Leaving Your Print.....

I’m not sure about you but I love jams and jellies. When I used to go to my Aunt’s house every summer in Bremerton, Washington, I would always look forward to breakfast. She had a lazy susan on her breakfast table and it always had at least five or six jars of jams, jellies, conserves and preserves on it. It was hard to choose just one so I would gracefully try and take a tiny spoonful of each so that I ended up with more of those flavors of sweet golden deliciousness on my dry, whole wheat toast. Though my family now is not nearly the jam eaters I was raised to be, I continue to purchase and make my own regularly. Living in California it was always apricot for me (still my favorite flavor), however, in the ten years that I've called Texas home I have uncovered some wonderful spicy citrus creations that have peaked both my interest as well as my palate. A trip to my local farmer's market will reveal award-wining creations from Confituras. I feel like a kid in a candy store when I attend the local food swap because of all the canned goodness created and brought by some of these local bloggers: From Maggie’s Farm, Texas Twist, Stetted, and Kate Payne. But with that said, I was recently doing the dreaded chore of cleaning out my refrigerator when I realized that I had a bunch of jars with little bits of jam left in each. Pondering how I could reuse these beautiful bits, I thought back to what I had recently learned from the remarkable Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking - that I could just fill the jars with yogurt and create my own personal jar of "fruit on the bottom" yogurt. Another idea is to add those bits to salad dressings or to a favorite BBQ sauce. Or, as in my case, create some yummy little thumbprint cookies. After all, the kid in me is still there and the only difference now is that I am no longer forced to enjoy my jams and jellies with just dry toast. I’m jus sayin!


Jammy Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup butter, or margarine softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped nuts or Sweedish pearl sugar
1 cup any flavor fruit jam (for ease place in zip lock bag snipped)
*For added garnish melted chocolate drizzled over top.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cream butter or margarine, sugar, and egg yolk. Add vanilla, flour and salt, mixing well. Shape dough into balls. Roll in nuts. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from oven. With thumb, dent each cookie. Squeeze jelly or preserves in each thumbprint. Bake for another 8-9 minutes. Should be golden brown on edges. Cool. For added garnish, drizzle melted white or dark chocolate over the tops.