Place butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment running on low. Add the sugar and salt and mix until fully incorporated. Add the egg yolks one at a time, blending after each addition. Add the vanilla. With the mixer still running, slowly add the flour little by little until a soft dough forms.
Transfer the dough onto a piece of parchment and divide in two. Freeze one half for another time or just make a lot of cookies.
Form teaspoon clumps of dough into balls and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Press down on each ball with your thumb to form a small indent. Fill the indent with one or two chocolate chips or a little dollop of jam.
Transfer cookies to oven and bake for 12 minutes or until base is lightly golden. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring onto wire rack to cool completely.
Easy Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
1 pound butter (4 sticks) soft
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
For the filling (one per cookie):
Chocolate chips
Apricot jam
Raspberry jam
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment running on low. Add the sugar and salt and mix until fully incorporated. Add the egg yolks one at a time, blending after each addition. Add the vanilla. With the mixer still running, slowly add the flour little by little until a soft dough forms.
Transfer the dough onto a piece of parchment and divide in two. Freeze one half for another time or just make a lot of cookies.
Form teaspoon clumps of dough into balls and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Press down on each ball with your thumb to form a small indent. Fill the indent with one or two chocolate chips or a little dollop of jam.
Transfer cookies to oven and bake for 12 minutes or until base is lightly golden. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring onto wire rack to cool completely.
Easy Thumbprint Cookies
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Our most-requested butter dough enhanced with a classic thumbprint indentation filled with chocolates or a favourite jam…
Our EASY THUMBPRINT COOKIES are so easy, they get two thumbs up!
Family and friends are most often reaching for these beloved cookies. They’re kind of like the original cookie mashup where we combine a rich buttery cookie base with either a fruity or chocolatey centre. One bite is all it takes to fall in love with these EASY THUMBPRINT COOKIES.
These cookies are included in our HOLIDAY BAKING & CONFECTIONS COLLECTION. Click HERE to see all of the recipes we’ve deemed holiday-worthy, but truth be told, these cookies and sweets will be well received throughout the year. You can make and enjoy them anytime.
Here’s why these EASY THUMBPRINT COOKIES never disappoint:
DOUGH BASE
This recipe begins with a traditional butter cookie dough. It’s the same recipe that has been passed down over the years, and I gotta say it works like a charm. We put this same dough base to use in other recipes like our CHOCOLATE MOCHA SNOWBALLS, our TOASTED COCONUT MACAROONS and these simple but wonderful CHERRY ORANGE OAT COOKIES.
That said, you now have choices. Make the dough and use it here to create, wait for it, a whopping 156 EASY THUMBPRINT COOKIES. Your other option is to divide it in half, make 78 thumbprints and use the other half to make one of the other recipes mentioned. Tough choices, we know!
FILLINGS
The beauty of thumbprint cookies is that you can fill them with virtually anything. We suggest adding a tiny dollop of a favourite jam, whether it be strawberry, raspberry, plum or apricot. I’m pretty stoked this year because I saved a jar of our famous homemade PEACH GINGER JAM solely for this purpose.
Another great choice for filling is chocolate and you can use milk, dark or white chocolate chips, as well as the fancy peppermint-flavoured chips too. We received a message from a viewer who said she tried the recipe using miniature gumdrops. We say, you go…
BAKE AWAY
Baking the thumbprints is easy enough although we do suggest watching closely the first time you make them. The cookies will retain their buttery colour on the surface when they bake, but it’s a different story with the base which will go dark if left in too long. You’ll know the cookies are done when the bottoms are just golden.
ENJOY
It won’t be hard finding ways to enjoy these cookies. They’re always a welcome addition to a holiday cookie tray, but they also work when included in cookie exchanges. Some sage advice: best not to enjoy when you’re alone. They have an odd way of disappearing in no time!
Place butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment running on low. Add the sugar and salt and mix until fully incorporated. Add the egg yolks one at a time, blending after each addition. Add the vanilla. With the mixer still running, slowly add the flour little by little until a soft dough forms.
Transfer the dough onto a piece of parchment and divide in two. Freeze one half for another time or just make a lot of cookies.
Form teaspoon clumps of dough into balls and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet. Press down on each ball with your thumb to form a small indent. Fill the indent with one or two chocolate chips or a little dollop of jam.
Transfer cookies to oven and bake for 12 minutes or until base is lightly golden. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring onto wire rack to cool completely.