things come out even.”

I’m B.Z. Smith….I tell stories…Here’s one.

We virtually never baked or had cookies around when I was growing up.  I HATED this when I was little.  (I thought my family was totally lame, and I pretty regularily snuck over to my friends’ houses to eat the treats they had.)  The only cookie baking my mother ever did was Christmas cookies, which made the cookies super special.  Now that I’m older, I’ve become more grateful for this.  I did internalize the message that cookies are special treats, not something you have all the time – but I’m not going to lie, I still definitely eat them more often than once per year these days.  I also learned how much harder it is to eat something that isn’t around, so I make a point of not baking regularly myself.  I know the weakness of my own willpower!  But, I also still make an exception for this time of the year, when I go home to Minnesota and right away begin to fill evenings with baking, churning out a variety of cookies (my grandmother apparently felt that you had to have at least six types of cookies to make a decent cookie tray, and so I find myself creaming bowl upon bowl of butter, sugar, and eggs.  I kind of thought six was a lot, until a Christmas party I went to today where there were literally at least two dozen different kinds of cookies.  Holy trays of sprinkles Batman!  That’ll pretty much be the death knell for anyone’s attempt to not eat too many cookies in one sitting.  It may also be the reason I’m awake writing at a time I generally consider to be way past bedtime.  Mega sugar high – yes, I know there’s no serious scientific proof for the phenomenon of sugar highs, but tell that to me in an hour when I’m still awake…).

We’ve introduced a variety of interesting cookies to our repertoire over the years, though still none that take the patience to roll out and cut into shapes!  However, we always include some of the traditional Norwegian cookies that also happen to be everyone’s favorites.  I mean, hey, you can’t mess with perfection.  And, though this blog is supposed to be more cooking focused than baking focused, since baking is way more of a science, well, ‘tis the season to share cookie recipes.  So, I thought I would share my all time favorite, serinakaker, which are buttery vanilla thumbprints.  The ingredients for these cookies are so incredibly simple, they belie the utter amazingness of the end product.  The dough has to be made the day before baking and stand in the refrigerator overnight.  This, I think, is what leads to the development of extra flavor.  I also particularly enjoy making these because the entire process is not just done by hand, but actually with your hands.  You have to get in there and mush all the ingredients together with your fingers and palms – I’m always a fan of literally getting in touch with your food.  My recipe for these is scribbled in Norwegian, in an oooold notebook that is falling apart, and all the measurements are in metric.  So, I’ve done my best to translate it into something more useable for others!

Serinakaker

4 cups all purpose flour

2 sticks plus 6 Tbs. room temperature butter

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla sugar (this is a vanilla flavored powdered sugar available in Scandinavian specialty stores) OR 1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. baking soda

egg white for brushing and pearl sugar or chopped almonds for decorating (or sprinkles, I suppose!)

Blend the flour, baking soda, and butter together in a bowl until it looks kind of like sand, using your fingers to rub the butter into the flour.  Next blend in the sugar with your fingers.  Finally, add the egg and vanilla, still with your hands, and mush, smash, rub, and stir the dough together.  When it is thoroughly mixed, form it into a ball, cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator over night.  When you are ready to bake, let the dough warm up a bit, otherwise it will be nearly impossible to work with.  Break off pieces of the dough, and roll them into balls that are about 1 to 1 ½ inches across, and put on cookie sheets.  Once all the dough is made into balls, press your thumb into each to make an indentation.  Most of the cookies will crack around the edges as you press into them.  If they totally fall apart, just smash them up and roll them into new balls, but if there are just some cracks, that’s part of the look.   Brush the tops of the cookies with an egg white to glaze (it’s best to have a pastry brush for this, but I also sometimes just dip my (clean) fingers in the egg white and use them to rub the cookies).  Then sprinkle some pearl sugar into each indentation.  Pearl sugar is a special type of sugar for decoration that looks like tiny white rocks, or something of the sort.  If you can’t find any, you can also use finely chopped almonds, or sprinkles that you like to decorate with (though I wouldn’t recommend using flavored sprinkles).  Bake the cookies at 350˚F for 15 minutes until golden.  Move to a cooling rack and allow to cool.  These cookies are delicious with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, or a mug of hot spiced wine.  However, they are the absolute very best as a snack while you’re out on the cross-country ski trails, if you happen to be a cross-country skier.

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, separated

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup finely chopped hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans

Jelly (I use raspberry preserves)

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix brown sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla and egg yolk in medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt until dough holds together.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Beat egg white slightly. Dip each ball into egg white. Roll in nuts. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb deeply in center of each. Fill depression with jelly.

Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

***These are my signature take along cookies to holiday parties.

I was in a bit of a panic this afternoon because I had nothing planned to keep Maya busy for the LONG evening hours until bedtime. Who else has trouble filling these long winter nights?  I swear at 6pm it feels like midnight.  Can it be March already?

It was too cold for the park today.  And we already visited the library yesterday.  I wasn’t up for the challenge of battling for a parking spot at the mall.  And nobody was around for us to visit.  I was at a loss! 

When all else fails make food, right?  So I reached into my recipe folder (aka a manilla folder with random allrecipes.com printouts and grease stained handwritten recipes) to figure out a way to keep us entertained.  Based on what we had on hand we decided to make cookies:

Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c butter
1/4 c sugar
1 c flour
1/4 raspberry jam (or any jam you prefer)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar well.
Add sifted flour and combine with a hand mixer.

Shape dough into 1″ balls and place on a cookie sheet.
Make a 1/2″ indentation and fill with jam.  This, by the way, is a great jam.

Make sure your helper has thoroughly washed her hands.

Bake 15-20 minutes.

Super easy and yet they look very time consuming!  I couldn’t have one because of the flour so instead I took deep breaths of the baking cookies and settled for a spoon of jam.  I pretended real hard I was having the real thing but needless to say it didn’t work.  Nobody said going gluten-free was going to be easy!

How do you moms keep your kids busy?  Especially in the dead of winter when the park isn’t an option?

Violet keeps an eye on things

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Waning Moon
Rainy and mild

I kept thinking yesterday was Tuesday, so I feel like I have the gift of a day. Woo-hoo!

I baked for 9-1/2 hours yesterday. I used a Thumbprint cookie recipe from the 1960’s and it came out PERFECTLY. So the recipes published this year must have shifted proportions, which made them not hold together. After the holiday frenzy, I’ll spread everything out and compare them.

I filled the Thumbprint cookies with three different types of jam — apricot, raspberry, blueberry. Not in the same cookie, don’t worry — I’ve got three different flavors, and I made three batches. I may have to make one more batch just to make sure I have a few extra. I made more molasses spice cookies — Lara, I’m going to scan the recipe and send it to you — and several batches of toll house cookies, AND the miniature gingerbread cakes in the molds — some are Christmas trees and some are gingerbread men.

As I baked, I kept thinking, “Oh, I have to write about that tomorrow” and darned if I can remember what “it” was! Every available space is decorated, so I had to flip over some of those empty milk crates that I meant to take to storage but couldn’t fit in the car, cover them with a board and a cloth, and use them for cooling stations. The new mixer and the new, deep batter bowl are awesome. It made everything so much more efficient and easier. Using three cookie trays worked just fine — the two in the oven were staggered, so I was always prepping one while the others were baking. The good thing about a tiny kitchen is that I can stand in one spot and reach everything (unless I’m storing it on top of the cupboards, in which case I have to stand on a chair).

All in a galley kitchen so small that I have counter space big enough for the mixing bowl, and you can’t stand in front of a cabinet door when you open it. So the next time one fo the spoiled brat bitches on HOUSE HUNTERS whines she “can’t” cook in a galley kitchen and fakes bumping into her significant other, I will hunt her down and smack her silly! I figured that, over the years, I’ve turned out somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 cookies in various tiny kitchens all over the country, and probably close to 500 cakes and pies. Would I like a huge kitchen? Absolutely! CAN I work in a tiny kitchen? Well, I have for years. These spoiled brats on the show, who are just starting out and expect 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, granite counter tops, steel appliances, etc. for $200,000. My goodness, you can’t even buy a CLOSET around here for that! Studio apartments are usually two or three times that amount.

Maybe I need a break from HGTV!

Anyway, today is Icing Day. I’m going to ice the sugar cookies and the eggnog angels. So, tomorrow will be the pack-and-deliver day. I’ve got all my packing supplies — plates, festive bags, ribbon — and I’m going to make some tags on the computer (I can never find exactly what I want in the store, so I often make them).

I wrote domestic cards through “L” last night, and I’ll push to finish the alphabet tonight. I’m a little late (I like domestic cards out the door by the 10th or 12th), but they’re getting there. I have two packages to mail tomorrow, domestically; I have to figure out what the heck to get my cousin’s son and get THAT out the door — it’ll be late, but it’ll get there, it’s going overseas. I have one more gift to pick up for my Mom, probably on Thursday. And I am DONE. I can set up Ornament Hospital, finish some decorating, and just enjoy the season. I’ve got all the stocking stuffers, I can concentrate on my anthology deadline. And I can have fun with the holiday.

My eye seems to be okay. It’s sore, but not inflamed or any vision problems. Those eye drops I bought in Prague are magic!

Gotta head to Trader Joe’s this morning for cat food (the felines were horrified by their empty cupboard after I fed them the last can), gotta hit Mrs. Green’s for some coffee, and Staples (all in the same direction), then double back to Costco for more butter. So far, I’ve used 16 pounds of butter, 15 pounds of flour, 8 pounds of sugar, 4 pounds of chocolate morsels, and, when I did the math, realized I could paper a football field with parchment. And I’m not quite done yet — I’ve still got a few cakes to make and a Trifle. I’m trying to figure out which liquor to use to soak the spongecake — sherry, port, madeira, brandy?

I’m having a serial dream about a story. Very weird, but interesting. I have to make sure I take notes as soon as I wake up every morning, so that I don’t lose it. I think it could be quite a cool piece.

I have a Toyland display set up — ornaments of children and toys that are too big and heavy for the little tree, but are able to stand on their own. When I came into the ktichen this morning (it’s in the eating area of the kitchen), they were all rearranged and facing different directions! I don’t know if the cats played with them (they’re in a place the cats can’t usually reach) or the Christmas magic touched them and they had a party while we were all asleep.

Or the building is shifting again and we’re all screwed!

Personally, I prefer Option 2.

Gotta run, there are angels to ice and cats to feed!

Maybe one of these days, they’ll fix the boiler, we’ll have hot water for more than five minutes (trouble for nearly a week now), and I won’t have to keep boiling water to wash the dishes. Pain in the —- when you’re baking and washing up as you go. Scumbag landlords. They make cosmetic “improvements” that make the building look like a hootchie joint where we rent by the hour, and skimp on things like the boiler. Typical.

Devon

Thumbprint Cookies – you may also know them as Polish Tea Cakes or Butterballs.

Combining all things people love so much – butter, nuts and jam – they are classic and favorite cookies for any occasion.

And you know what? They are also really easy to make -  just have a look!

~~~

To prepare the Thumbprint Cookies you need:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (100 grams) walnuts (or hazelnuts or almonds or pecans)

1/2 cup jam (any flavor you like)

~~~

1. Preheat an oven to 350 F (176 C).

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the nuts on the sheet.

3. Toast the nuts for about 10 minutes.

4. Remove the nuts from the oven and let cool.

Then chop them finely and place them into a bowl.

Nice!

5. Now let’s make the dough.

In the bowl of your electric mixer mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

6. Separate the egg and add the egg yolk to the batter.

Add the vanilla extract.

And then add the flour and salt to the batter and beat until just combined.

7. On a lightly floured surface form a log from the dough and cut it into about 12 – 15 equal pieces.

8. Form a ball from each piece and refrigerate for about 30 minutes (the balls will be easier to work with when refrigerated).

9. In a bowl whisk the egg white until frothy.

10. Dip a ball into the whisked egg white…

11. … and then roll in the nuts lightly.

Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet spacing about 1 inch (2,5 cm) apart.

12. And now the funny part!

Take one well-built thumb and make an indentation into the center of each cookie.

13. Using a teaspoon, fill the cookie with the jam (if you want to make it more neat you can use a pastry bag or – like me – a small plastic bag with one corner cut off).

14. Bake for about 13-15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack and let cool.

If you are planning to make these cookies in advance, you can bake them without the jam filling (in that case, reduce the baking time by a few minutes). They can be stored for about one week and filled with jam the same day as serving.

This recipe makes about 15 cookies.

Enjoy!

(To see more of my posts click this or “Home”.)

The decent thing to do, after a day filled with turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing and apple pie and pumpkin pie and pecan pie and who knows what-all, would be to talk about salad.  Instead, I thought I’d talk about cookies.

Cookies, after all, are a lot more fun than salad.  There’s something almost magical about them.  You start with an assortment of rather ho-hum ingredients — butter, sugar, flour, and eggs — and less than an hour later you’ve created bite-sized little morsels of happiness, like some sort of ancient alchemist.

And since happiness is one of the things we most want to share throughout the upcoming holidays, I’ve already started making thumbprint cookies — shaping soft buttery dough into little balls, rolling them in chopped nuts, and smushing them down with with my thumb before baking them to golden brown.  These crumbly bits of shortbread filled with fruity American Spoon Red Raspberry Preserves are absolutely divine.   They look beautiful and taste wonderful, yet they’re incredibly simple to make — a perfect and very special holiday treat.

Thumbprint Cookies
(makes about 3 dozen)
printable recipe

2/3 cup (11 Tbsp.) butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pecans
1 jar American Spoon® Red Raspberry Preserves (or any other flavor American Spoon® Preserves or Spoon Fruit)

1) In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until softened. Add sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and half the flour. Beat until thoroughly combined, then beat in remaining flour. Cover and chill for one hour.

2) Grease a cookie sheet and set aside. Preheat oven to 375°F.

3) Slightly beat egg whites. Finely chop nuts.

4) Form dough into 1″ balls. Roll each ball in egg whites, then in the chopped nuts. Arrange 1″ apart on cookie sheet. With your thumb, make an indentation in each cookie.

5) Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack. Fill the centers with your favorite flavors of American Spoon® Preserves or Spoon Fruits.

found on epicurious

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 cup bleached all-purpose flour (dip and sweep method) (5 ounces = 142 grams)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (5 grams)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed) (3.75 ounces = 108 grams)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (1.75 ounces = 50 grams)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (4 ounces = 113 grams)
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter (9.25 ounces = 266 grams)
• 1 large egg (3 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon) (1.75 ounces = 50 grams, weighed without the shell)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (2 grams)

Milk Chocolate Topping

• 2 (3-ounce) bars milk chocolate (6 ounces = 170 grams)
• 2 (3-ounce) bars bittersweet chocolate (6 ounces = 170 grams)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature) (3 ounces = 85 grams)

Place 2 oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Food Processor Method
Into a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt, then whisk to mix evenly. In a food processor with the metal blade, process the sugars for several minutes until very fine. Cut the butter into a few pieces and add it with the motor running. Add the peanut butter and process until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and process until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and pulse in just until incorporated.

Electric Mixer Method
Soften the butter. Into a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine well. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat the sugars until well mixed. Add the butter and peanut butter and beat for several minutes, until very smooth and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl. At low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture just until incorporated.

For Both Methods
Scrape the dough into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. (This keeps the dough from cracking when shaped.)

Measure the dough into a 1 1/4-inch cookie scoop or 2 level teaspoons and roll it between the palms of your hands to shape 1-inch balls. Place the balls 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. As soon as you roll each ball, use your index finger or the handle of a wooden spoon to make a depression going down almost to the cookie sheet in the center of each ball.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned and set. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking period.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for a few minutes or until firm enough to lift. Use a small, angled metal spatula or pancake turner to transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely. If necessary, while the cookies are still hot, use the greased handle of a wooden spoon to deepen the depressions.

Fill the centers with the cherry preserves or milk chocolate toppings.

On medium heat, boil the jelly for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly until, when it is dropped from the stirring spoon, the last drops gather to form one large sticky drop that hangs from the spoon. The jelly will be reduced to about 3/4 cup. Allow the jelly to cool about 1 minute or until the bubbling stops. Spoon heaping 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons over each cherry.

Milk Chocolate Topping
Break the chocolate into squares and place them in the top of a double boiler. Set it over hot but not simmering water. The water must not touch the bottom of the double-boiler insert. Stir until the chocolate begins to melt. Return the pan to low heat if the water cools, but be careful that the water does not get too hot. Stir the chocolate until smooth, and cool it until it is no longer warm to the touch. (The chocolate may be melted in a microwave oven if stirred every 15 seconds. Remove it before it is fully melted and stir, using residual heat to complete melting). Whisk in the softened butter. The mixture will immediately thicken. Do not overwhisk. Use a reclosable quart-size freezer bag with one corner cut off to pipe the chocolate into the centers of the cookies or use a small metal spatula to spread on a dollop. You can also use a coupler with a number 22 star decorating tube to pipe the chocolate decoratively into the centers. Allow the chocolate to set until firm.

Store:
Cookies filled with chocolate can be stacked in an airtight container at room temperature. Cookies with cherry centers need to be placed in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature. Do not cover the surface of the cookie with plastic wrap as the cherry center remains slightly sticky.

Keeps:
1 month if filled, several months unfilled.

Smart Cookie
• For the best texture and flavor, be sure to use commercially prepared peanut butter such as Skippy and not homemade or health food varieties, which are less smooth.

• The dry ingredients are sifted together because baking soda has a tendency to lump.

• Using superfine sugar will result in fewer cracks in the cookie’s surface. It can be prepared easily in a food processor by processing granulated sugar for a few minutes or until it is as fine as sand.

• These cookies are much lighter than the usual peanut butter cookie, despite the high amount of peanut butter, because there is less flour, which offsets the bulk of the peanuts.

• For a more delicate flavor and a finer, less “sandy” texture, that does not crack, try a batch using half the amount of peanut butter. The cookies will also be flatter and crisper.

• Cherry preserves, straight from the jar, can be placed in the center of the unbaked cookie and baked in it, but the cookie is far less attractive.

• Allow the cookie sheet(s) to cool completely before using for the next batch.

• Distribute the cookies evenly around the cookie sheet. Avoid crowding the cookies into one section of the cookie sheet, leaving a large area bare.

• For a delicious variation that will enable you to pack the cherry variety without their sticking together, top the cherry centers with melted chocolate. Use 3 ounces of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and 2 ounces of finely chopped milk chocolate. Melt the bittersweet chocolate as indicated for the Milk Chocolate Topping. Scrape it into a small container, immediately add the finely chopped milk chocolate, and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Use a small spoon to cover the cherry center with the chocolate or pipe it from a reclosable quart-size freezer bag with a small piece cut from one of the corners of the bag. Place the cookies in a cool place or the refrigerator for about 5 minutes or until the chocolate is set and no longer shiny.

I am no baker.

I would rather face a smoking hot wok than the quiet stress of measuring out 60 grams of flour . . . strange but true.

However, with enough time on my hands, even I will make an attempt.

I was pretty happy with my first attempt at these cookies even though I got over enthusiastic with the thumb pressing and it turned out a bit oblong.  Nevertheless, such a charming cookie with the jewel-like center! 

I made a couple changes to the recipe below.  Instead of raspberry jam and kirsch I used blackberry jam and lemon juice.

Raspberry Lemon Thumbprint Cookies

Emeril Lagasse, 2003

Ingredients

½ cup raspberry (or blackberry) jam or jelly
1 tablespoon Chambord or kirsch (or lemon juice)
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets (I used parchment baking paper).

In a small bowl, combine the jam and Chambord (or lemon juice to taste). Stir to combine.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk to blend.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 additions and beat just until moist clumps form. Gather the dough together into a ball.

Pinch off the dough to form 1-inch balls. Place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart. Use your floured index finger or 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to create depressions in the center of each ball. Fill each indentation with nearly 1/2 teaspoon of the jam mixture. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

It’s no secret I love a good cookie… and one of my favorites just came back.  During the Christmas and Easter seasons my favorite bakery (Olde Tyme Pastries in Turlock) does not make my favorite Chocolate Thumbprint cookies.  Instead, they opt for a plain “colored” frosting to match the holiday decorations.  I.e. red for Christmas and yellow for Easter.  BLAH!  This makes no sense to me.  Those plain frosted thumbprints cannot compare to the flavor of the chocolate frosting.

I was in Turlock today (dropping off my eyeglass frames for new lenses) when I realized that Easter was over (at least for the secular society) so I dropped in to check on my cookies and THEY WERE THERE!  Just like magic… they were back on the shelf.  Alleluia!  An Easter gift to myself.

I actually did make some applesauce raisin cookies last week, but I the camera that I put the photos on is dead, so I will update with those later.  I got a request last week for something with apricot, so I figured that these thumbprint cookies with some apricot preserves in them would fit the bill.  I also made some with cherry preserves for myself and my husband.

Ingredients

1/2 cup margarine or shortening

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose Flour

1/2 tsp salt

Jam of any flavor

First, mix together the brown sugar, egg yolk, vanilla and margarine.

After well mixed, add in your flour and stir.

Roll dough into balls and place 1″ apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  My cookies were pretty small.  The recipe says to dip it in egg white, but I really didn’t see the point of that other than to add nuts to it (which I omitted).  Gently press your thumb into the center of the cookie to make a well.

The recipe says to bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, cool, and then fill with jelly.  I like the consistency of baked jams, so I baked for about 6 minutes, removed and filled them with jam, then put them back in for an additional 6 minutes or so.

Yum!

And cherry, too!

I think these may be my favorite so far, along with the pumpkin cookies.  They were delicious, and Joe, who requested them, ate the entire bag that I gave to him.

It’s been a wasted weekend. Work and sleeping off the effects of a cold have fettered my precious free time. That and 285 posts on the RSS reader. Must streamline. First to go will be the Scotsman feed; too much repetition. I’d already thrown out the right-of-centre blogs a few months ago, but was sucked into reading their recent froths about the COE’s archbishop’s radio interview. Bad idea; even worse, I read some of the comments.

And to top it all, we are out of biscuits/cookies in the house. This is never a good state at the weekend. What exactly am I supposed to have with my tea if not a biscuit? And I was craving jammy dodgers. So it made sense to bake thumbprint cookies, which are just cookies in which you stick your thumb and fill the resulting indentation with jam. No recipe this time; it just wasn’t good enough. Note to self: putting granola in baking only makes it all taste like health food¹.

Oh, they weren’t awful per se. Just chunky when what I wanted were slightly crisper biscuits, not chewy cookies.