Tuesdays With Dorie – Thumbprints For Us Big Guys

Hello. My name is Mike and I am a Big Guy.

For those of you who do not regularly read my site, I pretty much destroy everything I touch – baked goods included.

For this recipe, I destroyed my garlic press, which I used to crack the shells on my hazelnuts. GOTTA USE SOMETHING.

Otherwise, all went according to plan. They’re looking a little sloppy but dare I say…edible? Way to go, Me! And way to go, Tuesdays With Dorie, for baking along with me this week.

I’d imagine that I’ll be getting a little extra traffic due to this being “my” week picking the recipe. Here’s a little about me. I’m a big dumb doofus of a guy who somehow managed to end up with a beautiful fiance and an okay dog.

I used to be real fat. Then I went crazy and got too skinny. Now I’m a nice medium size and fairly healthy.

I’ve been baking since July 2008. It’s clear that I’m pretty bad at baking, but here’s something I am good at – self promotion!

This is my Facebook. You can befriend me.

This is my joke Twitter, which I write under the pen name “Leroy Pitts.” Basically it’s a bunch of dumb jokes whenever they pop into my head. Here is a compilation of the “best of” my first year or two of those jokes.

This is my baseball blog, Wade Bloggs. It is notable because I neither know nor care anything about baseball. I pretty much write silly things and punctuate them with references from Wikipedia. And it is a world renowned baseball blog! Easy enough.

So that’s me. What about you? ROLE CALL.

THUMBPRINTS FOR US BIG GUYS by Dorie Greenspan from “Baking: From My Home To Yours”

1 3/4 cups finely ground hazelnuts
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flower
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
About 1 cup raspberry jam (or the jam or marmalade of your choice)

GETTING READY: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together ground nuts and flour.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the extracts and beat to blend. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the nut-flower mixture, mixing only until it is incorporated into the dough.

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. Steadying each cookie with the thumb and forefinger 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.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies should be only slightly colored–they may even look underdone, which is fine: they should not be overbaked. 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 confectioner’s sugar over them.

Repeat with the remaining dough, remembering to cool the baking sheets before baking the next batch.

Bring jam to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat, or bring to a boil in a microwave oven; remove from the heat. Fill the indentations of all the cookies with enough of the hot jam to come level with the tops. Cool to room temperature.