Apricot Thumbprint Cookies

Courtesy of Cynthia Lair, “Feeding the Whole Family”

These delicious and fun-to-make cookies are perfect with afternoon tea. Variations in flavor can be made by substituting different nuts and juices as shown in the Orange Hazelnut adaptation below.

Traditional baking flour is highly processed, and lacks the nutrients present in the original grain. If you have never tried using other flours, whole wheat pastry flour is a great place to start. This recipe couples whole wheat pastry flour with ground almonds as a base for the dough, and then uses only natural sweeteners in the form of fruit juice and maple syrup– no sugar here! A dab of preserves tops this cookie, which will top your favorites list!

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup almonds (ground into 1 1/2 cup meal)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup cold-pressed vegetable oil or melted, unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup apricot (or apple) juice 
• 1/3 cup maple syrup or concentrated fruit sweetener
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Apricot preserves (fruit-sweetened)  

Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine flour, almonds, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl, mix oil, juice, syrup and extracts together. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well, kneading a little. Form dough into balls and flatten to make circles. Place on lightly oiled cookie sheet. Indent each cookie with your thumb or your child's thumb and put 1/2 teaspoon preserves in the imprint. Bake 15 minutes, until edges turn golden.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Makes 24 cookies

Orange Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Replace almonds with hazelnuts. Replace apricot juice with orange juice. Add 1/2 teaspoon orange zest to dry ingredients.

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