Cooking with kids: These jam thumbprint cookies are ready in only six minutes

Sarah Rainey's jam cookies are deliciously moreish

Ready in under ten minutes, these jammy cookies are perfect to make with the kids. Picture: Michael Joseph/Clare Winfield/PA. 

“These sticky, fruity cookies make me feel a bit like a five-year-old – not only when I eat them, but when I make them too, squidging my thumb into the middle to make a hole for the jam,” says food writer and presenter Sarah Rainey.

“The short cooking time makes them nice and crumbly, rather than crisp, and the jam is deliciously gooey.” 

Jammy Thumbprint Cookies

Ready in under ten minutes these are the perfect cookies to bake with kids

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 2 mins

Cooking Time

 4 mins

Total Time

 6 mins

Course

 Baking

Cuisine

 British

Ingredients

• 250g ground almonds

• 1 egg

• 60ml coconut oil, melted

• 3tbsp maple syrup

• 1tsp vanilla extract

• 140g fruit jam of your choice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 250°C (fan 230°C) and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

2. Mix the almonds, egg, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract together in a bowl until they come together into a loose dough.

3. Roll blobs of dough (around the size of ping-pong balls) between your palms and spread them out on the baking sheet.

4. Flatten them with your fingers until the cookies are around 1cm thick. Then squidge your thumb into the centre of each to create a deep dent (make sure you don’t make a hole all the way through or the jam will leak out).

5. Fill the dent in each cookie with a heaped teaspoonful of jam.

6. Place the baking sheet of cookies in the oven on the top shelf and cook for four minutes. When they’re done, open the door slightly, rotate the baking sheet (to ensure the cookies don’t catch or burn) and leave them to cool in the oven with the door ajar for around half an hour. Enjoy hot or cold, with a cup of tea. The cookies will keep for five to six days in an airtight tin.
   
   6-minute Showstoppers by Sarah Rainey, photography by Clare Winfield, is published by Michael Joseph, priced £14.99. Available now.