Gooseberry Thumbprints and The Red Apple

Does this ever happen to you? Someone will tell you about a fantastic restaurant, you just can't wait to feast on their famous entrees, but you show up and find that it is closed that night, or worse, out of business? Or maybe you have a recipe you can't wait to try, but after getting so excited to serve it to your friends, you can not find the key ingredient anywhere because it's out of season or only grows in some country far far away? Or you walk into Coldstone, your mouth watering over your favorite creation - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with bananas and chocolate sauce mixed in, only to find that they don't even offer Peanut Butter as an ice cream flavor anymore (I swear they used to!)? Well, if you are familiar with this feeling of utter disappointment, then I feel your pain. When food lets you down, it is a sad day.

This is how I feel every time I drive up to my parents cabin and pass the sign for The Red Apple. People always tell me about this place. "You've never been?" "Wow, you are missing out." "Best apple doughnuts EVER!" But I swear I've never seen this place open and I've been driving by it my whole life. Do you know how hard it is to pass a sign that says "Hot Spiced Cider" when it's snowing all around you and you are freezing and there's no where else to turn? I do. It sucks. Well, by some strange miracle, this past weekend The Red Apple was OPEN. I was so excited that I nearly ran us off the road staring at the full parking lot and fresh fruit stands out front.

We stopped in and bought as much as we could carry: apple doughnuts, an apple fritter, fresh apple cider, and a jar of Wild Gooseberry Jelly. We devoured the doughnuts immediately but were able to wait until we got home to try the fritter so I could get a picture to share. It was SO GOOD. Thick, flaky pastry crust and gooey filling with big chunks of apple. I talked to one of the owners, Lloyd to ask about the mysterious hours of operation. He said that, up until this season, the place was run by an elderly couple who was having trouble keeping it open all the time. Since Lloyd and his wife, Chris have taken over, the place has been open Thursday through Sunday since May and will stay that way until Christmas! I can't wait until my next visit!

Have you ever heard of Gooseberries? I haven't but was happy to discover that they grow in the hills that surround Arnold, Ca (where our cabin is located). The Red Apple makes their own scratch jellies and I was so intrigued by the name Gooseberry, I had to pick that one. I baked up some thumbprint cookies and filled them with the jelly and then drizzled some orange blossom honey on top. These cookies are delicious! They are moist and chewy. The jelly is sweet and buttery. To stop myself from eating all of them, I brought them to my softball game last night to share with my team. I received lots of compliments and so will you. I suggest baking these as soon as possible:

Ricotta Thumbprint Cookies with Gooseberry Jelly

barely adapted from Very Small Anna

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

6-8 oz. ricotta

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 cups AP flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine salt

jelly - I used Gooseberry but any flavor will work

honey - I used orange blossom but any kind will work

Preheat the oven to 350. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the ricotta, vanilla and egg and continue to mix in medium until incorporated. Sift together the dry ingredients, then gradually mix into the rest of the dough. Once a fluffy dough has formed, scoop it by Tbsp onto a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet, placing each piece of dough about 2″ apart (12 cookies per baking sheet). Don't over-handle the dough. Use an additional spoon to scoop it out of the Tbs and onto the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom. Makes about 30 cookies, depending on how big you make them. Once you remove them from the oven, wait 30 seconds to 1 minute, then make an indentation in the top of each one with your thumb. Move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cookies are cooled, arrange them side by side on parchment paper. Fill the thumbprint with jelly and then drizzle honey over the top. You can also sprinkle the tops with sliced almonds or chopped pistachios. I left those off but think they would have been a nice addition.