How are your preparations for Christmas going on? Is everything going as planned or you are like me and accepted that you just won’t have the time to do everything you wanted to? 😀 If that’s the case, you know what, that’s ok too! We put so much pressure on ourselves all the time and specially at holidays time.
In magazines and Instagram we see these picture perfect spacious houses with huge windows, so many beautiful Christmas lights and decorations, cozy sofas and blankets and candles that burn all day long and they kind of look like something from Ikea catalogue. Every single thing has its perfect place and we can chill on our sofa all day long sipping hot chocolate because we already have something like ten kinds of Christmas cookies ready! Haha you get the picture that my situation is not exactly like that! 😀 It’s good to remind ourselves from time to time that real life often (or almost never!) looks like on Instagram pictures and that we should never feel like we are not good enough if everything is not perfect or entirely as we would like it to be.
The most important is that we think of what really is important and those are most of all, the people in our lives. The ones who love us unconditionally and are with us in good times and difficult times, the ones we love and want to see smile on their faces and joy in their eyes. I know all this sounds a bit sentimental and corny but it truly is the most important thing in the world to appreciate ‘our’ people but also people in general, to give as much love, good and positive energy as we can.
So what matters the most for me at Christmas time is spending it with my family and friends, sharing a delicious home cooked meal, taking the time to give and help to those who are less fortunate, making my home peaceful, warm and cozy, filled with smell of cookies and cinnamon and thinking positive happy thoughts. And that’s it! I’ve had my share of holidays spent far away from my family and friends and I know how lonely and difficult it can get. So I possibly appreciate even more all those little-big things now…
So after some thoughts about Christmas let me tell you few things about these cookies! 🙂 I’m sure you saw and possibly tried many versions of thumbprint cookies, they are alway soft, delicious, easy to make and filled with jam or chocolate depending on your choice. I wanted to keep these as simple as possible and made with wholesome healthier ingredients and that’s why I used spelt flour, coconut oil and coconut sugar as sweetener. You can of course experiment and try out different flours here or simply use all-purpose flour and also use granulated sugar instead of coconut sugar but I highly recommend trying out this healthier version as they are really delicious! I filled them with my sister’s homemade cherry jam and they were ‘melt in your mouth’ delicious!
Here on my blog you have a recipes category named Christmas food where you can get some ideas if you want to do some more baking these days but can I just remind you of two of possibly my favourites (even if it’s so difficult to choose when you LOVE cookies!!), these Dark chocolate & orange cookies are so good and specially if you adore chocolate + orange combination as much as I do and these Coconut oil cranberries & nuts cookies are one of the favourite in our family all year around!
Recipe in English:
- 2 cups spelt flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 4 heaped (full) tbsp coconut oil, softened
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup coconut sugar (or granulated)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsp jam of your choice, I used cherry jam
- Note: 1 cup = 240 ml
- In a mixing bow combine flour, baking soda and salt.
- In another mixing bowl whisk softened coconut oil, sugar and vanilla.
- Add eggs and whisk well.
- Add flour mixture into wet ingredients and stir using a wooden spoon until all is well combined.
- Put it in the fridge for 30 min.
- Preheat oven to 180 C / 356 F. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and using your hands make small balls.
- Place them on the tray and leave enough space in between as they will spread when baking.
- You won't be able to fit them all so you can bake them in two rounds.
- Once the dough balls are on the tray use your thumb to make an imprint in each one and fill them with jam.
- Bake for 10 min and remove from the oven. They will still be soft but will harden as they cool.
- Let the cool before storing in metal bow or airtight container. Enjoy!
Recipe in Croatian / Recept na hrvatskom:
- SASTOJCI
- 2 salice pirovog brasna
- 1 zlicica soda bikarbone
- prstohvat soli
- 4 vrhom pune zlice kokosovog ulja, omeksalog (ne otopljenog)
- 2 veca jaja, sobne temperature
- ¾ salice kokosovog secera (ili obicnog)
- 1 zlicica vanilin ekstrakta
- 3-4 zlice dzema po vasem izboru, ja sam koristila dzem od visanja
- Napomena: 1 salica = 240 ml
- PRIPREMA
- U posudi pomijesajte brasno, soda bikarbonu i sol.
- U drugoj posudi miksajte omeksalo kokosovo ulje, secer i vaniliju.
- Dodajte jaja i izmijesajte dobro pjenjacom.
- Dodajte mjesavinu od brasna u mokre sastojke i promjesajte kuhacom da se sve dobro poveze.
- Stavite u frizider na 30 minuta.
- Zagrijte pecnicu na 180 C i oblozite veliki pleh papirom za pecenje.
- Izvadite tijesto iz frizidera i rukama valjajte male kuglice te ih postavite na pleh ostavljajuci dovoljno mjesta izmedju jer ce se rasiriti prilikom pecenja.
- Necete ih moci sve ispeci odjednom pa mozete u dvije ture.
- Kad su loptice od tijesta na plehu, pritisnite svaku njezno palcem kako bi se napravila rupica koju cete ispuniti dzemom.
- Pecite 10 minuta i izvadite iz pecnice. Keksi ce jos biti mekani, ali ce se stvrdnuti prilikom hladjenja.
- Ostavite da se ohlade prije spremanja u kutiju za kekse. Dobar tek!
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