I'm a visual person so I am naturally drawn to cookbooks and magazines with beautiful photos - that is why I got hooked on Donna Hay Magazine, for instance; however, from time to time I try to use the cookbooks with the less gorgeous visual content because I know that I might be missing on some great recipes.
Carole Walter's book on cookies
Poppy seed thumbprints
from the great Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup poppy seeds
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
raspberry preserves, or use the flavor you like the most
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Mix together the flour, salt and poppy seeds in a large bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter on medium-low speed until smooth. Pour in the sugar and mix just until incorporated. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, mixing only until blended. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the dry ingredients in two additions, mixing just to combine after each addition. Do not overmix or this dough will become oily.
Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough into balls place 5cm (2in) apart on a lined cookie sheet. Using a wooden spoon with a rounded handle no wider than 1cm (½in), make a deep indentation with the tip of the handle in the center of each cookie. Place the cookies in the oven. After 10 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and re-press each indentation. Then fill the centers with preserves. Point the tip of the spoon down into the indentation and slide the preserves off with your fingertip. Do not overfill these or the preserves will run over. Return the cookies to the oven, rotating the pans top to bottom and front to back. Bake for 5-7 minutes longer until the cookies are golden brown around the edges. Using a spatula, loosen the cookies from the pans and cool on a wire rack.
Makes about 45 cookies
These are so pretty, Patricia! I love thumbprints but this may be the first time I've seen them with poppy seeds. Beautifully done!
ReplyDeletePoppy seeds are a great idea. Love these, and the jam looks so inviting. Bookmarking this! Can't wait to make them.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great recipe, I used the same recipe very recently on my own blog, but tweaked it here and there.
ReplyDeleteI love your pictures and recipes, they are mouth watering. Would love for you to share them with us at foodieportal.com. Over at foodieportal.com we are not photography expert snobs, we are just foodies.
ReplyDeleteHi Patricia,
ReplyDeleteI just took these out of the oven. They are lovely in every way. They are beautiful to look at. They have a delicate texture with nice crunch from the poppy seeds. They have lots of flavor. I owe you a big thank you for finally bringing my husband over to team poppy seeds. Every other time he's tasted a dessert I've made with poppy seeds which I adore, he's said it tasted like grass clippings. He liked these so much that he wondered who I planned to give them to which was a veiled way of saying that he hoped I'd keep most of them so he could have them.
Thank you as always for being so generous with recipes that are so much fun to bake. You're the best.
Yours,
Ellen