A couple of days ago I made rhubarb compote. Compote (according to wikipedia) is a dessert made of cooked fruits and spices, but in my little mind that is just too narrow a focus. I have spread compote on pancakes in lieu of syrup, which I admittedly don't use anyway. I add compote to plain or vanilla yogurt as a snack or light lunch. I use it to top ice cream, or I decadently eat it right off the spoon.
Today I used my rhubarb compote to make thumbprint cookies. Thumbprint cookies are excellent vehicles for fillings. I have had them a la hamentaschen with poppy seed paste or apricot preserves (which reminds me, does anyone have a good hamentaschen recipe. I love those cookies so much!). I have had the very similar cookie with a hershey's kiss plopped where delicious jam should be. Really any sticky filling that won't really spread can be used, like rhubarb compote.
Compote is not a photogenic food. It is a slumpy mess of stewed fruits (or vegetables in the case of rhubarb) that just happens to taste delicious.
Rhubarb Compote
about 1 lb of rhubarb stocks, washed, trimmed and cut into about 1-2 inch pieces
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grand marnier
Add rhubarb, water and sugar to small pot (I used a 1 quart pot, which is too tiny for lots of things. The rhubarb started out almost all the way to the top of the pot). Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for 20-30 minutes. The rhubarb should lose its shape and the mess should be nearly the consistency of preserves. Turn off the heat and add vanilla and grand marnier and stir. This is fine to eat warm, but it is summer in my part of the world so I put it in tupperware and eat it cold.
Ah, my tiny iPod photo. I'd blow it up bigger, but boy does it look grainy at that resolution!
Rhubarb Compote Thumbprints (adapted from this recipe from Good Housekeeping)
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp dried orange peel (or 1 TBSP fresh orange zest)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups cake flour
about 1/4 cup rhubarb compote or your favorite preserves
Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until fluffy. Add the orange peel, vanilla and eggs and mix until incorporated. The mixture might look curdled or bubbly, which is fine. Add the flour a cup at a time, mixing thoroughly.
Using a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon, measure a small amount into your hands and roll it into a ball. The dough should be sticky. Place on either a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Continue until all the dough is used.
Push a clean thumb into each cookie. Try to get the full length of your thumb imprinted into the cookie dough, which will allow more space for your filling. My first couple were more the point of the thumb. Using a small spoon, carefully spoon compote into each cookie. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.
I found that the cookies I baked on the silpat both spread less (these cookies are not spreaders, so you don't need a ton of space on the sheet) and did not brown on the bottom the way the cookies on parchment did. My parchment cookies were almost dark brown on the bottoms when both sheets came out of the oven. I made around 2 dozen cookies.
