Is it really November already? That means it’s almost been an entire year since we left Sicily! And it has been an entire year since I participated in NaBloPoMo, or, National Blog Posting Month for those of you not in the know.
That’s right, November is when a large group of crazy bloggers decide to torture challenge themselves by writing a new blog post every single day of the month.
Last year I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo despite the fact we were packing up and moving across the world. And somehow, I managed to do it! This year, to challenge myself even further, I’ve decided to post a new recipe every single day of this month.
How am I going to manage this? I’m not sure yet. But it will give me an excuse to dig through my piles of notebooks and find all those recipes I always meant to write about, but never did! And it will also force me to get back behind the camera that I’ve been neglecting too much lately!
So to kick things off I’m pulling out this thumbprint cookie recipe from last October that I posted on Flickr but never shared with the rest of you! Who doesn’t love jam thumbprint cookies? I’ve always adored this type of cookie but for some reason had never tried making them myself.
When we were getting ready to leave Sicily, I had an abundance of nut flours in my freezer that needed to be used up. You see, on a whim, I had purchased a variety pack of nut flours from King Arthur Flour’s Baker’s Catalog, but never got around to using some of them.
I had a bag of toasted almond flour and a bag of toasted hazelnut flour sitting in the freezer making me feel guilty. And that’s when I just happened to run across Cafe Fernando’s Thumbprint Cookies! His recipe uses ground hazelnuts so it was exactly what I needed! Don’t you just love it when that happens?
First, I made Cafe Fernando’s recipe using the toasted hazelnuts. The only change I made was to use whole wheat flour and I think I added a touch of vanilla extract to the dough. I filled that first batch with apricot jam and they were delicious! I highly recommend Cafe Fernando’s hazelnut version!
But I still had that toasted almond flour, remember? Well, it was easy enough to adapt the original recipe by switching out the ground hazelnuts for ground almonds. And to give the cookies even more almond flavor, I added a bit of almond extract. Again, I used whole wheat flour rather than all-purpose and this time I filled the cookies with raspberry jam since almonds and raspberries make perfect companions.
These cookies were amazing!
And I really am kicking myself now because I never shared them with you. These cookies are so easy to make and perfect if you have little helpers to do the thumbprints!
Whole Wheat Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies
1/2 C. butter
1/3 C. lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 t. almond extract
1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. toasted almond meal or flour (toasted ground almonds)
Raspberry jam
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Whisk together flour and almond meal then add to butter mixture and blend well.
4. Put cookie dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place on baking sheet; make an indentation with your fingertip in the center of each ball.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are just slightly brown. Let cool on wire rack.
7. Fill cookies with raspberry jam.
Yield: approximately 2 dozen cookies
This recipe is based on the Thumbprint Cookies found at Cafe Fernando
Related Recipes:
Around the Web:
- Thumbprint Cookies from Andrea’s Recipes
- Lime Curd Thumbprint Cookies from Baking Bites
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies from Fun & Food Cafe
- Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies from Everybody Likes Sandwiches
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies from Taste and Tell
- Gluten-Free Thumprint Cookies from Aprovechar
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