It’s Nutcracker week here in the Tummy Treasure household.  That means a week of craziness as we flit from school to rehearsal to bed to school to rehearsal…etc.  Cooking real food doesn’t really happen, despite the best of my intentions, but so far I have been managing.  Last night was the first dress rehearsal, and after having soup two nights in a row, there was no way my kids were going to tolerate yet another.  Crock-pot cooking didn’t appeal, and the drive-thru was sounding mighty tempting.  I started wishing that I had just a little more time between getting home and bedtime so that I could cook breakfast for dinner, when inspiration struck.  I rummaged through the fridge and freezer and assembled pork sausage, cheddar cheese, onion, eggs, milk and one savory pie crust.  In no time at all I had a quiche baked up, cooled and set in the fridge.  Upon arriving home, I sliced perfect wedges of quiche, and one at a time gave them a quick minute in the microwave, added a corn muffin and sliced pear to the plate and dinner was served.  It worked so well, I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to utilize the microwave for these rushed nights before! But now that it has… watch out! Tonight we have another rehearsal, and tomorrow night will be the first performance at 7:00, so we can eat dinner before we leave home tomorrow.

Anyway… despite the fact that it’s crazy busy here, I did manage to squeeze in another cookie.  I had extra coconut from those macaroons, and I knew I had to make Ina Garten’s Jam Thumbprints.  These are definitely one of Andy’s favorite cookies.  Essentially, they are a shortbread, rolled in coconut and capped off with a dollop of homemade jam.  They are pretty and extremely delicious.  Since I’m still in the frame of mind that I don’t want a ton of cookies lying around after Christmas, I only made a half batch, which made 32 cookies.  That’s plenty for a couple of cookie platters and a sneaky cookie thief here and there.  They are very easy to make, I only caution on the chilling time.  If you give them any longer than 30 minutes, the dough really firms up.  I chilled mine overnight and then had to let it sit on the counter for two hours to soften enough to roll into balls.  All worth it though, the cookies are as fantastic as they ever were.  Butter only for this one please.

Jam Thumbprints

3/4 pound unsalted butter — (3 sticks) at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water — for egg wash

7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

Raspberry and/or apricot jam

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until just combined, and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale, they should each weigh 1-ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown.

Cool and serve.