Day 9: Nikole Herriott + Jam Thimbles

I hope you already know my next guest, Nikole Herriott, from her beautiful blog and online shop. Nikole and her dad, Lance, collaborate on an online store filled with lovely handmade things, including the amazing wood objects that Lance carves. I love everything they make so much. We used one of their beautiful bowls to hold our rings at the wedding, it was perfect. Nikole is a multi-talented maker who graciously agreed to share her family recipe for these sweet Jam Thimbles with all of us. They are the perfect cookies for all of my fellow jam-makers to show off their goods and a wonderful addition to this cookie festival.

LOTTIE + DOOF FOOD QUIZ with Nikole Herriott

Why this cookie?
It’s one my great grandma used to make when we were little and somehow it never tires on me. I explain it here using a stand mixer but I learned the old-fashioned way with a bowl and a wooden spoon and that works perfectly too.

Sweet or salty?
Sweet!

Chocolate or vanilla?
Depends on what I’m eating, I love a vanilla sponge but a simple piece of dark chocolate is pretty great too.

Hot or mild?
Hot.

What won’t you eat?
I’ll try most things but I don’t love green peppers when they’re cooked.

Most memorable meal?
I couldn’t choose just one but most recently, Per Se. Hands down.

Favorite object in your kitchen?
My kitchen table, I love that it’s big enough to seat six.

What are you scared of in the kitchen?
Burning myself, but that always seems to happen.

Do you prefer to cook alone or with others?
With others. For me cooking together and eating together go hand in hand.

What country would you like to travel to for the food?
India!

If you were a fruit or vegetable, what would you be?
That’s a hard one! Maybe one of those greenish gray pumpkins because they’re just so beautiful.

Favorite thing about winter?
The first time it snows.

Thanks to Nikole, for joining us today—and thanks to Michael Graydon for these beautiful photos!

Jam Thimbles (recipe from Nikole Herriott)

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg, separated
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • a pinch of salt
  • 3/4 cups raw almonds, chopped
  • 1/8 cup raspberry jam

Cut the almonds to rough chop, separate the egg and set aside. Preheat oven to 325°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar until pale yellow. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and cream until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and the pinch of salt and mix until the dough comes together. If your dough feels a little dry, sprinkle with up to 1 teaspoon of cold water until in forms a solid mass. Scoop dough into about 20 portions (Nikole uses a small ice cream scoop #100) and roll into small balls.
Whisk the egg white lightly, one by one roll each ball in the white and then the chopped almonds. Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and press down gently until each is a slightly flatten ball. Using your thumb or the handle end of a wooden spoon, make a small indent in the centre of each cookie. Spoon about a 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indent.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. Makes around 20 cookies.

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Previously, on THE 12 DAYS OF COOKIES

Day 1: Maple Pecan Cookies

Day 2: Fig and Date Swirls

Day 3: Evergreen Shortbread

Day 4: Rugelach

Day 5: Gooey Butter Cookies

Day 6: Poppy Seed-Honey Cookies

Day 7: Cherry, Pistachio, Oatmeal Cookies

Day 8: Sticky Pecan Bites

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17 comments to “Day 9: Nikole Herriott + Jam Thimbles”

  1. Is it wrong that I want that first picture?…those poppable bites of dough rolled up as if they were auditioning to get into the ice cream club. I’ll take one of those rolled in the almonds with a nice dollop of raspberry jam on top. These would never make it to my oven! Mmmmmm!

  2. We’ve been looking for a great jam cookie! L+D to the rescue! We’ve got peach butter this year, but I think that will be delicious in place of the jam.

  3. A- peach butter would be fantastic! Good idea.

  4. These look amazing! Totally perfect for the holidays. :)

  5. I gree with Jessica… the dough balls have that texture that you can just tell would turn out beautifully; the texture that looks more like a frozen scoop of ice cream always turn out so lovely. I will be replacing my old jam thunbprint recipe with this one this year. And Bon Maman is my favorite store-bought jam!

  6. Yum! These are the kind of cookies I first made when I started baking and they will always have a special spot in my heart. I have some killer raspberry jam right now just waiting to fill a cookie thimble!

  7. These cookies are so lovely! Nikole Herriot is always an inspiration, and the photography from Michael Graydon is gorgeous too.

  8. oh, I love almond +jam thumb cookies and Nikole’s blog and shop – oh the wares I could buy from there!

  9. I love love love Herriott and Grace, so awesome to have her on your blog:) These cookies look so pretty… and the photography is just perfect! Time to add these to my Christmas lineup!

  10. so great to see Michael and Nikole here, especially with such a gorgeous recipe. great stuff, guys! we’re making these today with blackberry jam.

  11. I want to see if I could use a cookie cutter to make these into shapes…. any tips?

  12. Erika Benson says:

    December 19th, 2011 at 7:18 am

    I just made these and these are my dream cookies! I also added some almond extract, because I can never get enough almond. YUM. Perfection. Bringing the dough to a cookie making party this Thursday because I am sure the double batch I made today will already be gone.

  13. so delicious and just what i’ve been craving lately. must try this tonight!

    t.

  14. Carol Littlehale says:

    May 31st, 2012 at 7:38 pm

    I make these cookies every Christmas. I use apple and grape or any kind of jelly or jam. My whole family loves them, so I give each of them 2 to 3 dozen of these thumb print cookies.

  15. Tim, not sure how I stumbled across your site or this recipe in particular, but I am so glad I did! I just made these cookies with some homemade blackberry jam that my mom and I made last week. They were delicious! And so simple to make. Will be writing this one down in my recipe journal. Thanks! :)

  16. I am so glad I came across this recipe. I just baked them today and they turned out amazing! Thanks!

  17. Cherie Cayemberg says:

    October 21st, 2012 at 3:55 pm

    I’ve often wondered…how do you store jam thumbprints? Do they need to be refrigerated because of the jam or by cooking it does it make it OK to store at room temp in a sealed tin?

What do you think?