Chef J has a list of cookies as long as his arm, I don't think there's enough days left in December to make them all... We picked one of our favorite easy ones to provide after-snow-play treats last week. Let the games begin!
This is pretty much the classic Thumbprint Jam cookie recipe, with a few changes. For one, I was several tablespoons short of enough butter - but I had several tablespoons of cream cheese needing a useful life. We didn't have raspberry jam, but had a lovely jar of strawberry preserves in the pantry. We're very very good at punting. A vital lesson for any budding chef to learn.
So first of all, you find your recipe (which hopefully is not buried in the bottom of the cookbook box, as mine was). Round up ingredients. Import a pastry chef. We home-grow ours - we're a farm, remember, where everything is homegrown? It works best if the chef has freckles and giggles a lot...
There is a knack to doing the "thummies," after the dough balls are placed on the cookie sheet.
Chef J has just the right size thumb. I had to use my pinkie. If the dough balls were a tad larger, the handle of a wooden spoon would work just dandy.
Then, using a 1/4 teaspoon measure, in goes the jam (or preserves - or fruit butter - or what ever you want that won't melt out off the cookie while baking....)
There's a knack to getting that jam in the hole, too. Small fingers are definately an advantage.
A keen eye helps.
Ummm - you didn't see that. Nope, I didn't either.... Chefs and Christmas elves are slight-of-hand artists, we DIDN'T SEE A THING.
OK, there's a bit of perfectionist in this chef. He TAKES HIS TIME. For pete's sake, the rest of the elves are drooling and slavering - let's get this batch in the oven, Chef.Ah, the wait was worth it...oh, no. Now they have to sit and COOL before the glaze can be drizzled on top. Then the glaze has to dry, to form the appropriate white frosting appearance. The elves are passing out...
Alright, enough is enough. So the glaze went on while the cookies were still a teensy bit warm - ya gonna fire the chef?? And that glaze didn't get a chance to dry, either. There's only SO MUCH sugar-deprived elves can take...
But it was worth the wait, right?
RASPBERRY ALMOND SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINTS (or Jammies, for the impatient)
Combine:
1 c. butter, softened
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Beat until creamy. Add and mix well:
2 c. all-purpose flour. Cover, refrigerate for an hour to firm dough.
Heat oven to 350. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (or end of wooden spoon). Edges may crack a little. It's OK. Fill each indentation with about 1/4 tsp. raspberry jam (or equivalent).
Bake about 14-16 min., until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 min., remove to rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, combine in small bowl:
1 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 - 3 tsp. water
Mix with whisk until smooth, adjusting water for desired glazing consistency- should drizzle easily from fork, but still hold some shape. When cookies are completely cool (ha!), use a fork to pick up and quickly drizzle glaze in lines back and forth over cookies.
If there are any left, the reindeer have requested a few.
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