Thumbprints For Us Big Guys

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups finely ground hazelnuts
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• powdered sugar
• 1 cup raspberry jam (or jam or marmalade of your choice)

Recipe

• 1 position oven racks to divide oven into thirds; preheat oven to 350°; line two baking sheets with parchment.
• 2 in a bowl, whisk together the hazelnuts and flour.
• 3 working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
• 4 add in the extracts; beat to blend.
• 5 decrease mixer speed to low and gradually add the nut-flour mixture, mixing only until incorporated into the dough.
• 6 working with a teaspoonful of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms to form small balls and place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
• 7 steadying each cookie with the thumb and finger of one hand, use the pinkie of your other hand (or the end of a wooden spoon) to poke a hole in the center of each cookie; be careful not to go all the way down to the baking sheet.
• 8 bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point.
• 9 the cookies should be only slightly colored—they may even look underdone, which is fine; they should not be overbaked.
• 10 when the cookies are baked, remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheets for 2 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks with a wide metal spatula and sifting powdered sugar over them.
• 11 repeat with the remaining dough, remembering to cool the baking sheets before baking the next batch.
• 12 bring the jam to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat (or bring to a boil in a microwave oven); remove from heat.
• 13 fill the indentations of all the cookies with enough hot jam to come level with the tops.
• 14 cool to room temperature.