Vegan Jam Thumbprint Cookies

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Let me preface by saying these cookies are seriously yummy. And they’re super easy. And they’re vegan. They’re like a gift from the universe.

I found them on Feasting Freds a couple of months ago when I was looking for vegan desserts to try. And I’ve made them 3 times since. They taste healthy too, which could be bad because you don’t feel guilty after eating a whole bunch. Anyway, I made a batch for Stephen to take back to school with him.

Jam Thumbprints

Adapted from Feasting Freds

  • 1 Cup Walnuts
  • 1 Cup Oats
  • 1/2 Cup Sweet Brown Rice Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Vegetable/Canola Oil
  • 1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
  • 2 Tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • Jam/Preserves of Choice

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Add walnuts & oats to food processor and blend until a coarse powder forms. If you want smoother cookies, process longer. If you want little walnut chunks and oats process for less time. Add remaining dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Add wet ingredients and process until mixture comes together.

Form golf ball size cookies (I just use my tablespoon) and plop onto baking sheet. Using your THUMB! create an imprint in the center of the cookie. Fill with jam of choice. I’ve used apricot, raspberry, and blackberry. All delicious. I want to try it with other nuts next time. Or perhaps a combination. I have a bunch of raw almonds I need to use.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The bottom should be slightly browned and the top will look cooked but have no real color change.

Homemade Irish Cream

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Ever since I saw recipes for homemade Irish Cream on Foodgawker last year I’ve been dying to make it. I don’t know why it took me so long. It may have been the fact that I don’t really like whiskey and therefore don’t own any… or drink any for that matter. Haha.

Stephen tends to be more interested in recipes that involve alcohol (gingerbread with stout, pot pie with a hefeweizen gravy and so on) and finally convinced me we should try making one of the recipes we’ve seen. We decided homemade Irish Cream would make an amazing Christmas gift for a handful of our friends. We wanted to test out a recipe first though.

It’s so incredibly easy. It reminds me of a chocolatey, coffeey version of Egg Nog. Very Holiday friendly.

Homemade Irish Cream

  • 1.5 Cups Light Cream
  • 1 14oz Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1 1/4 Cups Irish Whiskey (we used Jameson)
  • 1 Tsp Instant Coffee Granules
  • 2 Tsp Black Cocoa Powder
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (Homemade! It’s just vodka & vanilla beans, so easy.)
  • 1/8 Tsp Almond Extract

Dissolve the coffee granules in a couple of tablespoons of cream. Add the cocoa powder and combine until a smooth paste forms. I used a fork, like scrambling eggs. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender. I used a food processor because I was lazy and my blender was dirty. Bad idea. Everything leaked. Don’t. Do. It. Not that anyone else would be as dumb as me. Anywayy, when you’re done blending, pour into your bottle (or jar!) of choice. We used a mason jar as you can see, which was really handy when the chocolate sank to the bottom and wanted me to shake it up.

It turned out really well! I’m not sure what Bailey’s tastes like but I imagine it’s just as good or even better! The idea that you could make it yourself, and control what goes into it, is just so appealing.

Keep refrigerated. Drink responsibly ; )

Echo Hill Goodies

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Over the weekend I was in Bethlehem, PA for my grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. Her official celebration was a bash Saturday night, cocktails starting at 6, at the Bethlehem Hotel. We had drinks, dinner, and cake (of course!).

3 of us took the morning on Saturday to sneak away & venture to Echo Hill before the party!!! So exciting!!! We each managed to buy a cardboard box (unfortunately, we forgot our reusable bags) FULL of goodies. Now, I did have a list going into this wonderful experience of happiness & joy, but I abandoned it slightly upon arrival. Some things I wanted that I did not purchase include: amaranth, dark chocolate chips (I couldn’t find any!), barley, assorted flours, cardamom, chili powder, cajun seasoning (I still have a ton), and everything else in the store : )

The List:

  • Raw Cashews
  • Raw Almonds
  • Split Peas
  • Millet
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
  • Steel Cut Oats
  • Bread Flour
  • Dried Dates
  • Vanilla Beans
  • Black Cocoa Powder
  • Butterscotch Bits (for cookies)
  • Dark Brown Sugar
  • Light Brown Sugar
  • Spice Drops (for Stephen)
  • Mexican Hats (for Stephen)

I think the only reason the list stops there is because I know I’ll be back very soon to purchase all the other things my heart desires! I’m almost certain I’ll be picking up most of the items I had listed but overlooked.

I cannot stress enough what an amazing variety of products Echo Hill carries or the affordable prices. On top of those attributes, the people are wonderful, absolutely wonderful. They know exactly where an item is located if they have it, they’ll tell you about a product if you’ve never heard of it & one gentleman offered to open a package of goji berries once for Stephen & I to try. And the parking lot speaks for it. For a pretty small “country store,” the parking lot (and the inside!) was full. I should become the Echo Hill spokesperson, although I’m sure they don’t need one.