Rosemary Thumbprint Cookies filled with Blood Orange Jam

Based cookie on sugar cookie in Ruhlman's Ratio -- swapping almond extract for vanilla and adding some fresh rosemary.

Here's how it went:

A.    Dry Ingredients
    2       cups    All-purpose Flour    (12 oz)
    1       tsp      Baking Powder
    1/2    tsp      Salt

B.    Wet Ingredients
    2      sticks   Unsalted Butter     (8 oz)
    1      cup      Sugar                     (8 oz)
    1                  Egg

C.    Other Additions
   1/2    tsp       Almond Extract
     1     tsp       Fresh Rosemary (finely chopped)

D.    Fillings
   1/2    cup     Blood Orange Jam

NOTE: I weighed out the flour & sugar per Ruhlman

1. Combine items in section (B) and items from section (C) in mixer
   a. Whip butter in electric mixer (I used the KitchenAid with the paddle attachment)
   b. Cream in sugar
   c. Add egg along with the almond extract & rosemary

2. Mix items in section (A) in a separate bowl.  Use listed weight of items.

3. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until uniformly mixed

4. Wrap dough in (plastic wrap / waxed paper / parchment paper) as a long tube and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes

5. Preheat oven to 350 F

6. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper

7. Assemble thumbprint cookies
   a. Scoop tablespoons of dough
   b. Roll into thick 1-inch cylinder, flatten top & bottom, place on tray
   c. Poke center of the cookie ball with end of wooden spoon -- funnel opening so it looks like a volcano
   d. place 1/2 tsp of jam in the center of each dough ball.

8. Bake for 17 minutes. Edges should be lightly browned.

9. Take cookie sheet out of oven but let cookies rest on sheet for 1 minute

10. Remove cookies from sheet and onto racks to cool

The end result was a chewy savory cookie and I got to take advantage of my homemade Blood Orange Jam!

Why cook?

Food is one of the great equalizers.

Everyone needs it every day.

Without it we wither away.  

Eating alone allows for meditation on the day to come or that which has passed.

Dining with friends and family is the ultimate in good times.

So the question is......what does cooking bring to the table?

Of course there will always be a place that will gladly charge you a dollar for a morsel of goodness.

But the joy of creating something that someone will enjoy -- now that's some pleasure!!  Whether that "someone" is someone else or just myself, to witness a friend or loved one getting some satisfaction from your own creation can't be beat.

For me, it's also the acts of learning and creating -- the researching of past recipes, the exploring and acquiring of ingredients, the absorption of what makes a particular dish tick, and then prepping and preparing the dish, sometimes sticking to the chosen recipe and sometimes straying a little. Getting things right and screwing up royally.

It all adds up to a process that relaxes and invigorates me.  Both meditative and heart pumping, cooking is more than a path to daily nourishment.

It's part of my survival.