Description
Delight in these festive Christmas Thumbprint Cookies featuring crisp buttery outsides and super soft interiors. This versatile and easy-to-make recipe allows you to customize flavors with your choice of fillings and toppings, perfect for holiday cookie boxes without any chill time required.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough:
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar (packed)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour (300g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder
Toppings and Fillings:
- ½ cup granulated sugar for coating (or your preferred topping: coarse sugar, powdered sugar, finely chopped roasted nuts, or desiccated coconut)
- ½ cup seedless jam (or your preferred fillings such as lemon curd, fruit curd, hard candies, Nutella, chocolates, or Hershey kisses)
Instructions
- Prepare Butter and Sugars: In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Beat well until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl to ensure even mixing.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Incorporate sea salt, the large egg, and pure vanilla extract into the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Sift Dry Ingredients: Sift the all-purpose flour and baking powder directly into the bowl. Fold the mixture gently until a cookie dough forms.
- Separate Dough for Flavors: Remove half of the dough to a separate bowl. Add dutch processed cocoa powder into the remaining dough and gently mix just until fully incorporated.
- Shape Dough Balls: Using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop portions of both vanilla and chocolate dough. Roll each portion between your hands to form smooth, even balls.
- Coat the Dough Balls: Roll each cookie dough ball in your chosen topping, such as granulated sugar, coarse sugar, powdered sugar, finely chopped roasted nuts, or desiccated coconut for added texture and flavor.
- Create Thumbprints: Press the center of each dough ball down with your thumb or a teaspoon to create an indentation. To form a heart shape, push an indent with your index finger, then press again at a slight angle. Fill these indents with your preferred jam or fillings like seedless raspberry jam, lemon curd, fruit curd, or hard candies. For fillings such as Nutella or chocolates, add them after baking while the cookies are still warm.
- Arrange and Bake: Place the cookies on a parchment-lined or nonstick cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart to allow spreading. Bake at 355°F (180°C) for 10 minutes. Avoid overbaking to keep the cookies soft and tender inside.
- Add Final Toppings: After baking, add additional toppings like Nutella, chocolates, or Hershey kisses if desired, pressing them gently into the warm cookie centers.
- Cool and Serve: Allow cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack before enjoying or packaging. Bake in batches for best results.
Notes
- These cookies have crisp, buttery exteriors and soft, tender interiors, perfect for holiday gifting.
- You can customize the recipe with a variety of toppings and fillings for unique flavor combinations.
- No chill time is needed, making these quick and convenient.
- The cookies stay soft for days and are sturdy enough for cookie boxes.
- For fillings like Nutella or chocolates, add them after baking to prevent melting or burning.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cookies
- Calories: 124 kcal
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 40 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.3 g
- Trans Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 23 mg
