Giant Jammy Thumbprint Cookies

I’m laying in the bedroom, too excited to sleep but too tired to get up and let the chickens out. One small lamp illuminates the room, yellowing Elsa’s fur, ochre streaks on the dawn. It’s been a long month. Good, but long. So much to plan, so much to do. So much in the little details, where the Devil sometimes waits. A handful of days until the wedding. More on that later.

I’ve been trying my hand at rituals. I’ve been trying to remind myself to get off my ass and walk around the house, around the yard, around the pasture. I’ve been having a hard time with the concept of expansion. It’s much easier for someone like me, who grew up bookish and can’t handle perimeters of myself very well, to sit in one room all day. I’ve been trying my hand at rituals to make small allowances. To break into this part of myself.

So I cut back on coffee and find time to brew a cup of tea. Write some letters I’ve been holding off on. And since either don’t eat until 9 at night or snack throughout the day, I thought I’d ease back into baking with small desserts. Easy treats. Things to dunk and break and that leaves crumbs behind.

Enter these giant thumbprint cookies. Made with whatever jam I found in my fridge this week. I’ve made this recipe twice already.

Giant Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup butter, softened

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • 1 egg

  • 1 TB lemon zest

  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 1/4 cup AP flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 1/4 cup your favorite jam

Directions:

  1. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy

  2. Add egg, zest, and vanilla and mix together

  3. Sift together dry ingredients and gently stir into your butter mixture

  4. Turn out onto a floured work surface and pat into a disc. Wrap and chill for 1 hour

  5. Preheat oven to 400*F

  6. Roll dough into 2 TB balls, press with thumb or measuring spoon to create a well in center

  7. Par-bake for 5 minutes

  8. Meanwhile, heat jam in microwave for a few seconds to loosen it up a bit

  9. Take cookies out of oven after time has elapsed, fill each well with a bit of jam

  10. Bake for an additional 8 minutes or until slightly brown (I like mine to be a bit soft, but you can bake longer)

  11. Allow to cool and enjoy