Sprinkle Thumbprint Cookies with Tayberry Jam

There are so many of my favorite things in this post!  Sprinkles.  Cookies.  My kitchen mascots.  My new favorite jam.  My new favorite plate.  It's a lot to take in, I know.  Let's contain ourselves and start with the cookies.

The boy's  favorite cookies are thumbprint cookies, which I had shockingly never made before.  When he told me this, however I acted quite uninterested.  I filed it away in my brain, though.  I'd make them when the time was right, and when I found a way to make them special.

And then I was given a jar of tayberry jam from Inna Jam (based out of Emeryville, CA) and I immediately knew I had to make him his thumbprint cookies using this jam.  I did not know what a tayberry even was, but the second I tasted it I welcomed it's amazingness.  A tayberry is a cross between a raspberry and blackberry and the jam it produces begs you to spread it on a carb.  Toast. French toast. Pancakes. A donut. A cookie.  Any carb, all the carbs.

I have about half a jar left of the Tayberry jam.  I am trying my hardest not to eat it all and to save it for another baking project.  I can just fantasize how this would taste with dark chocolate...  Or in a jelly roll?  OMG.  I think I am just going to eat my little jar of jam on a really big pile of french toast this weekend and buy another 10 jars of these.  Problem solved. I digress though. Back to the cookies at hand.

When he left over Easter weekend, I grabbed my bunny rabbit spatula and set to work on these cookies for him.  Plus a few extra things.  I had been out of the kitchen for so long that I felt I owed my stand mixer some quality time.

Sprinkle Thumbprint Cookies with Tayberry Jam
Adapted from:  Food Network
Makes 20, bake at 350* for aprox 12 minutes.

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 c. sugar
1 egg, room temp
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-2 tablespoons of your favorite sprinkles
1/3 cup of your favorite jam

Directions:
1. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
2. On medium speed, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
3. Add egg and vanilla to the sugar-butter mixture.
4. In 2-3 additions, add in flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Add 1-2 tablespoons of sprinkles to dough, as desired, if at all.  (But who doesn't love sprinkles???)
6. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Using your thumb, make an indentation in each cookie ball.
8. Fill your thumbprint with 1/2 a tablespoon of your favorite jam.
9. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookie are lightly brown and the jam begins to bubble.
9. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.  Add a sprinkle in the middle of the jam if desired.


I added sprinkles to the dough because SPRINKLES.  It makes everything cuter, instantly yummier.

Along for the ride were my two kitchen mascots; Cupcake Andy in Vanilla and Chocolate.  They love sprinkles and sweets as much as me, and live next to my sprinkle jars.  (We all have sprinkle jars, is my assumption.)

And yes, I added some extra heart sprinkles in the cookies' jammy centers.  To cover all my bases.  :)

Aren't the polka dots on these plates adorable too?  I had a hard time choosing between dots, squares and hearts at the Daiso store last month.  I am running out (okay I ran out a long time ago) of places to stash prop plates though.

The tayberry tasted pretty awesome on these cookies.  And the boy agreed.  He had more than his fair share.  That means he totes ate his and proceeded to steal a few that were intended for others.  =x

 He is forgiven for his theft not only because I am generous and lovely, but because  I am just as bad of a cookie monster as he.  Okay, maybe worse.  I am in the last position to judge.



xo,
Anna