I meant to post this before Christmas but above is my attempt to make the jam thumbprint cookies that appear on the cover of The Gourmet Cookie Book. As you can see, my cookies don’t resemble the cover shot in the slightest. As I said to my friend Leslie, the holidays are always a reminder of what a half-assed baker I am. It’s a skill set I rank up there with my ability to kill plant life. I SWEAR I followed the directions: I let the dough rest in the fridge overnight, did not press so hard with my thumb as to cause cracking, yada yada. But rather than these perfect, pale circles with a jam glass window effect (Photoshop), I created these janky, asymmetrical, crumbles.
I have to say that honestly, they were still delicious and buttery and light. For the center I used a raspberry jam that a friend of my mom’s brought from Montreal that is the closest I’ve ever tasted to homemade, if not better (if you’re in Montreal you must go to Patisserie de Gascogne and get some confiture de framboises and anything else they sell). But I still want to know what I did wrong with these cookies. Is it me? Or a case of a cookbook showing you a beauty shot that will never resemble the finished dish (something that came up a lot during the photo shoot for our cookbook–make it perfect or make it real for the reader who will be using the image as a reference for their finished dish?).
Baking experts, lay it on me.
