I’ve been MIA for a while. Did you miss me? I missed you. Unfortunately, real life gets in my way sometimes and the time just flies by. But, I’m back. Hopefully, I’ll slide right back into a regular posting schedule. Keep your fingers crossed!

This week’s TWD recipe was chosen by Mike from Ugly Food Dude ^[1]. Mike selected Dorie’s Thumbprints for Us Big Guys. They are a butter-based, shortbread-like cookie made with ground hazelnuts and a dollop of jam in the middle. I’ve made other thumbprints cookie recipes before and they’re always crowd pleasers, so I was happy to make these.

Instead of hazelnuts, I used ground almonds, mostly because I already had them at home. I also chose almonds because I wanted to use a lovely homemade cherry jam that I had. I really love the cherry-almond flavor combination.

These thumbprint cookies are not difficult at all to make, but I definitely had some issues with the dough. Mine turned out verrrrry crumbly and I had a heck of a time getting my cookies to hold together. I followed the recipe precisely, so I really don’t know why that happened. I’ve heard that several other TWDers had the same problem. If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Even though my cookies looked a little like moon rocks, they still tasted good. I wouldn’t say that I liked them better than my “go to” thumbprint cookie recipe, but I did like them a lot. They were nice and buttery, although crumbly, and had delicate almond flavor that really did go well with my cherry jam.

If you’d like to try these cookies for yourself, you can find the recipe on page 164 in Dorie’s book ^[2], or on Ugly Food Dude ^[3]. Also, don’t forget to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie ^[4] blogroll to see lots more Thumbprints for Us Big Guys.