Edge and Vertex

Another Christmas recipe! These ones are pine nut thumbprint cookies with jam and I think they were Shoes' favourites. They were nice and sweet and they go well with a nice cup of tea (why do I keep saying this? Everything goes with a nice cup of tea!). Quite frankly, the cookie was so good, I almost didn't need the jam! But then the jam was like BOOM, delicious.

Pine Nut Thumbprint Cookies with Fig Jam

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups finely chopped pine nuts, walnuts, or pistachios

About 1/2 cup fig jam or jam of choice (I used raspberry!)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or spray cookie sheets.

2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, honey, and vanilla on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. On low speed, gradually beat in the flour just until mixed. Stir in 1 cup of the nuts. The dough will be stiff.

3. Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll between your palms into walnut-sized balls. Place on the prepared cooke sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.

4. Bake in the centre of the oven until firm to the touch and just golden on the bottom, about 10 minutes. Let cool slightly, then make an indentation in the centre of each cookie using your thumb, the handle of a large wooden spoon, or a clothespin. I personally used a measuring spoon - I think a teaspoon? No, maybe a 1/4 of a teaspoon? One of those. It made the best round indentation. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

5. Fill the indentation in each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon of the jam. Then sprinkle the jam-filled centres evenly with the remaining nuts.

Tomorrow - off to Baked Expectations!!