LEMON CURD RICOTTA THUMBPRINT COOKIES

No, those are not deviled eggs that you are seeing in the pictures before you; they are soft and delicate ricotta cookies that are slightly spiced and topped off with a silky and perfectly tart lemon curd. I know I always say this, but these little bites of perfection are my favorite dessert at the moment and I couldn’t be happier with how they came out.

With exactly a dozen cookie recipes on my blog so far, I found it quite surprising that I hadn’t yet included a single recipe for a thumbprint cookie - you know, the ones that have a slight “crater” or indentation on the top that is filled with jams or preserves, with raspberry being the most popular flavor. They’ve been around since the 1800s and apparently were invented in Sweden, but were also popular in Poland and other Eastern European countries. I grew up eating a similar version of them because my Czech grandma would bake them all the time and it’s a dessert of hers that I seriously miss.

The thumbprint cookie recipe that I’m sharing with you today isn’t exactly the standard way to make them but one that is kind of a hybrid with another traditional cookie: Italian ricotta cookies. It’s no secret that I adore dishes that have ricotta in them (whether used in ice creams, cakes, or pancakes), so I wanted to make a thumbprint cookie using the ricotta cookies as a base, and then further driving home the Italian influence by using lemon curd to fill the indentation instead of a fruity jam. It’s the best of both worlds and I find them to be insanely addicting, especially since they’re so small in size.

For the ricotta cheese, you can either go the route of making it yourself, which I actually have a recipe for here, or you can buy a tub of it at your local grocery store to make your life a little bit easier. Just make sure to buy whole milk ricotta and not the part-skim variety. The cookie base also has a couple of spices, cardamom and cinnamon, added to make for a more interesting flavor but feel free to play around with different spices like ginger and nutmeg. I also added a couple teaspoons of lemon zest to the dough to just give a bit more lemon flavor in addition to the lemon curd on top.

As for the lemon curd, I’ve found the easiest and most straightforward recipe via Epicurious: it doesn’t require you to use a food processor or a double-boiler like a lot of other recipes do, and you technically don’t even need to use a kitchen thermometer (fruit curds need to reach a temperature of 170°F in order to properly set), but I’ve made this recipe multiple times both with and without a thermometer, and had the exact same results each time. If you’re worried that you may have curdled the eggs, all you have to do is strain the mixture after taking it off the heat. The recipe will yield about 1 1/3 cups which will be more than enough needed for the cookies, so feel free to use up the rest by slathering it on pancakes, waffles, scones or as a filling in a layer cake.

Also, if you want to switch things up, you can absolutely make a different flavored curd, like blood orange, passion fruit or grapefruit. I recently made a blood orange curd and was almost going to use it for this recipe but honestly, it wasn’t the most appealing color. In my opinion, nothing beats the color and flavor of lemon curd but definitely use whatever fruits speak to you.

Note: if you plan on making the curd yourself, make it the day before baking the cookies so that the curd will be properly chilled.

Lemon Curd Ricotta Thumbprint Cookies

Yields about 4 dozen cookies

Recipe adapted from Food52

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1 tbsp. baking powder

• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup (4 oz.) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 6 oz. (about 2/3 cup) whole milk ricotta cheese, room temperature (homemade or store bought)

• 1 large egg, room temperature

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 2 tsp. lemon zest

• 1/2 to 3/4 cup lemon curd, homemade (recipe below) or store bought

• Chopped pistachios and/or confectioners’ sugar, to finish

Directions

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cardamom, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer) cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add in the ricotta cheese and mix again until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Mix until well combined.

3. With the mixer off, add in the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low for about 10 seconds before increasing the speed to medium for about 30 seconds, or until the dough comes together - try not to over mix the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour..

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

5. Scoop out about 1 tablespoon portions of dough and roll into a ball using your hands - it will be messy but not too difficult if the dough is properly chilled. Bake 12 cookies at a time for 12-14 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The cookies will be done when they’re golden brown on the bottom and when the cookie springs back when gently poked with your finger.

6. Allow the cookies to cool for about 30 seconds on the baking sheet, and then, using the back of a teaspoon, press down on each cookie for about 5 seconds in order to create an indentation for the lemon curd. After a couple of minutes, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and fill each indentation with about 3/4 to 1 tsp. of lemon curd.

7. Finish each cookie with chopped pistachios and/or a good dusting of confectioners’ sugar. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge. Enjoy!

Lemon Curd

Yields about 1 1/3 cups

Recipe slightly adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, strained if pulpy

• 1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest

• 3 large eggs

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• Pinch of salt

• 3 oz. (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

1. To a small/medium saucepan, add the lemon juice and zest, eggs, sugar and salt and turn the heat on the stovetop to medium-low. Immediately begin to whisk the mixture together in order to temper the eggs - the more frequently you whisk, the less of a chance you’ll have of curdling the eggs.

2. After about a minute of whisking, start to slowly add in the small pieces of butter to the saucepan - I add the butter in about 4 batches, allowing the butter to melt before adding in more. Continue to whisk like crazy, and after about 5 minutes, the mixture will begin to thicken. If using a thermometer, you want the curd to reach 170°F. If not using a thermometer, the curd will be done when the mixture is beginning to bubble (don’t allow it to boil or the eggs will curdle).

3. Immediately strain the curd through a sieve into a small bowl, cover it with plastic wrap (have the plastic touching the top of the curd) and refrigerate for about an hour. Store the curd in an airtight container like a mason jar and keep in the fridge.

   *For the above cookie recipe, you would want to have the curd chilled before using it, so I would suggest making the curd a day before baking the cookies.

OATMEAL CARDAMOM HAZELNUT COOKIES

It’s officially December and I’m officially frozen in Maine. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in the snow - about 8 years since Chicago - and even though I’m much more prepared than before (better shoes, better jackets), I am always cold! I don’t know if my freshman 15 helped me stay warmer when I was in Chicago, but I must say, I don’t remember losing feeling in my toes and having frozen legs as much as I do these days. Regardless, Maine is very pretty and cozy covered in snow, and I’m adamant to continue my daily walks even if it takes me double the time than it normally would.

With Christmas being a few weeks away, I wanted to give another cookie option that would be great for the holiday. Every Christmas, I bake 3-4 different cookies from my blog, wrap them up nicely in a cute bag, and hand them out as gifts to friends and family. It’s a tradition of mine that I look forward to every year since I think the best gift is one that is homemade or DIY. Last year, I made: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cakes, Ginger Molasses Cookies, and Chocolate Chunk and Pistachio Cookies. Picking a variety of cookies that are unlike one another makes the cookie bag more exciting for the recipient and allows them to try cookies that they might have never had before.

One cookie that I might be adding to the gift bag this year is today’s recipe of Oatmeal Cardamom Hazelnut Cookies. I cannot take credit for the invention of this flavor combination since I actually got the idea from local Maine bakery, Night Moves. Besides being my favorite Bob Seger song, Night Moves is one of my favorite places to get an amazing loaf of bread as well as some of the tastiest cookies (their chocolate chip cookies are the best in the area, period). My love for this bakery, which is located about 30 minutes away in Biddeford, is definitely shared with many other people, and it was actually just named by Food and Wine Magazine as one of the Top 10 Best Bakeries in the Country. It is here that I tried their Double Oat + Hazelnut + Cardamom Cookie, and obviously it was insanely delicious. So I tried my best to recreate it at home with a few differences (Night Moves’ version is gluten free and has two kinds of oats, whereas mine has flour and only old-fashioned rolled oats). But to me, the stars of the cookie is the combo of buttery, crunchy hazelnuts and my favorite spice, cardamom.

I’ve mentioned this before, but ever since I tried the Cardamom Bun from another local bakery in Portland, Belleville, I’ve been on a huge cardamom kick. If you’re unfamiliar with the spice, it’s very prominent in the Middle East, North Africa and Scandinavia and is actually the second most expensive spice in the world, with saffron being number one. There are three different kinds of cardamom - green, black and white - but green cardamom is the most popular and best for baked goods, with its citrus-y and herbal flavor profile. I find that it works perfectly in carrot and coffee cakes, apple tarts, and desserts that feature pumpkin pureé. Honestly, it’s hard to find a baked good that cardamom wouldn’t work in.

Making these cookies is very straightforward, with the only nuisance of needing the butter and egg to be at room temperature. I initially wrote the recipe to have you bake off the cookies immediately (aka, no chilling of the dough), but upon testing the cookies after two hours of chilling, the cookies were so much chewier and better! So I strongly recommend chilling the dough for at least an hour.

Need more Christmas cookie options besides the ones I listed above? Here are 5 more great recipes on my blog:

1. Brown Butter, Pecan + Milk Chocolate Cookies - very decadent chocolate chip cookies

2. Grapefruit White Chocolate Cookies - perfect since citrus is in season now

3. Chewy Funfetti Sugar Cookies - just switch out the rainbow sprinkles for red and green ones!

4. Olive Oil Brownie Cookies w/ Hazelnuts Nuts - these are some of my fav cookies, with or without the nuts

5. Salted Toffee + Brown Sugar Cookies - always a fan favorite, and a great non-chocolate option

Oatmeal Cardamom Hazelnut Cookies

Yields 12-14 large cookies

Recipe adapted from Broma Bakery

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

• 1 cup old-fashioned oats

• 1 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (light or dark)

• 1 large egg, room temperature

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Directions

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, oats, cardamom, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt with a whisk. Set aside.

2. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer), cream the butter and both sugars together for about three minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix again until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. All at once, add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer and mix on low for about 10 seconds before increasing the speed to medium. Mix until just combined. Fold in the hazelnuts with a spatula. Chill the dough for at least one hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

5. Using a large cookie scoop or spoons, portion out 3 tbsp. of dough per cookie and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 6 cookies at a time since these are larger.

6. Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until the sides of the cookies are a light brown color. Allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

OATMEAL PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Before we get into today’s recipe, I wanted to share with you an article that I was lucky enough to be a part of recently. The wonderful people at Redfin, a top real estate brokerage, reached out to me last week for my top kitchen organization tip and I, of course, was glad to add my two cents. The article is entitled “Kitchen Hacks: Expert Tips for an Organized and Functional Kitchen” and I strongly suggest that all of you give it a read. There are tons of helpful kitchen suggestions from the most practical kitchen tools that every cook should own to various simple organizational hacks like storing your spices in clear containers that are labeled. My tip falls under the category “Game-Changing Kitchen Hacks” and although it’s very simple, it is legitimately something that helps me out greatly while cooking. I won’t spoil it for you here, so click on this link to find my tip and hopefully you’ll learn a few new things. I certainly did.

September is here and although it’s not officially autumn yet, Maine has been showing signs that summer is a thing of the past. The weather has been chillier, with crisp mornings leading into sun-soaked afternoons that turn into cooler nights where I’ve found myself needing to wear a sweater on our after-dinner walks. After months of dealing with my enemy, humidity, I’ve never been happier (and neither has my hair). I haven’t experienced a quintessential autumn season since I lived in Chicago 8 years ago, but instead of feeling the dread of studying and midterms, I have apple picking and fall foliage to look forward to. Honestly, I can’t wait.

With the changing of the seasons, I had to bid adieu to the plethora of recipes that I had been posting that highlighted all things summer fruit. As much as I love fresh berries, sweet watermelon, and juicy peaches, my love for autumn-centric dishes runs deep. Apple and pumpkin-focused baked goods will always be a standby in my kitchen from September to December, but I also notice an increase in chocolate (hello, Halloween). Today’s cookie recipe is one that not only features chocolate but one that combines oatmeal and peanut butter cookies, other cozy ingredients. It’s the best of all worlds and yet another cookie recipe that I can’t get enough of.

I feel like I’ve touched on this topic before, but in case this is your first time reading my blog, I love peanut butter. I literally eat the stuff every single day whether its slathered on toast for a preworkout snack or when eating my favorite peanut butter and date bars from Trader Joe’s. Like any other normal kid, Jif and Skippy reigned supreme in my household growing up, but today, I buy the natural variety where the only ingredient listed is roasted peanuts. I don’t even need the salt.

Despite this love for the popular spread, I have never been fond of peanut butter cookies: you know, the ones with indentations on the top that tend to be dry (in my opinion!). But the cookie recipe I’m sharing with you today gives you that roasted peanut flavor but with a perfect chewy texture, which comes from the addition of old fashioned oats. The recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of peanut butter but it’s definitely the ideal ratio when paired with oats and chocolate; the three flavors work in harmony together without one overpowering the other. They’re not just “oatmeal cookies” or “peanut butter cookies” or “chocolate chip cookies”… it really is an amalgamation of all three and unlike any other cookie I’ve had before.

Although I only eat natural peanut butter these days, I strongly advise using standard peanut butters from Jif or Skippy - the ones with added sugar and oil (usually rapeseed or soybean). If you were to use a natural variety, it would actually lead to a more dry and crumbly cookie which is the last thing we want. So, although I’m not a fan of eating nut butters with any additives, all bets are off when it comes to baking. After making today’s cookies, you can use up the rest of the peanut jar by baking my peanut butter swirl brownies or homemade dark chocolate peanut butter cups.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields about 15 large cookies

Recipe adapted slightly from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup (120 grams) creamy peanut butter (any n0n-natural variety)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick, 4oz.) unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed (light or dark)

• 1 large egg, room temperature

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 4 oz. dark chocolate bar, roughly chopped

• Flaky sea salt, to finish (optional)

Directions

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

2. To the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer), cream the peanut butter, butter and both sugars on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. With the mixer turned off, add the oats/flour mixture all at once and turn the mixer on low for about 10 seconds before turning up the speed to medium. Mix for about 30 seconds. Using a spatula, fold in the chopped dark chocolate and make sure to not over mix the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 350degreesF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

5. Using a large cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop our 3 tbsp. portions of dough per cookie and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake only 6 at a time since they will be larger.

6. Bake the cookies for about 12-13 minutes. The cookies will look soft in the middle, but the edges will be set and golden brown. Sprinkle immediately with flaky sea salt. Allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.