Jasper’s Other Most Favourite Cookie

I’ve already established that my 7 year old loves snickerdoodles. As much as he loves them, he loves these cookies even more. They are jam thumbprints.

In this case filled with homemade blackberry jam. They are also good with strawberry, apricot, orange marmalade, or the classic raspberry. I’ve filled them with lemon curd, with Nutella, and with chocolate ganache. They are all delicious.

You can leave the cookies plain, as I did today, or roll the balls of dough in chopped nuts. Almonds and hazelnuts work particularly well. You can even roll them in coconut if you want.

My favourite recipe for them comes from Carole Walter, in her book Great Cookies. Here is my adaptation of it.

Jam Thumbprints

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup ground almonds, toasted
• 8 oz. butter
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• jam

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Beat the butter with the sugar, salt, vanilla, and almond extract.
3. Beat in the egg yolks.
4. Stir in the flour and ground almonds until just blended.
5. Roll the dough into ping pong sized balls. place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
6. Press a hole into the center of each ball with your thumb.
7. Bake cookies for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and press the centers down with your thumb again.
9. Fill each indentation with about 1/2 tsp. jam and return the cookies to the oven.
10. Bake for an additional 5 minutes.

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