Almond Thumbprint Cookies with homemade wild grape jam
Actually, these grain-free yummies are excellent at any time of the year, but for Valentine’s Day, fill them with any type of pink, red, or purple fruit jam. They are so good!
This recipe is based on the one from p. 528 of my favorite cookbook, Nourishing Traditions. Makes about 24 cookies.
Almond Thumbprint Cookies
1 1/2 cups whole almonds
1/2 cup melted coconut oil or butter (I like to use 1/4 cup coconut oil & 1/4 cup yogurt or kefir to make them a little less rich for my tummy)
1 1/4 cups arrowroot powder* (start with 1 cup and add more if needed)
Rounded 1/2 cup sucanat
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
Fruit jam of your choice
Place the almonds into a food processor or blender and pulse to a fine meal. Transfer almond meal into a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, and mix well. As mentioned above, start with 1 cup of arrowroot and add more if needed; I always have to add the extra 1/4 cup. The dough should be very nice and workable — not overly sticky.
Form dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on an oiled cookie sheet. Make a thumb print in each cookie and fill the indentation with jam.
Bake at 325° for 20-30 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned on the bottom. I’ve both under-baked and over-baked these, and they’re good no matter what; however I’ve noticed that if they’re under-baked they do tend to fall apart a little more easily.
Cool a bit and remove from the cookie sheet while still warm. If they seem to be glued to the cookie sheet, place them back into the oven to warm up again, and then they’ll be easier to remove.
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*Curious about arrowroot? It’s actually not a refined product despite the look of it. It’s the dried, powdered root of a tropical plant that only grows in tidal flats where sea minerals are available. It’s therefore rich in trace minerals and in calcium ash (calcium chloride), which makes it easily digestible. In addition, the calcium ash in arrowroot is very important for maintaining the proper acid-alkali balances in the human body. Its downside is the price — $5.35 for a 1lb 4oz bag at our local health food store.
Do you have the recipe for the grape jam? I have an abundance of concord type grapes. I need to make wine or jam or both!
Hi Melinda,
Here’s how I make my jam. (Not that it’s necessarily best way!) It’s freezer jam since I don’t sterilize & seal it — I just store in the freezer till I need it.
I put all my seeded concord grapes into a pot. I boil heat them gently (no need to add water) until they burst. I continue to cook until they’re soupy. I then strain them through a sieve, pressing and squeezing out all the juice and pulp that you can. All you’ll have left are seeds and skins, which you’ll toss. Add sugar or honey to taste. Then, since I happen to have apple pectin from the health food store, I use that. You might have better success with an actual jam-making pectin like Pamona’s Universal Pectin, usually found at health food stores…or another type. Anyway, I add apple pectin at the rate of 1 tsp pectin to 1 cup sweetened grape juice/pulp. It makes for a somewhat soupy jam, which I don’t mind, but then again you might have better luck with a regular pectin. If you add too much pure apple pectin I found, you get a strange drying sensation on your tongue, even though the jam is firm and lovely!
To test the consistency of your jam, I like to spoon a little into a dish and put in the fridge for a while. Then you get the idea of what its consistency will be like.
Good luck to you!
Lindsey