Whole Wheat Shortbread Thumbprints

Jamjams just got pimped.

Hey, remember this summer when I (or we if you're also a first year accountant) wrote a three day exam? That was awesome. A real party.

Well, during that magical time, I managed to stay sane, full and happy with a little help from these cookies.. and CAA.

I'm going to reveal something about myself that you may or may not know. If you don't know, you've probably never met me in person, and you definitely have never gone out drinking with me. I, Amanda, am an accident waiting to happen.

And not in a small way either. I run into the sharp corners on tables, the rounded corners on my bed and even the floor with my toes on a regular basis. I fall up stairs.

So it would make perfect sense that I would lock my keys in my car, with my exam materials on the second day of the exams. It really would.

You would think that things like that would only happen in made for TV movies or bad sitcoms, but you'd be wrong. They happen to me.

This is why I needed buttery and jam-filled cookies to get me through. Because I know myself.

So if you ever have a really big day, night or week that you need to power through with a little help from filling and delicious cookies, I recommend these.  Plus they're easy peasy!

Disclaimer: most of you know that I don't claim to be a health food blog or even a "healthy living blog", but that I make real food with things like bacon, butter and love, but the thing with these cookies is that whole wheat flour makes them better. I wouldn't put it in there unless it did. Trust me.

See, that's what they were supposed to look like. I think it's the extra bit of egg that would do it.

Whole Wheat Shortbread Cookies:
From Gourmet Magazine

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 10 1/2 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons (about) raspberry jam
• Zest of one lemon (my addition)

The instructions from gourmet clearly didn't work too well for me (at least from an aesthetic point of view), but the cookies tasted darn good, so I'm going to roll with it.

Preheat your oven to 400 and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest) in a bowl and drop small pieces of butter in. Use a pastry cutter to blend the butter in, or use your fingers to make the mess into a course meal. I like my blender because it doesn't have the heat of your fingers, but it's your call.

Whisk the egg and the yolk together and combine with the flour mixture. If yours is too dry, add the rest of the egg (my addition).

Use an icecream scoop to measure out big cookies, roll them into balls and use your thumb to create a little divot in the middle. Spoon in some of your favourite jam. Tart berry jams (like raspberry or blackberry) work really well in these as a contrast to the nutty flavour of the cookies.

Bake for 12-14 minutes and let cool on the sheet for a bit before moving to a wire rack.

This only makes about 12 cookies, so if you're looking for more, make them smaller or double-up the recipe.

Love always,

-BBC

Ugly and tasty (another potential title for this blog)