Thursday, January 2, 2014

Thumbprint Cookies and Other Oddities of Life!

Thumbprint cookies have been around as long as I can remember, and that's a pretty long stretch of time!!!!

(note to self, buy more anti-wrinkle cream!!!!!)

Mostly, I'm not a fan. I see them as 'ho-hum' cookies.....

Never jumped on the bandwagon of thumbprint cookie aficionados, until..... oh, until!!!!!

My favorite airbake baking pan disappeared.

Yes, that is the start to this story, and this gives you reason to MOCK ME because it is probably in this house somewhere.... sigh.... but I can't find it.

Enter Beth, stage right.... she gets me a new pan while doing some Christmas shopping and presents it to me and it has a thumbprint cookie recipe on the wrapper from the Food Network....

Now, I don't watch cooking shows, I'd rather write books and mess around with little kids, and make a ginormous mess of my kitchen but this recipe tweaked me....

It's all about ratio in recipes. I look at a recipe and wonder if the ratio is my-kind-of-balance, and this one was.... almost.

But I saw these cookies dipped in almonds and filled with McCutcheon's raspberry jam (because Ruthy didn't make her own jam this summer, MY BAD!!!!)

I was enlightened. It was an epiphany kind of moment, because what if... oh what if????  Wait. I dare not say it. Let's play with pictures and see if my idea works!!!!!

Butter and Jam Thumbprint (Food Network  recipe)

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

(for dipping:)
1 beaten egg white
1 tablespoon water
Whisk these together in small bowl

1 cup crushed almonds
1/4 cup sugar
Mix almonds and sugar in bowl



(Their original recipe called for unsalted butter and less vanilla. I like this version better) 

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. In mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy... length of time depends on your mixer.


Beat in egg and vanilla until just combined... add in flour mixture by adding half at a time, and just mixing it in... then second half and mix until just blended. This is what gives these butter cookies a melt-in-your-mouth texture to die for!



Form cookie dough into balls about an inch or inch-and-a-half across. Roll cookie balls into egg white, then almonds.


Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Make a small "pond" in the cookie with your thumb.... this will level some during baking, so I re-do it once they're out of the oven. Umm, it's a good idea to wait a minute before re-doing the holes because bandaged thumbs are not in style!!!!  :)

Bake in 350 degree oven until just "golding" around the edges, about 10-12 minutes. Cookies will still be light but firming. They'll finish firming during the cooling process.



Some of these are filled with raspberry jam (but sour cherry jam works well, too!)


These two little rascals are filled with raspberry jam and piped chocolate frosting...

And these guys are filled with Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting, one of our favorite family recipes:


This new/old recipe is now a staple in our cookbook of life!

20 comments:

  1. Well great...now I don't know if my butter is salted or not???never even thought about that little detail! But darn it can't make these since I don't have an air pan! Plus I'd probably be lazy and just stick a Hershey's kiss in the middle and press down as I went..IF I got that far, :-)
    Susanna

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    1. Hahahahaha! Susanna, that's so funny.... and it doesn't matter about the butter. I like a little "salt" to sweeten the pot, so either butter is fine! And you can use a regular cookie sheet, I just love the air bake pans because they cook so evenly. A thin pocket of air is a wonderful thing, a great equalizer! And these were the most popular thing on the dessert table at this year's get-togethers, so I was delighted! And they liked all versions. I Could Not Stay Away.... which means I can't make them often. Hershey's kiss cookies are fun for the kids, but I like the smooth, meltiness of the frosting in the middle. But lots of folks love, love, love the Kisses!!!

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  2. *sobs quietly into her fist*

    Why are you so far away from OREGON???

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    1. Which is where, Idaho? Cool! I'm up for that! It's only about 8 hours from me.

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    2. I think the middle is South Dakota :)

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    3. Texas is the middle
      Susanna

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  3. Yummy !! Anything with almonds is good.

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    1. I cannot disagree!!!! And dipping in the water-thinned eggwhite means more almonds STICK!!!!! YES!!!!!

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  4. all of y'all just need to move to Texas! preferably easy driving distance from me :-)
    Susanna

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    1. Susanna, you've got Mindy there!!!! I'd wilt. Ask Tina, I'm a super wuss in heat. I want to hire someone to sit and fan me for the four hot weeks of a northern summer. Ruthy=BigBaby when it's hot.

      Yes. I am "that person". :)

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    2. yes I have Mindy but wouldn't hurt to have the rest! and it's not like we sit outside and bake! I'm NOT an outdoorsy type person - only about 4 weeks out of the year have me understanding what people see in the great outdoors...thought I DO prefer the colder weather (though not freezing) because electric bills are high in the summer here!
      Susanna

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  5. Ruthy I love you!!!! I needed a tried but true thumbprint cookie recipe and you delivered. I'm going to make these this weekend for my daughter. Her grandma used to make them every Christmas but we never had the recipe.

    I do make chocolate thumbprint cookies...have you ever had those? Yum. And instead of jam, you pop a Hershey kiss on top when they come out of the oven. The kiss melts a bit, but keeps it's shape and then it hardens again when it cools but stays soft inside. Melt in your mouth delicious!!!!

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    1. Kav, come and share that chocolate thumbprint recipe!!!!! You must!

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    2. I'll dig out the recipe. It should be easy to find in my lovely 'filing' system since I just made them a couple of weeks ago. (I toss all my recipes in a basket and rifle through it every time I'm looking for something specific.) They'd be cute to make for Valentine's Day. You could tuck a cinnamon heart in with the Hershey kiss. :-)

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    3. Awesome!!!! Do you want to make them and be Kavalicious-the-official-guest-of-Yankee-Belle-Cafe??????

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    4. LOL -- you trust me to bake in the café????? Oy, the responsibility!!!! Just tell me when. :-)

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  6. I love my airbake pan. But I also have a stainless steel half-sheet pan that I found at Walmart - it's almost as good!

    My big problem is that I have three cookie sheets, and when I'm making multiple batches of cookies, I use all three. But all three bake the cookies at different rates. So 6 minutes on one pan, 9 on another, 10 on the third.

    Just as long as I remember which is which, the cookies don't burn :)

    And these thumbprint cookies look so elegant with their little almond jackets and raspberry jam filling! Thanks for the recipe!

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  7. Jan, I have a mishmosh like that too.... and even the three airbake styles don't bake the same. 'Sup wi dat????? But I love them, despite their idiosyncracies!!!! (had to stop and think how to spell that one!!!)

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  8. I"m a day late. But Ruthy, these are gorgeous! I'll have to give it a try. I think the plain jam looks yummiest!

    My favorite thumbprint (so far) is the peanut butter cookie with a chocolate kiss in the middle.

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