I found tart cherry jam at the grocery store! Well, I didn’t know right away it was tart cherry – it was called Morello Cherry fruit spread.
Upon looking up Morello cherries, I discovered they are a variety of sour cherry (aka tart cherry). Sweet!
While Montmorency is the tart cherry industry standard (accounting for 95% of all the tart cherry products on the market), Morello cherries are better for jam as they have red skin as well as red flesh. Side note – Montmorency cherries have red skin also, but clear flesh that means they don’t produce a great coloured jam. Interestingly, this cherry oxidizes within 24 hours of being picked, which is why you’ll never come across fresh tart cherries in the grocery store.
So anyway, here I was with a jar of tart cherry jam I thought was the coolest thing and zero ideas how to actually consume it (my toast and jam days are long gone)… When I figured what better (and somewhat festive) way to use it than for thumbprint cookies! Perfect!! And so tasty 🙂
Makes 24 large or 48 smaller cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs (or 2 Tbsp chia whisked with ½ cup almond or coconut milk)
- ½ cup pure 100% natural almond butter or peanut butter
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup honey (or another ¼ cup maple syrup)
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil OR softened grassfed butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups oat flour (ground oats) OR 2½ cups spelt flour
- ½ cup hemp hearts
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½-¾ jar (150-200g) Morello Cherry jam
Directions
- Heat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs or chia mix, almond butter, maple syrup, honey, oil or butter and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour, hemp hearts, baking powder and salt. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes (batter will thicken so you can roll it into balls).
- Divide batter into 2 – one for each cookie sheet; and then divide each section again into either 12 (for larger cookies) 24 (for smaller cookies) balls. Flatten the balls of batter with the back of a deep spoon (like a measuring spoon) to create an indent for the jam. Fill each cookie with ~½-1 teaspoon of jam.
- Bake for 9 minutes. Let cool and store in fridge.
Enjoy!
To deliciously healthy food and stronger faster running… Cheers,
Sarah J Cuff, RHN