Tuesday, March 9, 2010

TWD: Thumbprints for us big guys


This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Mike of Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude, so head over to his blog for the recipe. As written, this is a shortbread-style cookie with ground hazelnuts and a raspberry jam filling. I decided to use ground almonds with a lemon curd filling because
a) I had no hazelnuts, and
b) I was taking these to a friend's place.
She has a pathological aversion to raspberry seeds and has passed it on to her children, but they do all love lemon. I also used dark brown sugar instead of white, just because I felt like it. Be sure to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll to see what variations everyone else has come up with.

I made a half recipe of the lemon curd from Gourmet Today, edited by Ruth Reichl. I chose this lemon curd because it called for whole eggs, but it's a bit pale for that same reason. Tasty enough, though. Here's the recipe:
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
1 cup sugar
6 large eggs
⅛ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks ) unsalted butter, cut in cubes
Whisk zest, juice, sugar, eggs and salt together in a heavy saucepan and add butter. Cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly, until it's thick enough that the whisk leaves visible trails and it just starts to boil, 6 to 8 minutes.
Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, covering surface with wax or parchment paper, and refrigerate.

27 comments:

Paula said...

I also used almonds and thought about using my microwave lemon curd. Wasn't sure how that would all turn out so went a different direction but love yours. Should have tried it. They look wonderful. Interesting recipe for the curd. Don't think I've seen one with whole eggs before.

Nickki said...

Oooooh, the thought of adding lemon curd is making my mouth water! They look so beautiful! I also used ground almonds and I loved the texture of the cookies. I love anything lemony so next time I'll try the lemon curd. They would be perfect cookies for Eastertime :-)

Amanda said...

I love lemon curd and use it in my own thumbprint recipe, these look great!

Jessica said...

I love lemon curd too! This is making me want Spring to get here even faster! Great job!

Anonymous said...

It's funny how many of us substituted almonds. Nobody's baking much with hazelnuts, it seems. Your lemon curd looks lovely.

Hindy said...

Mmm. I'm a big fan of lemon curd. Great choice! They look lovely.

Leslie said...

Oh my, you just made the perfect cookie. I LOVE LOVE LOVE lemon curd. I use the recipe out of Cook's Illustrated, but it calls for mostly yolks.

CB said...

Oooh! Thanks for including the lemon curd recipe. I hate wasting egg whites so I usually buy lemon curd pre-jarred. Now I don't have to!
-CB
http://iheartfood4thought.com

Nichicakes said...

I love the name of your blog! And filling these with lemon curd is downright genius!

Beryl said...

I was considering lemon curd for this. Yours look great!

vibi said...

Ah! Yes... lemon curd, I have some in the fridge, could have thought about it, duh.

They look great and I'm sure the sweet and tart mix was amazing!

Tia said...

Don't you just love that book, gourmet today. I adore it. Lemon curd - fantastic choice!

Valerie Gamine said...

That lemon curd makes the cookies look like they are holding liquid gold (which is actually what lemon curd really is.)
I wish that I had thought of using it! Great work. :D

chocolatechic said...

ooOOOOOooooo Lemon curd...sounds divine.

Amber Marie said...

Oh, the lemon curd sounds delish! I love it but have never thought about making it. Thanks for the recipe!

Flourchild said...

Your cookies look great..love the lemon curd. I allmost did that too but had two very large raspberry jam jars I need to use up!

Teanna said...

Lemon Curd!!! AMAZING IDEA! I LOOOVE Lemon curd!

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of using brown sugar in the cookies. They look great with the lemon curd!

Katrina said...

Yum, the lemon curd sounds really good and the cookies look great and spring festive.

Mimi said...

What a great idea to use lemon curd. They almost look like eggs.
Mimi

Mary said...

They do look like eggs! I tried to fix the colour, as they were looking a bit like green eggs. And this isn't a Dr. Seuss recipe:)

Liz said...

Yum! I love lemon curd and don't get to use it nearly often enough. What a brilliant substitution, egg resemblance notwithstanding. :)

Unknown said...

Ooooh, lemon curd...now that is the way to go!

TeaLady said...

Lemon Curd - fantastic idea. Next time I will try that combination.

Ms. Meanie said...

They look great! I'm sure your friend loved them.

Lisa said...

I LOVE your lemon curd thumbprints!! They're so 'rotund', but in a good way. Nicely done and something to bookmark :)

ElizabethMD Jewelry said...

I love the thought of a big dollop of lemon curd for thumb print cookies. What a wonderful mouth watering idea.