Well, I can say I'm not a guy - no comment on the size part. And instead of a thumb this recipe calls for a pinky. I went the wooden spoon route, but I am getting a little ahead of myself.
I made half of the recipe, and used almond meal rather than ground hazelnuts. Since Trader Joe's carries the almond meal it just sounded easier and cheaper. Also I am not a huge fan of raspberry, so I used what I had on hand - apricot preserves and lemon curd (oh how I love lemon curd!). Otherwise I followed the rest of the recipe. I won't tell you how old the almond extract I used was. Let's just say I haven't used much of it until now, but it has been packed up and moved with the rest of the kitchen things more than once.
Sadly I felt very rusty making these, even though I have baked since January. When I mixed everything together it just didn't come out right. Rather than dough I had sand and definitely not the correct consistency. My solution - my hands. I squished everything together until it was dough like, and would maintain the shape of a ball.
These also seemed pretty small. Somehow the picture in the book makes both the cookie and the "thumbprint" look much bigger. And they didn't come out of the oven looking very pretty (probably due to the weird consistency of the dough). They look more "ragtag" than anything else.
It's at this point in the process I think that my co-workers will not be munching on cookies tomorrow.
After cooling I filled them and gave them a try. A little dry - again, probably more to do with me than with the recipe - but very tasty. I really like the nutty flavor with the sweet apricot. The lemon curd sure does give it some tang! Still won't be bringing these to work for the co-workers (I have a reputation to maintain), but they will be very nice with a cup of tea in the morning.
PS - it sure is good to be back!
3 comments:
Your thumbprints are so cute! I love the idea of using lemon curd. I also had to squish the dough together with my hands, it was fun making them though! :-)
I thought they would be bigger, too! Your cookies look perfect and didn't spread at all. Lucky! Nice to see you back here!
A little powdered sugar covered up all the imperfections in my thumbprints. I always think of Julia Child covering up mistakes when no one else was in the kitchen!
Post a Comment