Description
These Christmas Thumbprint Cookies feature crisp buttery outsides and super soft interiors, perfect for holiday celebrations. Easy to make and highly customizable with a variety of fillings and toppings, this recipe eliminates chill time and ensures your cookies stay soft for days, making them ideal for festive cookie boxes.
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 like coarse sugar, powdered sugar, finely chopped roasted nuts, or desiccated coconut)
- ½ cup seedless jam (or preferred fillings like lemon curd, fruit curd, hard candies; for after-baking toppings Nutella, chocolates, or Hershey kisses recommended)
Instructions
- Prepare the Butter and Sugars: In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat well until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed to ensure even mixing.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Mix in the sea salt, egg, and vanilla extract to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.
- Incorporate Dry Ingredients: Sift the all-purpose flour and baking powder directly into the bowl. Fold gently until a cohesive cookie dough forms without overmixing.
- Divide and Flavor Dough: Remove half of the dough to a separate bowl. Add the dutch processed cocoa powder to the remaining dough and gently blend it in until fully incorporated, creating chocolate dough.
- Scoop and Shape Dough: Using a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop, portion out balls of vanilla and chocolate dough. Roll each ball smoothly between your hands for a uniform shape.
- Coat the Dough Balls: Roll each dough ball in your chosen topping such as granulated sugar or nuts to add texture and flavor.
- Create Thumbprints: Press the center of each coated dough ball with your thumb or a measuring teaspoon to form an indentation. To make a heart shape, press twice with your index finger at a slight angle. Fill each indent with your preferred jam or filling like seedless raspberry jam, lemon curd, or fruit curd. For soft fillings like Nutella or chocolates, add these after baking.
- Arrange and Bake: Place the prepared cookies on a parchment-lined or nonstick cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake in a preheated oven at 355°F (180°C) for 10 minutes, ensuring not to overbake to keep cookies soft.
- Add Final Toppings: Once baked and slightly cooled, top cookies with additional fillings or toppings such as Nutella, chocolates, or Hershey kisses by pressing a teaspoon-sized indentation in the warm cookies to hold the topping.
- Cool and Serve: Allow the cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack before serving or packaging. Enjoy these festive, buttery thumbprint cookies!
Notes
- These cookies combine a crisp exterior with a soft, tender inside, making them ideal for holiday cookie boxes.
- You can customize the cookie flavors by using different jams, curds, or coatings like nuts or coconut.
- No chilling of dough is needed, and the cookies remain soft for several days.
- For fillings like Nutella or chocolates that soften in the oven, add them right after baking while the cookies are warm.
- Ensure spacing between cookies when baking to prevent overcrowding and allow proper spreading.
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
