baking under the gun: chocolate thumbprint cookies

This past weekend was pretty wonderful. On Saturday, Cornelius and I headed out early to run some errands and then walked downtown to the Vancouver Art Gallery where we saw some amazing videos by Mark Lewis and great photographs by Roy Arden and others. It wasn't until we were walking home in the darkness that I realized that I was having a couple friends over that night. Oops!! I decided to make cookies so I needed something that could go from concept to production in half an hour! So I flipped through Vegan with a Vengeance and found a recipe for chocolate thumbprint cookies. I've never made or have ever eaten a thumbprint cookie before, but the recipe looked simple enough and I got right to it. I didn't have the soy milk the recipe called for, but I did have some almond milk, so I used that instead. If you don't want to go the vegan route, go ahead and add dairy.


Despite having to sift the flour and cocoa (I never sift!) and pull out the cookies in mid-bake and add the jam, I was able to reach my 30 minute deadline! By the time my friends arrived at 8 pm, the apartment was filled with the heady scent of chocolate and we didn't waste much time digging in. These cookies are delicious! They are super fudgy and have the perfect crisp-chewy texture that I love. Plus, they look extra special with that dollop of jam in the centre. I used blackberry jam since it was what I had on hand, but the cookbook suggests apricot or raspberry.

chocolate thumbprint cookies
1 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c cocoa
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 c canola oil
1/3 c almond milk
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract
2/3 c sugar
6 t jam

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda.

2. In a large bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients (not the jam) plus the sugar. Add the dry to the wet and incorporate well.

3. Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into a ball and press into a disc, place on cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 5 minutes and remove from oven. Press your thumb into each cookie to make an indent and then fill with 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indendation. If you can't handle the heat, use the back of a melon baller instead of your thumb. Bake for another 6 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 2 minutes before transfering to a rack to cool.

sweet snacks

I've been on a healthy eating regimen as of late and sweets and I haven't been too friendly as of late. Well, on the weekend I broke down and decided that treats and I needed to be reaquainted with each other. I opened up my vegetarian Rebar cookbook and found that I basically had all the ingredients to make a sweet looking snack. The recipe called for raspberry jam (which I didn't have), so I subsituted some sour cherry jam. I also included some unsweetened coconut because I LOVE coconut and figured it would taste great in this recipe (it did). I wasn't too crazy about the squares on the first day (we had them still warmish)...but somehow in the following days, this bar recipe kept getting better and better! I'm so making this again....but not for a little while -- y'know, health benefits and all.

cherry oat bars
Recipe from Rebar cookbook

3/4 c unbleached flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
2 c rolled oats
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c unsweetened flake coconut
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c plus 2 T soft butter
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c cherry jam (insert your favorite jam here)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 10" by 15" baking dish and set aside.

2. Place all ingredients, except the egg and the jam, into a mixer & mix throughly. Remove half of the misture and set aside. Blend the egg into the remaining mixture and press it into the prepared baking sheet. Bake until firm and lightly browned (about 10 minutes).

3. Remove the crust from the oven and spread the jam evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the top with the remaining crumbly mixture. Bake 10 minutes until golden brown. Cool and cut into bars.