Sunday, July 15, 2012

Chocolate thumbprint biscuits with jam and peanut butter

Thank you, very much, for your kind words and thoughts on my last post. I generally steer clear of posts that are very personal, but whenever I do veer into that territory (generally for the things that seem too important not to post about), I am rewarded by such kindness and generosity of spirit. Thank you.

I hope that these biscuits, or cookies to Americans, will help to convey some of that thanks. 


Granted, you will have to make them yourself (sorry about that), but they are so quick to make that the whole process can be done in 30 minutes, start to finish, washing up included. I made them after work on Friday to take to my parents on Saturday, and was pleasantly surprised at their ease and the result. 

They are biscuits to say "I'm thinking of you", whether that be to offer empathy and sympathy, to say thank you, or just to convey general well wishes.

They can be filled with any jam or nut butter flavour of your choosing.

They are really delicious.

And they are really, really easy.


Chocolate thumbprint biscuits with jam and peanut butter fillings

Makes about 32 biscuits
Vegan


Ingredients
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/3 cup good quality cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
~1 tbsp water

Jam (the higher fruit content the better) and peanut butter (I used crunchy with 100% peanuts), for filling



Method
Preheat your oven to 180'C and line 3 baking trays with baking paper.

Mix the oil, milk and vanilla together, then add the sugar and stir well. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix well to combine. The batter should be thick.

Add the water, enough to make the dough just thicker than thick cake batter (I used 1 tbsp).

Roll dough into small balls and place on the prepared baking trays. Do not press the balls.

Bake for 10 minutes, at which point the balls should have expanded in size. With your jam and peanut butter on hand, press the centre of each ball with your thumb, and then drop ~1 teaspoon of jam or peanut butter into the hole.

Return to the oven and bake for an additional 2 - 3 minutes. The biscuits will still be slightly soft. Allow to cool completely on the baking trays before storing in an airtight container.



My Mum described these as 'brownie like' and Mr Bite declared that I could omit the filling in future, and just give him the biscuits straight up. They are almost cake-like in their consistency and whilst I found the filling to be quite an essential component myself, I do agree that the biscuit base is highly enjoyable.

If you're feeling particularly decadent, you could even eat these sandwiched together, jam on one half and peanut butter on the other. Or you could try an almond butter filling. Or a chocolate one.

The possibilities are endless, in a very good way.


I'm not usually a big biscuit eater (and these are only the fifth biscuit recipe to make it onto the blog!) but I think these will definitely be appearing again in our household.

How do you say "I'm thinking of you" (other than saying the words...)? 

21 comments:

  1. Hi Kari,
    I do it with chocolate chip cookies over my way - but these nut butter ones look fantastic.!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Liz - and I think chocolate chip cookies have a category all of their own for saying 'thank you' and similar :)

      Delete
  2. these sounds lovely and a wonderful way of saying thinking of you. Hope you are doing ok

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Johanna - I am. These helped :)

      Delete
  3. DELISH!!! perfect way to say the sentiment.

    but, i'm really sorry to hear about your losses....remembering all of the GREAT times and memories is all that i can offer up...i'm thinking of u and sending u hugs. take care. XOXO

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh these are just beautiful and are calling my name! What a great recipe!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What lovely little biscuits. I would like to try both varieties - both look gorgeous xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did rather enjoy both varieties myself. One of each went down well!

      Delete
  6. You deserve every word, my dear.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll take any means to get more peanut butter into my diet and these sound super delicious! What a tasty treat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joanne. I almost feel better eating peanut butter in this form than off a spoon, so I figure it's a winning result all around!

      Delete
  8. These look amazing Kari - so delish!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yum Yum and Yum! These look good! and easy to make. :) I love to bake, so sometimes I will just throw together something and take it to someone that I am thinking of. I will always just call or if I am with them a hug will always do the trick. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Throwing things together is a lovely way to go about it :) And hugs go a long way too!

      Delete
  10. How dare you tease me with this! It looks amazing right now. So hungry!

    http://www.glamkittenslitterbox.com/
    Twitter: @GlamKitten88

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm almost making myself hungry looking at the pictures again.

      Delete
  11. Oh yum! These look delightful! I love the idea of filling them with peanut butter. Chocolate and peanut butter are the perfect pair!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They do have a certin magic, chocolate and peanut butter!

      Delete
  12. that is my favourite biscuits.

    ReplyDelete

I genuinely appreciate all comments and the time taken to post them. Occasionally, I may need to restrict commenting to registered users in order to halt large volumes of spam. If that happens, I will lift the restriction within a week.

Want other ways to interact? Bite-sized thoughts is on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/bitesizedthoughts) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bitesizethought).