mix, mix…stir, stir

Thumbprint cookies are one of the riskiest choices in the pre-made cookie world. I’ve been disappointed by cookies that taste like shortening, are excessively dry, or have jam that is so congealed and leathery that it sticks to my teeth.  What I want is a rich tender buttery cookie with a tart brightly flavored jam or rich dark chocolate, just like this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie thumbprint cookies.

The recipe called for finely ground hazelnuts and raspberry jam, a favorite flavor combination of Dorie Greenspan’s. I didn’t have either of those items, so I started thinking about my favorite flavor combinations. Using almond meal as a substitute for the hazelnuts I made a chocolate peanut butter filling with David in mind and cracked into my last jar of rosemary rhubarb jelly (good thing rhubarb season is right around the corner!) as my personal indulgence. But this was just the start, then came a pink peppercorn chocolate ganache version followed by a cardamom kumquat combo.

This cookie is a simple butter and sugar shortbread style of dough. I found the dough to be a bit crumbly and difficult to shape, but the texture and flavor once baked were lovely.  I added 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the recipe because I think all baked goods benefit from a bit of salt. While mixing the dough I really wanted to add an egg yolk to give it a bit more moisture and richness, so that was my next experiment that led to my Pink Peppercorn Thumbprint Cookies.

The dough is slightly more tender and moist with the added egg yolk, which I really like.  The flavor of pink peppercorn blooms forward through the initial buttery flavor of the cookie making the first bite a bit of a discovery. Pink peppercorn and chocolate is a beautiful combination and somewhat behind me spoiling my appetite before dinner these last two nights. With four tasty varieties of pop-in-the-mouth cookies in the house, would you be hungry for dinner?

I thought the cardamom kumquat cookies were a stroke of genius, until they came out of the oven. The flavor was brilliant, but the appearance left a lot to be desired. Baked kumquats just aren’t pretty, but the flavor is fantastic. Kumquat marmalade added after the cookies bake will be a much better approach next time.  I used the same dough recipe as the pink peppercorn cookies, but added ¼ teaspoon of almond extract and ½ teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom instead of the pink pepper.

Mike of  Ugly Food Dude  selected this week’s recipe and he has it posted on his blog if you feel like making some prints with your thumbs and possibly spoiling your appetite for meals.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 116 recipes completed 105 to go!

All photos by David Peterman unless otherwise noted

Tags: Cardamom Kumquat Thumbprints, Pink peppercorn Thumbprints

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Tuesdays with Dorie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.