Jam Dot Cookies

Photo: Kim O'Donnel

We Canvolutionaries talk a lot about how to “use up what you put up” — how to incorporate your home-preserved goodies into your everyday cooking and baking. Here’s a goodie I learned this spring. Believe it or not, this is a dairy-free and egg-free treat, and you’ll never know the difference, thanks to the healthy fats from the ground almond meal. In the batch pictured above, I filled the cookies with last year’s blueberry (or was it blackberry?) jam, plus a satsuma marmalade I whipped up this winter with CAA Web editor Jeanne Sauvage. I think you’ll agree they make great eye candy.

Jam Dot Cookies
Adapted from The Golden Door spa.

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unsalted almonds
1 cup oats (don’t use instant)
(Gluten-free option: Omit wheat flour, use 1 1/2 cups ground almonds and 1 1/2 cups oats)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup vegetable oil (grapeseed, safflower or sunflower all good choices)
1/2 cup good quality maple syrup
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 1/2 cup of your favorite homemade jam or marmalade

Method
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with oil spray or line it with parchment paper.

Using a food processor, pulverize almonds and oats until you have a coarse meal. Remove and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add whole wheat flour and cinnamon, and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, add oil, maple syrup, orange juice and vanilla, and stir to combine. With a rubber spatula, fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and mix well. Scoop batter with a 1-tablespoon measure onto prepared baking sheet. Using your thumb or the back of a spoon, make an indentation into the middle of the cookie. Fill the middle with 1 teaspoon of jam/marmalade.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack. Will keep for about 5 days in an airtight container. Cookie batter can be frozen, then thawed and filled as needed.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.