Whenever I go through a recipe, I find it quite easy to visualise how the dish would look in the end knowing the type of sugar required or at what degree it should bake etc. That's why, I never use a recipe if I feel it's going to fail which naturally saves me time and precious ingredients. If the recipe is convincing enough, I give it a try right away.
This goes for the last recipe for jam thumprint cookies I found on Martha Stewart's website. Martha Stewart's recipe tells you to heat jam until liquefied in microwave or on stove, spoon the jam into each indentation and then bake. But the moment I noticed that the jam is spooned into the cookies before baking, I doubted whether the jam would ooze from the cookies while in the oven. However, I'd tried several recipes by Martha Stewart and found them very reliable. So, I decided to give it a go, though, with a presentiment of failure.
I was totally right. The cookies spread as they baked and the strawberry jam I used started to bubble and flew out slowly. The cookies were still super delicious though.
Well, I'd been cautious enough to bake the second tray of cookies without jam just in case and filled each indentation with the jam after the cookies cooled completely. Those ones turned gorgeous with the jam glowing in them like rubies. By the way, I'd also added some confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to Martha Stewart's recipe.
Ingredients
24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature3/4 cup sugar + 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 large egg
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup jam (any type)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 175 C degrees.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar combination until smooth.
3. Add egg and salt and beat until completely combined.
4. With mixer on low, add flour and vanilla and mix just until incorporated.
5. Shape dough into 2 cm balls.
6. Place on baking sheets, at least 6 cm apart.
7. Moisten thumb with water, and gently press the center of each ball, making an indentation about 1/2 inch wide and inch deep.
8. Bake until cookies are golden brown around edges, 18 to 20 minutes.
9. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
10. Spoon jam into each thumbprint and serve.
P.S. I, later on, happened to read another recipe telling to bake the thumbprint cookies for 10 minutes and then remove them from the oven, put the jam in each thumbprint and then continue baking for another 8-10 minutes. It also sounds fine.
