Barefoot Bloggers - Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Yes, April is the Month of the Cookie for the Barefoot Bloggers. We started with raisin oatmeal pecan cookies and now we have the jam thumbprints, chosen by Cassandra of Foodie With Little Thyme!. I for one appreciated that there was less than a pound of butter in these (unlike Ina's pecan squares I made last week). I was so inspired by the recipe I made strawberry jam. Yes, it was a first, but it won't be the last time. The strawberries are glorious here and I had just returned from a nursery sojourn to Watsonville with a friend. Watsonville is about an hour south of San Jose. On the way back, we stopped at a farm stand in San Martin and bought these beauties:

So I made jam with about half of them, froze some (after washing, coring and drying them) and ate a lot of them.

Once the jam was made, it was cookie time. This recipe was pretty easy, if a bit messy. The messiness was due to rolling the balls of dough in egg wash and then rolling them in coconut before smashing them onto the cookie sheet with your thumb. Dribble some jam on to each one and pop them in the oven.

I must admit I went into this one thinking, it's a jam thumbprint cookie, how great could it be? Well, they were really really really great. I wish I could take credit because of the homemade jam, but it was the flavor combination of the buttery cookie with the toasty coconut with the strawberry jam that made these irresistible. I topped a couple with salted caramel ganache from the freezer, but the heat of the oven made the chocolate all curded...still delicious but ugly. Maybe I'll mix strawberry and ganache next time and take it completely over the top.

Thanks, Cassandra, for a fantastic pick! If you'd like the recipe you can find it here.