For me one of the best ways to get me out of my head is to bake. Last week i was in a weird head place nothing seemed to work so i decided to do one of my favorite things… BAKE… right now its Christmas baking which is always the best kind of baking. I will make a bunch of cookies freeze them and then when it gets closer to Christmas i will make platters or tins to give out to people.
I made one of my favorite cookies right here, as my family likes to call them Thumb Prints. They are a Jelly filled cookie and i think they taste amazing. If you would like to try to make this cookie the recipe below, please let me know what you think.
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 Cups All- Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter ( let it sit out get to room temp before using)
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Then i will use a couple different types of preserves such as Raspberry, Grape, Apricot or Orange. The different colors tend to make everything look so pretty. I normally buy a 13oz jar or each of the types i decide to use and then add as much as i feel is needed.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a non stick baking pan which i have and it is amazing.
Add the Butter and sugar into your kitchen aid, start at a low speed as it starts to mix together you can increase the speed, i will switch off my mixer at times to scrap down the bowl as sometimes the butter and sugar mix will stick to the sides of the bowl. As that is mixing in a separate bowl start to mix your flour, baking powder and salt together.
Then add in the vanilla and egg to the wet ingredients, I tend to speed up the mixer to make sure everything combines nicely before I start to add in my dry ingredients. You can either slowly mix your dry ingredients in or as i tend to do turn off the mixer then add all of the dry ingredients in. Turn the mixer onto the slow speed let everything mix together, i will switch off my mixer at times to scrap down the bowl to make sure everything is combining together nicely.
Once everything is mixed together bring your bowl over to your baking sheets. I will then roll the dough into small balls and set them on the sheet. I will let the dough set while i work on the second baking sheet this allows the dough not to be as sticky, so once i make the “thumb print” it will not stick. I do not actually use my thumb i found using the back of a clean teaspoon tends to work so much better to make the circle you really want. After you complete this step, you then add in the preserve.
Bake the cookies until the edges are golden, which is normally at least 15 minutes.
Let the cookies cool and then you can add additional powder sugar to the tops of the cookies.
