Almond & Apple Butter Thumbprint Cookies (gluten-free!)

For me, getting in the mood for Christmas involves baking copious amounts of cookies. As a kid, around this time of year, I would get on the greyhound bus to spend a weekend with my cherished Grammie and we would bake cookies from the moment I arrived until the moment I left. It was our annual Christmas baking bonanza and I had her all to myself, a rare treat! As we piled tin after tin of cookies into the secret "Christmas cookie cupboard", we would listen to carols and get into a festive spirit. One of my grandmother's favourites, a family classic, were her thumbprint jelly cookies, or as they are also called, bird's nest cookies: a nutty cookie with a jelly-filled indentation in its centre. Recently, I've been hanging around some gluten-free friends, and I wanted to adapt these for them, putting to use some of the apple butter I made this fall.
  

I imagined a chubby, almondy cookie and after a couple of batches, I got what I had aimed for: a healthy holiday cookie that is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, deliciously flavourful, and gluten-free and sugar-free (sweetened only with maple syrup and apple butter).

Did you know how easy it is to make apple butter?! I made it for the first time this fall, using the most basic recipe I could find. I simply cooked down a huge pot full of chopped apples for almost a whole day on the woodstove until they went beyond the apple sauce stage and crossed over into that thick dark caramelly world of apple butter. Add a few sprinkles of cinnamon and cloves and voila. Spread it on buttered toast in the morning and it will win you over.

I'm lucky that my family lives near an abandoned orchard in Nova Scotia and every fall, we have a tradition of rescuing these lonely apples from falling to the ground, unused.

They're free, they aren't sprayed with pesticides, and they make the most exquisite (a bright rosy pink!) apple sauce. How much better can it get? Now that I'm back in the big city for a bit, I treasure the jars of apple sauce and apple butter I brought here with me, they taste like the East Coast and the wind and the leaves and sunshine back home.

Now before I share this recipe, I have a special treat for you that will warm your heart and give you a chuckle. (And also fulfills the promise I made of sharing cute animal videos with you when I don't have time to make cooking ones). So. Dogs need cookies too, especially around the holidays, and my friend Val has just put up a fabulous blogpost sharing a winning doggy biscuit recipe (just in time for a fun homemade Christmas present for all your canine friends). I happened to be there with my camera when she gave her spirited pups, Cracker and Mash, their first tastes of biscuit, fresh out of the oven. And here is what that looked like:



I can only hope that biting into my almond cookies will generate a fraction of the exuberance displayed by Cracker and Mash. Please do make these and let me know if you did a happy dance :-)

CHEWY GLUTEN-FREE ALMOND THUMBPRINT COOKIES
Makes 20 medium-sized cookies
*Feel free to substitute your favourite jam or jelly for the centre part.

1 1/2 cup ground almonds (almond flour)
1/3 cup butter, at room temperature (I used goat butter, my new favourite butter)
1/2 cup maple syrup (more to taste)
1 egg
1 1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca (or arrowroot) flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
About 1/3 cup apple butter (or your favourite jam or jelly)
About 20 almonds to decorate the cookies

Mix the ground almonds and butter together, then add the maple syrup, beaten egg, and almond extract. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and incorporate into the wet almond mixture. Mix until smooth. Chill in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes. Roll into balls and flatten them slightly on a greased cookie sheet. With your thumb, make an indentation in each cookie. Place about 1 tsp apple butter (or jelly / jam) in each indentation and top it off with a whole almond. Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes or until the edges are crisp but the centre still soft. Let them cool on the pan a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Poutine, mon amour

Hellooooo out there. My apologies for the long absence.

I've been busy working on my thesis film about genetically engineered foods and just returned from a long hard shoot in San Francisco where I was filming the vote on Proposition 37 (the one to label GMOs). The proposition was defeated by a slim margin: 47.2% (voted yes) to 52.8% (voted no). I could write a very long blogpost with my thoughts on it all, but for now (just for now), I'll spare you all as I digest what I've just experienced and reflect on how to thoughtfully put it all into a film worthy of contributing to the debate. 

In the meantime, there is poutine to talk about. 

It's been quite thrilling to see that over the years, the awesomeness of poutine has gradually overflowed beyond the borders of my birth province of Québec, into other Canadian provinces, and even charmed its way into our neighbouring states to the south. I love it when the tables are turned and Americans get to eat Canadian fast food! I was pleased to see when I first arrived in Maine that most people not only knew what it was, but also had an appetite for poutine. I even ordered one of those uber-trendy gourmet foie-gras poutine at my favourite local restaurant (thought I died and went to heaven). But what caught me off guard, and confirms that poutine is successfully wooing the world over is that people as far away as San Francisco knew what it was. In my missionary-like efforts to spread the deliciousness onto other continents, I even once made poutine entirely from scratch while visiting friends in Tunisia. There are few things that make my Québecois pride and patriotism truly shine through. But poutine is one of these.

Granted, the idea of greasy French fries smothered in brown gravy and cheese curds does not appeal to everyone. It is um, on the heavier side of the spectrum to say the least. But I grew up on this stuff. I fondly remember walking with my mom and baby sister to the Cantine d'Amour, when we lived in Matane, Québec, ordering their biggest poutine and eating it on the spot. Later, when my family moved to Nova Scotia and the wonder of poutine hadn't hit those shores yet, my mom would make it at home and we would have Québec nostalgia. 

Since we harvested our potatoes this week, I figured it was an opportune time to make some homemade (GMO-free!) poutine. Especially since my boyfriend's dad pointed out where I could find what may be the finest and freshest cheese curds in Maine. So all that was left was a good gravy. And luckily for me, Saveur magazine just put out this fabulous video showing how to make a perfect vegetarian gravy, featuring the lovely Todd Coleman. (I'm not vegetarian so I cheated and actually used some organic chicken broth I had kicking around instead of water, but otherwise, I stuck to this marvellously rich and flavourful recipe. Thank you Saveur!)



POUTINE (The 3 building blocks)
-A couple pounds of the best French fries possible 
(yes, this means homemade, trust me it's worth the time and effort...  but if dire, and I mean really dire, circumstances are preventing you from being able to make your own, then ok, you can use the frozen ones from the store... or if French fries aren't your thing, simply use baked potatoes instead)

-About 1 pound of the freshest squeakiest cheese curds 
(in a pinch, grated mozzarella will do, but it won't be the same)

-About 3 cups of good thick homemade gravy 
(the stuff from a can should only be used under dire conditions, otherwise, to be avoided at all cost... get experimental with it too: there are some great gravy recipes out there such as ginger miso gravy, onion guinness gravy...)

Even though most French fries recipes suggest using Russet potatoes, I made ours with a variety we grew called Purple Viking, fried them up in peanut oil, and they turned out great. The amounts of fries, gravy, and cheese are really up to personal taste. The cheese curds should be covered in piping hot gravy so they melt. That's about all the poutine wisdom I have to share...  Just combine the 3 ingredients together on a plate, and enjoy!

Salted Pumpkin Caramels

Here's something you won't see too often on this blog: a candy recipe. But I am completely smitten with these chewy caramels that taste like salty butter and pumpkin pie and all things cozy and autumnal. So here you go...

I am not much of a candy person. My sweet tooth is very directionally and enthusiastically aimed at the cookies / cakes / anything-made-with-dough category. But as a kid, I loved those little square, plastic-wrapped caramels... you know the ones people give out on Halloween? My mom wasn't big on sugary treats, in fact there was a time when I wasn't allowed to eat anything with refined sugar in it. Only honey, maple syrup and natural sweeteners were permitted. She relented one Halloween when my friend's parents accused her of child cruelty. (LOL, thanks friend's parents!) As a result, I was not as accustomed to sugar as some kids, and I remember sitting with a bag of Halloween treats, surrounded by those crinkly plastic caramel wraps, and one serious sugar hangover.

Since we recently harvested our pumpkins, the sight of this recipe from Food 52 got me whipping out the candy thermometer and getting down to caramel-making business in no time. And since today is Canadian Thanksgiving (my first time spending it in the United States), I wanted to share a pumpkinny recipe with you all.

These little guys were easy to make, except for the part when you're boiling the caramel and waiting for it to reach candy temperature. I got impatient and kept thinking I must be doing something wrong since it was taking for-EVER, but once temperature was finally reached and the caramel poured and cooled, it was an act of pure pleasure to slice through them and see that lo and behold, they had turned out perfectly. So be patient and don't worry if it's taking a while, even more than 30 minutes. 

I did make one key change to the original recipe which calls for part corn syrup, and part maple syrup, because you may remember how I feel about corn, so I opted to forego the corn syrup and use all maple syrup instead. I was initially worried it might skew the texture, but I did it anyway and the caramels turned out beautifully.

If there's one pumpkin dessert you make this fall, please make it be this one. I guarantee you won't regret it. And if you don't own a candy thermometer, it is worth going out and buying or borrowing one just to make this recipe. Seriously.

SALTED PUMPKIN CARAMEL
Adapted from Food 52  (and by the way, the genius who invented this recipe deserves a gold medal and good karma for ever and ever)

This recipe makes approximately 64 1-inch caramels

• 3/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream (35% or whipping cream)
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. each ginger and nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp. each allspice and cloves)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. fleur de sel or kosher salt
  
  
  Toast the pumpkin seeds in a skillet until they start popping. Line the bottom of a buttered 8-inch square glass pan with buttered parchment paper. Spread out the toasted pumpkin seeds on top of the parchment in the pan.
  
  
  In the saucepan, combine the cream, pumpkin puree, and the spices. Heat it until warm, but do not let it boil. Remove from heat.  
  
  
  In a medium heavy-bottomed pan, combine the sugar, maple syrup, and water. Stir until the sugar is melted. Allow it to boil until it reaches 244 degrees (the upper limit of "soft ball" point on a thermometer). Add the cream and pumpkin mixture, and stir gently until incorporated. Allow this mixture to boil and bring it to 240 degrees on the candy thermometer. This is the part that takes time, around 30 minutes, so be patient and watch it carefully, stirring often so it doesn't burn, particularly in the last stages when it gets very thick.
  
  
  Once it has reached 240, remove it from heat and stir in the butter and lemon juice swiftly, stirring well until both are fully incorporated and butter is melted. Now immediately pour the caramel into the pan, all in one go, on top of the pumpkin seeds. Let it cool about 30 minutes and if you wish you can sprinkle the salt on at this stage (or wait later and individually sprinkle salt on each square once they are cut). Wait at least 2 hours for caramel to fully set before slicing. Use a hot knife to slice them more easily, cutting them into 1-inch squares. You can wrap them individually in waxed paper. 
  
  
  Be careful, they are SO addictive!!