Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint Cookies – you may also know them as Polish Tea Cakes or Butterballs.

Combining all things people love so much – butter, nuts and jam – they are classic and favorite cookies for any occasion.

And you know what? They are also really easy to make –  just have a look!

~~~

To prepare the Thumbprint Cookies you need:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (100 grams) walnuts (or hazelnuts or almonds or pecans)

1/2 cup jam (any flavor you like)

~~~

1. Preheat an oven to 350 F (176 C).

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the nuts on the sheet.

3. Toast the nuts for about 10 minutes.

4. Remove the nuts from the oven and let cool.

Then chop them finely and place them into a bowl.

Nice!

5. Now let’s make the dough.

In the bowl of your electric mixer mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

6. Separate the egg and add the egg yolk to the batter.

Add the vanilla extract.

And then add the flour and salt to the batter and beat until just combined.

7. On a lightly floured surface form a log from the dough and cut it into about 12 – 15 equal pieces.

8. Form a ball from each piece and refrigerate for about 30 minutes (the balls will be easier to work with when refrigerated).

9. In a bowl whisk the egg white until frothy.

10. Dip a ball into the whisked egg white…

11. … and then roll in the nuts lightly.

Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet spacing about 1 inch (2,5 cm) apart.

12. And now the funny part!

Take one well-built thumb and make an indentation into the center of each cookie.

13. Using a teaspoon, fill the cookie with the jam (if you want to make it more neat you can use a pastry bag or – like me – a small plastic bag with one corner cut off).

14. Bake for about 13-15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack and let cool.

If you are planning to make these cookies in advance, you can bake them without the jam filling (in that case, reduce the baking time by a few minutes). They can be stored for about one week and filled with jam the same day as serving.

This recipe makes about 15 cookies.

Enjoy!

(To see more of my posts click this or “Home”.)

Fingerless Mittens

pattern knit fingerless mittens

(Update: To see my original patterns, please visit my ONLINE SHOP!)

 
This is a story of a girl who was trying to knit with four double-pointed needles for the first time in her whole life.

The story is going to be exciting yet scary.

She struggled…

She felt sad and lonely…

The needles kept attacking her repeatedly …

She even considered wearing protective glasses to save her from having her eyes poked out.

But ultimately she succeeded!

Because she NEVER gives up.

She’s no member of  “The Quitters Club” and she’s never going to be!

For those of you who want to see how it felt to be her the story is as follows:

pattern knit fingerless mittens

1. With double-pointed needles, cast on 39 stitches. (Cast your stitches onto 1 needle only. Divide the stitches evenly among 3 needles by slipping them onto 2 more needles.)

2. Once all 3 needles have the same number of stitches, lay the needles flat on a table (or a sofa if you are really have to), loosely lined up end to end. (Your right-most needle should have the working yarn.)

3. Take the left needle in your left hand and the right needle in your right hand. Bring the needles together to form a triangle with the middle needle. Pick up your fourth needle. With the triangle still in place (and the working yarn on the right needle), knit the stitches onto the left needle, pulling working yarn tightly to join.

Are you wondering what you are doing right now?

Well, I will tell you – you are now KNITTING IN THE ROUND!

Can you believe it?

pattern knit fingerless mittens

4. Don’t be afraid and knit 57 rounds.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

5. And now the magic is going to happen.

In round 58, using scrap yarn as your working yarn, knit 7 stitches off the beginning of your next needle.

Do you have a clue what that could be good for?

At this point I started to doubt the sanity of the people who’d written the pattern.

But then I saw…!

And was utterly amazed (hint – it’s got something to do with a thumb).

pattern knit fingerless mittens

6. Now slip these stitches back onto the needle they came from.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

7. With your main yarn, knit across the scrap-yarn stitches as well as the rest of the stitches on that needle.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

8. Knit the rounds 59 through 83 with the main yarn.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

9. Bind off loosely.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

10. And now we are going to make the thumb opening.

Remove the scrap yarn carefully.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

11. See? A hole has formed. But don’t be scared! That’s how it’s supposed to be – everything is just aaaaaall right.

There’s a series of loops above and below the hole.

Pass 1 empty double pointed needle through the top 7 loops and another through the bottom 7 loops.

You just have to find seven up and down, there’s no other way!

With a third needle and a new piece of yarn knit the 7 stitches on the bottom row, pick up and knit 2 loops at the end of the thumb opening. Now knit the 7 stitches on the top row, pick up and knit 2 loops at the opposite end of the thumb opening.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

12. Divide the 18 stitches among 3 needles and knit 14 rows.

13. Bind off loosely.

pattern knit fingerless mittens

And of course don’t you forget to make the second mitten too – that one might come in handy in case you are a proud owner of two hands (that’s not a nice kind of humor; shame on me…).

To see where I’ve found the original pattern you can click this if you dare to lose the contact with my wonderful site for a while .

(Update: To see my original patterns, please visit my ONLINE SHOP!)

 

Send this to a friend