Thumbprint Cookies with Comstock Farm & Kitchen Calamansi Marmalade

I have been making this cookie for years, but it's recent that I make them gluten-free. I use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour. If you are not gluten-free, feel free to use regular flour. I was thrilled to open up the jar of reserve calamansi marmalade.

Back in November, R and I went to Comstock Farm & Kitchen out in Carmel Valley; we were volunteering to assemble holiday gift boxes whose sales would benefit the youth programs at Rancho Cielo. Though we weren't there for very long, it was a pleasure to meet Kimberly Clemenson and Jeff Webster who purchased and restored this historic property that was once owned by Hank Ketcham, the cartoonist and creator of Dennis the Menace. I hope to get back out there again soon. I love their motto: Share, do good, eat well, spread joy.

They have a vineyard of Pinot Noit, an eighty-year-old Concord grapevine (photograph above), and aside array of other fruits and vegetables. One of their citrus trees is a calamansi. I told Jeff I hadn't ever seen one though I loved the fruits. He shared that he learned about calamansi when his family lived in the Philippines. He gifted me a bag of frozen fruit and a jar his calamansi marmalade.

Calamansi

Calamansi, a sour citrus hybrid - a kumquat + a mandarin orange - native to the Philippines is used in condiments, beverages, and marinades in Philippine, Malaysian, and Indonesian cuisines.

Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

makes approximately 30 cookies

• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature

• 3/4 cup organic granulated sugar

• 2 eggs (if not making gluten-free, use 2 egg yolks only)

• 2 cups flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour)

• 1/2 cup ground almonds

• 2 teaspoons gin (you can use water if you don't have gin)

• calamansi marmalade

Procedure

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs until incorporated. Stir in the flour and ground almonds until a flaky dough is formed. Add in the gin, gently working the dough until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes before proceeding. While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pinch off pieces of dough and form into small balls, about the size of a walnut in its shell. Place each ball onto a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet, pressing a "thumbprint" into the center of each and slightly flattening. (The cookies will not spread, so make them the size that you want!)

Add about 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of jam to each thumbprint. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cookies cool for several minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.