Almond Thumbprints

I make thumbprint cookies every year.  I don't have a clue why, they're not Christmas-y at all.  But Christmas has me craving cookies, and so I do.  Every year I'm disappointed by thumbprint cookies that are dry and bland, with  jam filling that bubbles out and around, they always leave much to be desired.  Once again this year I tried a new recipe, this time from my book.  And what do you know? I finally found a great recipe! They're easy, buttery, very sweet and extremely delicious.  I totally loved them, and so did everyone who tried them!  As a bonus I got to use up two languishing jars of jam in my fridge, a cranberry-strawberry and a four-plum.

P.s. You might think this picture looks awfully similar to my last post, but when your Christmas tree takes up two-thirds of your living room...

Baking notes:
-I didn't have enough almonds, so I toasted some walnuts to go with them.  In all I had just short of a cup of nuts, so I added about an extra 1/4 cup of flour.  (You could totally use hazelnuts and fill the centers with nutella, my mouth waters just thinking about it!)
-To make the indentations I used the small end of a wooden spoon and then used my fingers to make the holes bigger while keeping the sides intact.  When I pulled them out halfway through baking I used the spoon again to make another hole.  In the end the cookies held a lot of jam, which my thinking tells me is way better.
-I found the cookies super simple to make.  Yes, there were a few extra steps, but I think they were definitely worth it.

The recipe for Almond Thumbprints can be found on the epicurious website.

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