(Sort of) Jammie Dodgers of Hope

I broke another coffee pot this morning.

I say "another" since this is, rather spectacularly, the third coffee pot I have broken in my life, specifically in the last 5 years. Both of us at Beetle HQ are pretentious and affected and therefore eschew "pedestrian" drip coffee in favour of French Press. And because we both drink it at the same time and are freakishly possessive of our own blends of coffee (truly, the ridiculousness in our house knows no bounds and is I believe getting worse every day), we employ TWO presses every morning, one for each of us. This may seem crazy, but were you ever to witness the alternative and its subsequent emotional and psychological fallout, you would understand.

My French Press is (or rather, was until two hours ago) a gorgeous double walled thing of beauty from Bodum. (see image at right) It is now a large heap of shards in the bottom of the rubbish bin. This time I actually, helpfully, managed to shatter it on top of the kitchen block. I'd like to think that as time goes on I grow more discerning in my shattering skills. The first time was truly glorious. I smashed it against the faucet in the kitchen sink and spent the next two hours trying to pick tiny pieces of glass out of the drain. Points for contained mess, but serious deductions for length of time involved. The second time I really and truly dropped it on the floor of my apartment, reducing the amount of walkable space in my already infinitesimal kitchen to approximately 6 square inches, and pushing back "coffee and newspaper time" significantly as of course, being me, I couldn't move forward until I had swept, dusted, vacuumed, and for good measure washed the kitchen floor.

I would like to point out that one of the aspects of the double walled pot, as advertised on the Bodum website, is that it is, a direct quote, "unbreakable."

I live to defy convention, clearly.

Anyway. This morning brought the grand total to three. And after vacuuming, apologising to the cat for several minutes, and digging out one of the emergency pots we have above the stove (oh, dear reader, we have three backups FOR REAL YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW FAR THIS GOES.) I was able to enjoy coffee and my current murder mystery (Raven Black by Ann Cleeves; Book 1 of the Shetland Island Quartet), only occasionally interrupted by Mum asking the standard morning questions like "ok, so what IS a jpeg, exactly?" and "why is everyone on Twitter it just seems so stupid?"

But moving on. To cookies.

The criteria this week was that I had to use the Strawberry Fig jam we'd bought at a fair in the Berkshires. (I find it helps if I give myself SOME kind of guideline because otherwise it's just a recipe free for all brain overload and the sheer number of baking possibilities makes me hyperventilate. I swear, you guys, sometimes being me is not the funnest thing in the world.)

But. Just because I've narrowed it down to "involving Strawberry Fig Jam" does not mean that the search is over. Far from it. I'm trying to continue down the "weather change by suggestion baking" path by making things that are vaguely spring-like, or at least not overtly cold-weather. So I toyed with the idea of making a sponge cake and layering it with jam, and then with making jam rolls, or even Jammie Dodgers . . .

This is a Jammie Dodger. 

See? It's a black hole.

But it was actually the Jammie Dodger idea that got me going.

Beetle, I said to myself. Beetle. Make a shortbread-y biscuit with a Strawberry Fig jam filling. That is perfect.

But Beetle, I responded. Beetle. Isn't that a thumbprint? And haven't you made about a gazillion thumbprints in the last few months? Aren't you getting a little boring with these thumbprints?

Ohhhh but BEETLE, I said back. BEETLE. WAIT FOR IT. I'm going to make a shortbread-y biscuit but put WALNUTS IN IT so that it will be a WALNUT THUMBPRINT WITH STRAWBERRY FIG FILLING AND DOESN'T THAT SOUND BETTER AND MORE INTERESTING AND POTENTIALLY DELICIOUS?

To which, I said right back to myself. YES. YES IT DOES, BEETLE. WELL DONE. 

So.

WALNUT THUMBPRINTS WITH STRAWBERRY FIG JAM*

*for real, typing "thumbprint" is apparently one of the hardest things ever it's taken me about an hour to get through the last paragraph

The dough for these is the best all-round butter cookie dough I've come across, namely the Joy of Cooking "Rich Roll Cookies." They are buttery and delicious and I've used them for thumbprints, sandwich cookies, cut out cookies, everything. I've had equal success with putting them straight into the oven (like here) out of the mixing bowl, or chilling and rolling and cutting, and it doesn't seem to make any difference what you do with these, they will come out really nicely. And, as I just found out, adding nuts doesn't have a bad effect either.

Walnuts and Strawberries and Figs work together, right? RIGHT. 

If there is a more spring-like and hopeful image than freshly beaten butter and sugar, my name's not Beetle. 

I stirred in 12 oz. of chopped walnuts right at the end, then went from there. Joy of Cooking says to chill the dough for an hour, but since I was just going to hand form balls and do a smoosh in the middle, chilling would just be silly and waste time on both ends. 

I was worried that 12 oz would not be enough nuts . . . 

And then that it would be too much . . . 

But thankfully, they had a Goldilocks moment and 12 oz. was JUST RIGHT. 

Gotta say, too, plain old Buttery Walnut cookies . . . not the worst thing on earth. 

But if jam is on offer . . .

I mean. It would be rude to refuse, no? 

That's what I thought. 

So the mission was to use the Strawberry Fig Jam in a baked good that hinted at warmer weather to come. And if I simultaneously figured out that adding nuts to my basic butter cookie recipe did NOT ruin it, but in fact enhanced it given the right circumstances, so much the better.

And somehow strawberries and walnuts and figs DO kind of conjure up sun and porches and sitting outside enjoying the breeze, no? You know, actually wearing dresses with bare legs, bringing a sweater "just in case", checking your face for freckles at the end of the day . . .

Do they do that? I hope they do. I really hope they do. Because in another few weeks, I think the entirety of New England is going to mutiny and possibly keelhaul every local meteorologist on sight.

OPTIMISTIC JAMMIE DODGERS

JAMMIE DODGERS OF HOPE

We'll get there in the end, you guys. We will. And until then . . . well.

Cookie?