The Southwest Armchair Traveler: A #Recipe from the Cat Café: Thumbprint #Cookies Plus enjoy this #Romance series of #ContemporaryRomance #SweetRomance #CleanRomance

Sunday, November 20, 2022

A #Recipe from the Cat Café: Thumbprint #Cookies Plus enjoy this #Romance series of #ContemporaryRomance #SweetRomance #CleanRomance

Christmas Cookies at the Cat Café: A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance is only $2.99!

Since I'm writing about a café, of course I mention recipes. Here's a favorite. These cookies are easy to make, look pretty, and people adore them (perfect if you're making holiday gift packs of goodies). Since you add the toppings after baking, you can easily do several varieties – I like lemon curd or lime curd, jam, and ginger spread.

Baked cookies with lime curd and apricot jam

Thumbprint Cookies

These pretty cookies are perfect for a party. Get several different types of jam in bright colors. What else could you use in place of jam? How about a small square of cream cheese or a small piece of soft caramel candy? Or try a few chocolate chips for chocolate thumbprints.

You can even press a chocolate kiss or miniature peanut butter cup into the cookie. In that case, bake the cookies 10 to 12 minutes first, until they are done. Once you add the candy, do not bake them anymore.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 ounces jam, any flavor

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a cookie sheet, or use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take 2 to 3 minutes with an electric mixer on medium-high speed.
Separate the egg yolk from the white. Reserve the egg white for another use. Beat the egg yolk and vanilla extract into the batter. Add the flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together in a ball.
Scoop up spoonfuls of dough and form them into 1-inch balls. Place the balls on the cookie sheet at least two inches apart. Flatten each ball slightly with your thumb or the back of a small spoon. You want an indentation in the center, like a little bowl.
Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms barely start to turn golden. Remove the baking sheet from oven.
Use the back of a spoon to press the indentations in a little more. Fill each one with about 1/2 teaspoon jam. Bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, so the jam or chocolate melts slightly and the edges of the cookies turn lightly golden.
Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.

Tip: Use two spoons for the jam. Scoop the jam with one spoon. Then use the back of the other spoon to slide the jam onto the cookie.

Christmas Cookies at the Cat Café

Diane had a great marriage and a wonderful life raising two daughters and a grandson. Now she’s 53 and a widow. Her grown children are encouraging her to do less – but she wants more.

Rick loved Diane in high school, but he traveled the world while she settled down with another man. Now he’s back, but not to stay.

Rick temps Diane to quit her job, sell her house, and travel, but she can’t leave the family that might still need her. Diane tempts Rick to quit his wandering ways, but he can’t replace her husband. As the weeks pass from Thanksgiving to Christmas, the holiday season brings out complicated emotions.

Can Diane and Rick find a way to make a new life together while holding onto the best parts of the past? They'll need more than attraction and affection. They might even need a Christmas miracle.

Kris Bock writes novels of romance, mystery, and suspense. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats.

Visit the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series page on Amazon US or Amazon UK. (For other countries click here.)

Kris Bock writes novels of romance, mystery, and suspense. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. In the Accidental Detective series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona. Get a free cat café novella, mystery stories, and more when you sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter.

Kris also writes a series with her brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The Felony Melanie series follows the crazy antics of Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. Sign up for our romantic comedy newsletter and get Felony Melanie Destroys the Moonshiner’s Cabin. Or find the books on Amazon US or All E-book retailers.