Here it is, the very last post for Tuesdays with Dorie. After four years of baking through Dorie Greenspan's book Baking from My Home to Yours, all the recipes have been chosen, baked, and posted by our little group. This is the very last recipe chosen, Kids' Thumbprints on page 163, and as is fitting, it was chosen for us by Dorie herself. You can find the post and recipe here on Dorie's blog.
This little cookie is delightful...nice and peanut-y and crunchy. The little bit of jam in the center makes every childhood memory you have of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches come swiftly to mind. Okay, maybe not THIS jam, since this jam that I used was a gift from a fellow blogger friend in Canada (thank you, Jerry for making such a great jam) and is the best blueberry jam I have ever tasted...might have something to do with the Grand Marnier in the recipe...oh, my was this good in these cookies (so maybe they aren't exactly Kids' Thumbprints with the alcohol involved, maybe we should call them, Feel Like a Kid with a Kicked Up Adult Version Thumbprints).
When I started baking with this group, my intention was to learn how to bake for my family as my guys all have a sweet tooth and love desserts. Our son Matt was not even in high school then, this year he headed off to college...these four years have seen a good portion of his growing up years. I thought I would include the first photo I took of him eating a treat in July 2008 (a good friend of mine who knew I didn't know how to bake jokingly said that she would need "proof" each week that someone was actually eating my efforts so I started including a photo of Matt with the baked goods). This morning I took the last photo of him eating a Tuesday treat, just before he headed back down to college after his Christmas break (yes, I know that wasn't long enough but swimmers need to report back two weeks early for some heavy duty training).
It's been a great ride these four years. The end of the group's journey is definitely not the end of my use of this book, I will go to it time and again for recipe after recipe after recipe.
Earlier in the month I posted my "wrap up and goodbye" when I hosted for the week, so I won't repeat all that at this time, instead, here is the link to that post and my "sharings" about being a member of the Tuesdays with Dorie group of bakers. To all my fellow TWD bakers and Dorie: Thank you for baking with me all these years and teaching me more than you can ever imagine. C'ya around the blogs...xoxoxoxo!