Thursday, April 22, 2010

Jam Thumbprint Cookies




Barefoot Bloggers has yet another cookie recipe in the store for us this month. The Minxes are pretty sure that Barefoot Bloggers is one awesome and rockin' organization.

I made these on an overcast, soggy day when the Minxes were restless and we were recovering from a rather traumatic incident at Miss D.'s annual school talent show. The short version: messed up music, puzzled and clueless 8-year old, frantic exit from stage in tears and hysterics.

Buzzkill. For all of us.

So the next day, still feeling a little heartsick, we rolled up our sleeves and played with vanilla-scented dough and coconut and jam.

The girls enjoyed rolling out the balls of dough and then poking indentations in them with buttery fingers. They especially liked licking the jam-covered spoons and, much to their mother's dismay, dunking the spoons back into the jam jar.

But I let them. I can always purchase another jar of jam. Mending broken hearts? If only it were so easy.



Jam Thumbprint Cookies
from Barefoot Contessa Family Style
makes 32 cookies


3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
Raspberry and/or apricot jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale, they should each weigh 1 ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and the roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is golden brown. Cool and serve.

34 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Oh poor Miss D! That is the worst, and in front of the whole school- I so feel for her! Thumbprint cookies are my earliest cooking memory with my mom. I'm sure that it helped everyone feel a little bit better to make these!

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  3. Awww. Poor baby. I hope she can move past it and it doesn't give her stage fright forever.

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  4. OH no - sorry about the school thing. I'm thinkin' these cookies may have had a hand in her recovery :-). You seem to be on a dessert roll now... which I love.... but may not work well with my new vow to exercise and lose weight. Oh well - Que sera sera....

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  5. Poor Miss D. Did the cookies work their magic?

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  6. The Boy wants to sing an original song at his upcoming talent show. I. Am. So. Nervous. We have given him lots of praise for his little (very little) song, which he sings nightly. I'm not sure an audience of big kids will be so in love with his performance of his ditty.

    Good for you, letting them double dip the spoon. You are so great.

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  7. I have to tell you that these are my all time favorite cookies. This, coming from a chocolate girl, is a huge statement, but I grew up on them and LOVE them.

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  8. Poor little thing! I hope she has recovered. That is brutal. School is brutal. What a good mama you are for preoccupying her mind! I am a sucker for all things coconut. So, I'll have to give these a go. Trying to slim down for summer though. So, they might have to wait until bulky sweater, fall weather!

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  9. Oh dear! I'm so sorry! Hope by this time you have cheered her up! It's such a disappointment when I'm sure she was so looking forward to it.

    I've made these cookies! I love 'em and hope letting her help make them made things a little better. What's a little double dipping between family?

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  10. Aw Miss D. The talent show can be a tough. Memories of me standing on a stage thinking "I know there are lines I spent 6 weeks memorizing something" come to mind.

    If anything can mend a broken heart these cookies would be it.

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  11. I forgot about these little cookies and use to love making them- it sounds like the best thing to do after an evening of tears!

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  12. Girl you know I heartily endorse any recipe that has butter, coconut, and jam.

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  13. I hope Miss D feels better and her broken heart is mended. :)

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  14. Love this, TKW. The cookies sound wonderful, but the love and comfort that went with them - even better. And the good news? This parenting approach still works when they're teens.

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  15. That was a trip down memory lane - my grandma used to make those when I was little - had completely forgotten about them!

    Happy Friday KW!

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  16. Dear Miss D - I'm so sorry about the talent show. I remember when I was about your age I was supposed to play in a piano recital and when I got halfway through my piece I forgot EVERYTHING. I couldn't do anything but run back to my seat. My dad was video-taping and I've had to relive it a few times. So I know exactly how you feel.

    I hope your afternoon with your mom and a few jars of jam helped smooth things over. And I hope you enter the talent show again. I know it will go better next time.

    Hugs,
    Gale

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  17. Dear Miss D.

    When I was 9, I was Mary in the Christmas play. The kids teased me up and down because my best friend's brother was Joseph and everyone said we were totally going to get married. (But UGH he was so not cute!) Anyway, I was determined to be so good when I sang my solo that everyone would forget all about him and instead talk for ages about my awesome voice. Unfortunately, I missed my cue and then froze because I couldn't catch up with the piano. And then Joseph had the nerve to knee me in the back to try and make my words come out.

    I had to step away from the manger and ask the pianist to start the song over (which made everyone in the audience gasp - apparently it is NOT COOL for Mary to leave fake Baby Jesus unattended for any reason at all). I sang my song and wished I could run off the stage, but Joseph and the angels blocked the exit. I cried for about a week every time I thought about it. But you know what? I got back on that stage the next year and it felt GREAT.

    We're always gonna make mistakes and miss cues and embarrass ourselves. It stinks, but if we didn't, we'd be perfect. And perfect people are boring.

    xoxoxoxoxo
    CK

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  18. Ohh, I feel for both of you. That's one of those worst fears that most of us carry into adulthood. Here's hoping that having experienced it will leave her even better equipped for life's not-so-good surprises. If she inherits your sense of humor, too, she'll be practically invincible!
    We always baked cookies on rainy, dismal days when I was growing up. Given this recipe and one wet, gray Friday, I think I might go set out the butter.

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  19. Aw, I hope your little minx has her swagger back. Jammy, double-dipped spoons definitely help, as does mommy love. =>

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  20. Poor Miss D.! That SUCKS for the ego of tender years.

    Jam thumbprints are a sweet salve. Hope Miss D. is feeling better, and you too!

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  21. You've given me a great idea! I could make these from jam, from spoons licked by kids with germs...then give them to someone I work with...well, never mind. It'd be far too wicked.
    I didn't make these. The Barefoot Bloggers have surely kicked me out of the group, by now. I need more time!

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  22. I have never had one of those thumbprint cookies, though I've been hearing about them for years.

    Poor Miss D! I wish she could get a do-over.

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  23. Awwwww. Hugs, Miss D!

    This recipe brought back so many memories of jam thumbprinting with my family. :D

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  24. Worst thing about parenting: having to put a positive spin on something that makes you cringe.

    My daughter spent her preschool graduation sniveling on my lap while the rest of her class wore darling little graduation caps and gowns. If I had EVER been offered the option of a preschool graduation I would have taken over the stage and been the valedictorian!

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  25. Oh thats a rough one! Poor little thing!!! Well the cookies look gorgeous. Hopefully making them helped a little!

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  26. what a bummer--i hope she's recovered by now! if anything can soothe a wounded spirit, it's cookies--these look great! and i love the rainbow. :)

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  27. Little thumbprint cookies to help dry little tears -- perfect. I hope it helped.

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  28. Oh m goodness, what a traumatic experience for Miss D, not to mention her family. (Tell me you didn't go after the music-messer-upper!)

    Some tragic events demand something sweet for the little sweethearts... and wine for momma!

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  29. Oh, Miss D...don't know what to say, except that Auntie CK rocks and *she* had a singing trauma, so you will rock, too.
    I think she needs another jar of jam.
    (Also? Kids are gross and totally make cooking both wonderful and infuriatingly wrong, all at the same time.)

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  30. At home we call these coconut jam drops and I miss the smell of warm, toasted coconut and the crunch (our version probably has more coconut than this but the memories it triggers are the same!) Thanks

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  31. Those jam thumbprint cookies were a perfect distraction for a broken heart-with licked spoons in the jam jar too. You did good mom!

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  32. Oh no!! Poor Miss D! Poor Miss D's Mama! Here's hoping sticky thumbs and yummy cookies were a buttery balm for her wounded heart - and yours. xoxo

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  33. Now, they look like they'd lift up anyone's spirits. I've had these (yummy!) but have never made them. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

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  34. Cookies do work wonders, don't they. And this recipe includes my new favorite ingredient: coconut. Yum!

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