Do you know what a sugar plum is? And if you do know what it is, have you ever had one? My knowledge of sugar plums totals two things. First, from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, I know that children have “visions of sugar plums dance in their heads,” when they go to sleep. And second, in the Nutcracker ballet there is a dance called The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. I know literally nothing else about sugar plums, but then last week Ryan and I received a jar of sugar plum jam as a Christmas present and I decided to do some research. I also decided to use that jam to make thumbprint cookies. 

First, I went to Wikipedia and the article was a little confusing.  Then I found this article from The Atlantic. And what I gathered is that traditionally sugar plums have no actual plums in them! Sugar plums where a type of candy – and possibly difficult to make, special, and expensive. The article speculates on reasons why it’s called a sugar “plum” but comes to no definitive conclusion. Alas. But, my jam does have real plums in it so obviously time changes things. The jam also has orange and lemon juices and “spices.” The ingredients list doesn’t specify the spices, but it tastes like your usual holiday suspects – cinnamon and nutmeg.

If you haven’t tried sugar plum jam, I recommend it. It’s sweet and just the slightest bit tart in a way that reminds me of cranberry sauce. It’s lovely. I wouldn’t put it on a pb&j, but I’d use the jam on toast or baked on top of a wheel of brie. It also goes really well on this very buttery thumbprint cookie. The heavier rich flavor of the jam is a good complement to the soft and flaky cookie. It’s so nice – but feel free to use whatever jam you have. We also used some raspberry jam and that was really good too.

I think these are good sharing cookies. They are easy to make, look nice even when a little bit messy, and they taste delightful. Plus it’s so easy, make the dough, make a ball, flatten with your thumb, plop some jam on, and bake.

The recipe for the cookies comes from FoodNetwork.com

Messy level: Two spoons. This is your basic drop cookies where you need just two bowls and a baking sheet to complete this recipe. If you get crazy with the jam you might get some drips and spills, but in this case I think it adds to the cookies’ charm and can’t be counted as a real mess.

Thumbprint Cookies

 

Print

Serves: 2.5 dozen

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups/ 224 grams all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup/ 171 grams unsalted butter, softened
• ⅔ cup/ 134 grams caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• sugar plum jam, or jam of your choice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350/180°.
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Using a stand mixer, or a handheld mixer with a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This takes about 5 minutes.
5. Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until mostly incorporated. Then add the second half of the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.
6. Using your hands, or an ice cream scoop, make 1 inches balls of dough.
7. Place the balls of dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. These cookies spread A LOT!!
8. Use your thumb, or the back of a spoon, to make an indentation in the center of the cookies.
9. Spoon a dollop of jam into the indentation you just made. I didn't measure the amount of jam I used but think somewhere between ½-3/4 teaspoon.
10. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the edges are just golden. Turn the baking sheet halfway through baking to ensure the cookies come out baked evenly.
11. Let them cool then eat with a cup of tea.

3.2.2925

The post Sugar Plum Jam Thumbprint Cookies appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

I bet you have some idea of the ridiculous picture I have in my head. Imagine: a restaurant, dressing up a little bit, a fascinator hat, pinky in the air, and a three-tier tray with tiny sandwiches and sweets. I know it’s not really going to be like that and my little fantasy is probably closer to a stereotype than anything else. Regardless, I still want to go to tea and Ryan and I have been collecting a few suggestions for where to go.

Until that day though, I’d like to pretend that these cookies would be  one of the sweets served at tea time. They are simple looking and dainty in size. The cookies have a subtle citrus flavor while also feeling a bit like a decadent treat. Sounds like a nice tea-time pairing to me.

I was also drawn to this recipe because I love desserts that use citrus. My usual go-to are lemon desserts, but I wanted to expand my horizons and using grapefruit felt exciting and unusual. Grapefruit is nice because it has a little bit of lemon’s tartness while also being a bit sweeter. Eat these cookies however you like, but I’ll eat them while pretending I’m at tea with Ryan in London.

Adapted from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients

Cookie:

zest of 1 grapefruit,  plus 1/4 cup of juice

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 egg yolks

Filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 tbsp honey

3 tbsp grapefruit juice

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. In a small bowl, combine the zest and 1 tbsp of sugar.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together flours, baking powder, and salt.

4. Using the paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat the butter and remaining sugar on medium-high for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

4. Add egg yolks and beat until combined. The dough will turn a gorgeous yellow. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Mix in the sugar-zest mixture.

6. Add flour mix in two batches, alternating with the juice. Mix until combined.

7.  Collect dough into a disk shape and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

8. Flour your work surface and roll out the disk of dough to about 1/8″ thick. Using a 2″ round to cut out circles. Place cookies on parchment paper lined baking sheet about 1″ apart. These cookies don’t spread much as they bake so they can be pretty close together.

9. Bake until the edges start to turn golden. For me, this took 10 minutes. Martha Stewart recommends 18-20 minutes. So, set your timer and check them regularly.

10. Let cool completely before adding filling.

11. For the filling, using an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy – about 4 minutes. Then add the honey. Once the honey is incorporated, add the juice 1 tbsp at a time. Mix until creamy.

12. Spread filling onto the flat side of one cookie. Put another cookie on top of the filling with the flat side down. Store cookies in the fridge because butter cream will melt!

Messy level: I’m giving this two spoons. Anything with flour is inherently messy for me, but this recipe isn’t too different from sugar cookie type recipes. The grapefruit is actually the messiest part. During the zesting it releases a lot of oils and that makes things a little sticky. Also my juicer is too small for a grapefruit so I got a lot of juice on the counter. If you have a better juicer, you should be fine.

The post Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies appeared first on Cooking is Messy.