Thumbprints

What fun these are to eat!  Tender, bite-size morsels with jam centers that look festive on a holiday cookie tray.

Experiment with different fillings.  Apricot and raspberry jams were used in these.  Try mint jelly, hot pepper jelly, lemon or lime curd (fill after baking) or sweetened cream cheese.

In a medium mixing bowl, add butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt and egg yolk.  Beat with an electric beater until light and fluffy.  Stir in flour until blended.







Scrape dough onto a piece of wax paper, wrap, label (different doughs in the fridge resemble each other after awhile) and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until firm enough to handle (easy to shape without sticking to your hands).
Roll into 1" balls (about the size of a hard-boiled egg yolk) and place 2" apart on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.  Rimmed cookie sheets are helpful in preventing the balls from rolling off.




 

Make indentations on the top of the dough balls.  Using a measuring spoon back helps shape the indents (1/4 tsp measure was used on these).

Fill indentations with a scant 1/4 tsp of jam or jelly.  Overfilling can cause jam to run over and  burn on the baking sheet.  Try to aovid using very dark jams, such as blackberry - the jam seepage turns the cookie grey.

 

 

Thumbprints

 

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3  cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk, large
1 cup unbleached flour
3 Tbls. jam

In a medium mixing bowl, add butter, sugar, vanilla extract, salt and egg yolk and beat until fluffy with an electric mixer.  Stir in flour until blended.  Scrape dough on to a sheet of wax paper, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Dough may be refrigerated for 2 days.

When firm enough to handle, cut or pinch off pieces of dough and roll into 1" balls.  Place 2" apart on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.  Make a concave indentation on top of the dough ball and fill with a scant 1/4" tsp of jam. Position oven racks to middle of oven. Bake at 300º F for 20 minutes or until golden.  Halfway through baking, rotate top to bottom and front to back to ensure even baking.

Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.  Remove onto baking racks to cool.  Store airtight between layers of wax or parchment paper.  Makes about 3 dozen.

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