It’s week 5 on bake off and I reckon by now we’ve all got our favourites. I’m still backing Briony & Manon but, I also have a soft spot for Rahul. He has an adorable little face that reminds me of a chubby, little robin and seems so innocent and yet to surprise of the judges and rather funnily himself he consistently provides us with bakes of superb flavour and design… I think he could be the dark horse of the group. Finally, I’m glad to see the other male contestants coming out of their shells too and giving the girls a run for their money. I think it would be great to have another guy win the show and even the field the little.
This week was spice week, the signature required the bakers to make ginger cakes and the showstopper was based around spiced biscuits. Thumbprint cookies came to mind as they are the best of both worlds when it comes to cake and biscuit. They outside is slightly crisp but a chewy crumb lies within. Classic thumbprints are a vanilla cookie with raspberry jam but , I thought the delicate floral notes of raspberry would perfectly offset the boldness of spiced cookie.
You may have noticed I failed to provide a recipe for dessert episode last week. I’m still perfecting a vegan swiss roll that will rival the original so keep your eyes peeled for that recipe coming soon! Less technical than roulade; thumbprint cookies can be put together in a matter of minutes and are a great bake to make with children who would love rolling and squishing the cookies before dolloping jam into the centres what’s more, it requires minimal equipment and simple ingredients.
These cookies are refined sugar free and made with wholemeal flour making them ideal snacks or healthy lunch box treats that will sustain, rather than spike your energy levels.
(This recipe makes 10 cookies)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 flax egg (10g ground flaxseed soaked in 3 tbsp. water for 10 minutes)
- 100g apple puree
- 2 tbsp. sunflower oil (other flavourless oil)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp each of ground nutmeg (freshly grated has a stronger flavour, you may need double if already ground & ground ginger)
- pinch of sea salt
- 150g wholemeal self raising flour
- 10 tsps. raspberry jam (I used St Dalfour, as its refined sugar free)
METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 175 or 160 degrees for fan assisted ovens and lightly grease a muffin tin.
2. Mix all the cookie ingredients together apart from the jam, until it just comes together into a dough. It’s important not to overmix the dough as this can produce a tough, cardboard textured cookie! Roll the dough into 30g balls, you should get about 10.
3. Place the cookies into the muffin tray (this just ensures they won’t spread too much when cooked), using your thumb or a 1/2 tsp measure, make a deep circular indentation into the dough. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the cookies will have risen slightly and lost some of their imprint, re-make the dent, at this stage the dough is only half cooked so will be soft enough to reshape the impressions.
4. Drop a teaspoon of jam into each hollow before baking for a final 8 minutes, until golden and the cookies are firm on the surface but feel tender within. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container for upto 5 days.
