Happy National Dessert Day! # 364: Fig & Passionfruit Thumbprint Cookies

Can’t say that I ever knew October 14th was National Dessert Day, but what a lovely excuse to eat extra sweets!

This jam makes me so happy! It’s a combination of figs from my parents’ tree and the very first passionfruit ever from my backyard vines. Feeling very local right about now.

I went traditional with my first thumbprint cookies post, but in a shocking twist I took a chocolate left turn with this batch. In my defense, chocolate’s bitter richness pairs super well with both figs’ sweetness and passionfruits’ acidic tang. Totally justified.

I went rogue without a jam recipe. All you need is fruit, sugar, acid and heat (hopefully all in the right proportions to end up with a set jam that doesn’t run all over the place.) In this case, the passionfruit juice is a double whammy, bringing both flavor and plenty of acid to activate the pectin. I only added one heaping spoonful of sugar for the pectin to work with and it ended up having a nice consistency. Whew!

Making a cute lil half batch.

The recipe I used for the cookie base walks you through baking them without a filling since she was adding a ganache center after they cooled. Which sounds amazing! But if you’re doing a classic jam cookie, plop the jam into the thumbprint before you bake.

A-dough-able.

The dough was super soft and recommended at least an hour of fridge time before baking. Guess who’s impatient and tried to get away with 10 minutes of freezer time instead?

They definitely spread out flatter than intended.. but they’re so yummy you don’t notice.

Happy munching!

Cookie base recipe from: https://inbloombakery.com/chocolate-thumbprint-cookies/