Easy Thumbprint Cookies: Fun Cookie Recipe for Kids and Families
Adapted from The Purple Spoon
These Easy Thumbprint Cookies are a simplified version of the traditional classic – small rolled cookies with wells pressed in the center, filled with a scrumptious topping, usually jam.
They are a favorite cookie recipe for kids, who find immense fun in rolling the dough into balls and pressing a finger or thumb in the middle – hence the cookies' name. Thumbprint cookies have also been dubbed elsewhere as Bird’s Nest Cookies, Butter Balls, Polish Tea Cakes, and in Swedish Hallongrotta (which means “Raspberry Cave”).
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Bake time: 10-12 minutes
Makes about 3-4 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2 cups cup all-purpose flour
½ - 1 cup jam of your choice (such as strawberry or raspberry)
Directions for Easy Thumbprint Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment
paper.
- In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed,
cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl continually,
about 1-2 minutes.
- Add egg yolks and extract. Beat until smooth.
- Reduce speed to low. Gradually stir flour mixture into
creamed mixture a bit at a time until well blended, scraping the bowl
constantly. Dough will be thick. If dough is too sticky to
work with, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator for
15-30 minutes until chilled.
- Scoop dough into large, marble-sized balls about 1 inch in
diameter. Roll balls in between the palms of your hands until smooth. Set the balls
onto prepared baking pan, about 2 inches apart.
- Dip your thumb or your knuckle into a bit of water until it
is damp, but not dripping wet. Press your thumb or knuckle in the center of
each ball, leaving a small well. Spoon ¼ teaspoon of jam into the well.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until they are set but
have not begun to brown. Remove baking sheets from the oven.
- Let cookies cool for a minute on baking sheets before using
a spatula to remove them from the sheet to a cooling rack.
Allow cookies to cool completely. Store in an airtight container with waxed paper in between layers.
Special Baking Tips for Easy Thumbprint Cookies
Save the egg whites to make meringues or to use in scrambled eggs.
Cookies are prettiest when you roll balls no larger than 1 inch in diameter.
Allow cookies to cool completely before you eat them. Otherwise, hot jam may burn your mouth.
You can freeze Easy Thumbprint Cookies. To do so, prepare cookies with wells but do not fill with jam. Bake as directed. Freeze cookies. After you thaw them, spoon jam into wells and serve.
Add a touch of elegance to cookies when you dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar.
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