These thumbprint cookies are a Christmas tradition in my family.
I made these, but changed two things: 1) I didn't roll them in walnuts, but opted for sugar. 2) I made them miniature sized. I loved how they turned out! I will be making these again...and again...and again!
Read More not very sweet....baked them for longer then specified and they still came out too soft...they crumbled easily
Read MoreI made these, but changed two things: 1) I didn't roll them in walnuts, but opted for sugar. 2) I made them miniature sized. I loved how they turned out! I will be making these again...and again...and again!
Normally I wouldn't leave a 5-star review for something I had to tweak, but this cookie is SO worth it! I got 3 bakers dozen from this recipe, measuring my dough about 2 tsp per cookie. USE BUTTER. I cannot stress this enough. This is a shortbread cookie. It is not sweet, it will not spread, it will crumble slightly if cooked properly. Also, cream vanilla into butter/sugar/yolk. Most bakers already know to mix their wet, then mix the dry in a separate bowl and add to wet, but a novice baker might not. CHILL FINISHED DOUGH before shaping into balls. ALLOW COOKIE BALLS TO WARM to room temperature before pressing your fingerprint. Cold dough will crack and make your cookie brittle. FILL BEFORE BAKING. After cooking for 5 min, my cookies had a crust that broke and left a brittle cookie with ugly bare streaks. When I pre-filled, the cookies were smoother, but had no coating because my daughter needed a nice looking batch for her bf. I will test this again with black sesame for good photo contrast and because it's yummy. :) BAKE FOR 15 MIN AT 300. I also lined my pan with ungreased foil, it makes it easier to move to cooling rack and keeps the bottom from burning. COOL THOROUGHLY BEFORE TOUCHING. The filling is HOT. YOU WILL GET BURNED. And it's just not fun to run to the sink with jam hardening onto your skin. These would be a great project for kids over 3 to help with. Just make sure they don't poke through the bottom!
These were very good. I changed them up just a little, because I wanted the kind with icing in the "thumbprint" rather than jam (nostalgic for cookies Grandma made when I was a little girl). Then, I realized I like the cookie better with more even distribution of the icing, so the next batch didn't get "thumbprints" at all -- I just drizzled the icing over the little cookie balls. These were one of the best-liked cookies on my holiday trays.
very good recipe, i changed it up a little though. I added 1/2 cup sugar, and put crushed pecans in the cookie dough instead of the outside. I also baked them for 17 minutes at 350deg. They came out perfectly crunchy
I make these cookies every year because my children and their spouses love them. I find them to be a lot of work; chopping the nuts up fine; rolling the dough in balls, then dipping them in egg whites then nuts. I triple the recipe because my oldest son can wipe out a batch just by himself. I use almond extract in lieu of vanilla, and I use the bottom of a wooden spoon to indent the cookies, then, I redent them after I remove them from the oven. I have never tried putting the jelly in prior to baking; perhaps I will give it a try this year. Also, I use blackberry; grape; and strawberry jelly. Apple hasn't been as well received when I've used it. These are not my favorite cookies because I think they're more trouble than they are worth, but I only make them once a year and my family so loves them, and that is what Christmas is all about, family and love.
The only thing I do differently is, I bake these at 350 for 10 min's or until light brown on the bottoms. I then cool to a wire rack and freeze until ready for the holiday. I then fill when I'm serving. Great cookie!
I made these cookies for my family and I swear they didn't even make it 5 minutes and they were gone. They were perfect! Flaky and tender and sweet, I will definitely make these again! Oh, also I substituted the walnuts with almonds and pecans and used apricot white-cherry jam, mmm...now I'm hungry...better make some more!
not very sweet....baked them for longer then specified and they still came out too soft...they crumbled easily
very good. I used strawberry jelly and I had to bake them a little longer but I think they are a good Christmas cookie and very easy. I used my "easy accent decorator" from Pampered Chef to fill in the jelly and it worked great!
I took these took a holiday party and the host hid them from the other guests! This recipe is pure genius. I find that I need more nuts when rolling the cookies so be preparred. I bake for 8 minutes, take out and use a spoon to make my indent, fill with preserves and bake for another 8 minutes. They come out perfect every time.
My whole family loves a good thumb-print cookie and I have searched high and low for the perfect recipe...I found it here. The only problem is that now this is the only type of cookie anyone ever wants me to make. I have a whole recipe book full of other good cookies that is collecting dust now...oh well, this is a truly perfect recipe. I am going to experiement with various jam flavors and see if I can find a substitue as tasty as the regular jam (I'm thinking cranberry jelly might be good). Thanks a lot for giving making me a baking-hero to my family=:)
Oh yeah, these are THE BEST thumbprints I have ever had...EVER! I originally chose this recipe because it only made a small amount and that was what I was looking for, but I never thought that they would turn out this perfect and delicious. I used butter and baked them on parchment paper. My oven is super hot, so I did the 'first bake' for 3 minutes, removed them, indented and filled them and did the 'second bake' for 5 minutes and they came out perfect for me that way. These are so tender, buttery and flavorful with just the right amount of sweetness. I filled them with strawberry preserves this time, because that's all I had, but next time I will do a variety. This is definately my new 'go to' thumbprint recipe~YUM, YUM, YUM! Thanks for sharing. :)
These are my most favorite cookies. I would suggest doubling the batch because they do only make 12 cookies. So delicious!
I'm changing the rating from 3 to 4. These cookies tasted better the next day and didn't taste undercooked like the day before. I baked them until they weren't 'glossy' (about 12-15 minutes at 300 deg F), and I also ended up using 3X the amount called for nuts. These cookies have a wonderful flavour and melt in your mouth. This is going into my keeper file. Thanks for sharing, C. Keith!
Great recipe! Increased baking temp to 350 degrees for the second bake time. Also, didn't use walnuts or egg whites, and rolled the cookies in sugar before baking.
This recipe did not work out for me at all - the cookies were runny and did not rise.
I've made this recipe many times and everyone loves them. I follow the recipe exactly and have had no problems. These are more of a shortbread cookie than a sweet cookie, that is what we like about them. I have so many cookie recipes it's nice to have one that isn't the sweetest cookie. I include these on holidays with my beautiful Italian butter cookies which are dipped in chocolate & have jelly in the middle & everyone loves that some are sweet & some are not. These beautiful cookies fit right in with our celebrations. We love them. Thanks for a great recipe.
These were very good. I followed the recipe exactly with no problems. They are very pretty and festive looking for holiday platters. I went the simple route with plain old Smuckers Strawberry jam.
Great recipe! After making these a few times I tinkered with the recipe a bit. One time I left off the walnuts and instead of jam, I placed a chocolate kiss in the thumbprint. It was pretty yummy.
I put the thumbprint in the dough as opposed to taking it out of the oven and doing it. Much easier that way.
This is an awesome cookie. My family ate them up as fast as they cooled. I used marionberry jam for the filling. I also made a double recipe but from now on I will quad the recipe. I did not have walnuts but I had pecans. It just made them better, if that is possible.
I'm usually a little liberal with rating my recipes, as I try to account for variations in individuals' tastes. I tried to give this recipe a 4, as there were so many positive reviews... but I just couldn't. I noticed that most of the good reviews had alterations added to the recipe... but to me, if I have to alter the original recipe to give it a 5 star rating, then it doesn't 'deserve' it. (but that's just me) I have been baking for the better part of 40 yrs., so it's not that I'm inexperienced. Also, cookies are one of my "specialties" ... but this recipe needs some improvement. I agree with several other reviewers that there simply was not nearly enough walnuts! The dough is very sticky & is actually difficult to roll in to a ball without adding some flour to your hands. I did consider that my butter may have been a tad too soft, so I refrigerated the dough with little improvement. Mine also were too soft to make a good indentation in the cookie, after the 5 min. suggested baking time... plus needed a longer total baking time, as well. I used Amish cherry preserves, which held up well & were delicious! On the positive side, they did have a rich, buttery flavor & I think that with some of the suggested "tweaking", this could be a very good cookie recipe, indeed! I may give it another try around the holidays and see.
I've made these twice now. The first time I made the recipe as written. There were some issues with the wetness, the cooking time/ temperature and I didn't care for the molasses flavor of the brown sugar in a shortbread cookie. The second time I made them I made a few modifications: I used only 6 tbls of margarine instead of 8, I substituted white sugar for brown and I used almonds instead of walnuts. Reducing the fat in the recipe helped the dough be less wet. I baked the cookies at 325° (up from 300) which helped them bake a little firmer and get a little bit of color. I baked for 8 minutes then put in the indentation and jam then baked another 6 minutes. This only made 9 cookies using ay 2 tbl portioner. The flavor was good and I will probably make these again using my adjustments.
These are very good! I used almonds instead of walnuts and a couple of different jams. Love the texture of these delicate, not too crunchy cookies. I doubled the recipe, but next time will make even more. These are going to show up in my cookie exchange assortment every year now. My friends and family love them!
These are DELICIOUS. I rolled them in grated almonds and used raspberry jam. Yum.
This tasted great, but I could not get it to cook all the way! I added 5 minutes onto the cooking time and it was still a raw texture. Not sure how much extra time would be needed.
I live at a high altitude, and I found the dough to be too crumbly to hold together. I added an extra egg (with the white), and it worked great. I also extended the baking time per the other reviews, and found that to be helpful. Delicious cookies!
I think perhaps the temperature is wrong. Mine were not cooking at 300 so I bumped it up to 350 and they did much better. They are very yummy though!
The cookies looked very pretty but the taste was not what we expected maybe due to my choice of filling. I used lemon pie filling on half and milk chocolate chips{melted) on the other. I thought these would add some sweetness since the cookie dough is not very sweet. The cookie was not very sweet and kinda doughy tasting. It was not bad but just not very outstanding in taste either. Also I had to cook longer about 13 minutes on second baking. I doubled the batch and only got 35 cookies.
Delicious! When I couldn't find my the original recipe I'd been making since childhood, I found this one...pretty close. I raised the temp to 350, made my thumbprints before baking (12-15 min) and added the jelly without a second trip to the oven. Perfecto! just as I remember! Thanks!
I bake these at 375 for 5 minutes, take them out make the indent, bake them again for 8 more minutes and then after they've cooled, I fill them with powder-sugar frosting (red and green for Christmas). They are a huge hit at my house!
these are great for Ramadam
I make these cookies every year but this year did not put them in the white of egg. It is messy to do and there usually isnt enough of the white....skipped the white and just did the nuts and some skipped the white and nuts....very good recipe....dont pile on top of each other if u put in the jam after baking like i do.
These turned out well, but if you didn't get a good bite of jelly, they weren't sweet enough. I would probably add 1/4 cup sugar to the nuts and roll the cookies in that mixture, that way you are adding sweetness without altering the dough recipe.
These were exactly what I was looking for. I baked them at 350 degrees and for 8 minutes the first round and then 10-12 minutes the second round (the listed bake time is too short). Other than that, the recipe is great!
These came out exactly as expected: delicious, slightly crumbly, and a nice balance between sweet (jam), savory (nuts) and salty. I made these while away from home when didn't have my regular recipe and these cookies did not disappoint me. As always, I substitute half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour, make the well in the cookie before baking, heat my jam/jelly in the microwave and add it to the cookies in the last few minutes of baking (this keeps the jelly soft and runny).
yum..yum..yum...just out of the oven and hubby has eaten 4 so far. I used nuts on only half the cookies, as my kids won't eat them with nuts. I kept some plain and rolled others in sugar. All were good, just depends on taste. I used raspberry jam, will experiment with this one. Very skimpy recipe, double or quadruple as others have suggested
I am rating the recipie as written and have to rate it1 star. With all the suggestions - increase temp and baking time and using more nuts -I might give it a 4. I was hoping for something like Grandma's recipie and this wasn't it.
I have made these cookies many times over the last 20 years for my family. I substitute Splenda for the brown sugar and any flavor sugar-free preserves or jelly.
The concept is good but the recipe needs tweaking, like other users have said. I have baked these twice following the recipe and they don't hold together very well.
I made my first batch following the original recipe exactly as written and they were ok. The next batch I made, I doubled the recipe since I bake for a crowd for the holidays ! I also put the "thunmb print" and jam in the cookie right from the start, didn't need to bake for 5 minutes first, and baked them at 325 degrees for 13 minutes. It worked mutch better and the cookies didn't seem as under-cooked as the original ones. My family also are not fans of the nuts so I left them out and the cookies were still very good.
I followed this recipe exactly and thought they were great! So yummy that my husband even ate them. Except I did use pecans instead of walnuts. They were quick and easy and I will definately be making them again. I'll probably make these to give to neighbors for Christmas.
I substituted almond extract for vanilla and almonds instead of walnuts. Very yummy but only makes a dozen as written so make sure you double or more.
This is my first review here, but I had to add my rave about this recipe. I made it just as set out in the recipe. These are the best cookies of this type I have ever made. I have actually just finished a second double batch today as the ones I made yesterday are all gone! They are sooooooo good!!
I had this type of cookie once at a friends house and could never find the recipe that made them so perfect! Now I have! Thank you! I made them last night and my family (husband and 3 kids) and I ate them all up! Today I made a double batch because my husband was hoping to bring some to share at work because he loved them SO much! I used apricot butter from the local fruit stand for the filling! YUMMY!!
Good idea but a poor recipe. The cookie seemed bland to me, plus the dough was too sticky and runny. First, substitute hazelnuts or slivered almonds for walnuts. Then add an extra 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup coco powder, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup granulated sugar and remixed it. After scooping the dough onto the greased cookie tray, spoon cherry jam into the center of the dough balls. bake for about 15 min. Dust with powdered sugar to finish.
this is a good version of a thumbprint cookie but i did make some of my own alterations. i added a 1/4c extra of brown sugar and a 1/4c of quick oats. i also didn't roll it in the walnuts (since we are not fans of walnuts). the cookie also needed 13 mins extra of baking time after the first 5 mins. other than that delicious!!!
I have these in the oven so I haven't tasted them yet but they look pretty good. Someone posted before me and I will concur, DO NOT COOK THE COOKIES BEFORE YOU MAKE THE THUMBPRINT AND ADD THE JELLY. If you precook them, they begin to crack. Do it all in one step.
where is the shortening? You need 1/4 butter and 1/4 shortening to make these out of this world.
I did something wrong after doubling the recipe and the dough was too dry. I added water to fix. I think I made them too big as well, they needed an additional 15 minutes baking time. All that said, they were fantastic! Just like I remembered as a child. I made them at Christmas time and of all the thumbprint cookies I tried from other family members, everyone agreed that these were the best. I will make them again, and I won't be waiting until next Christmas! Thanks C.Keith
These were so delicious, yet so easy to make! I used toasted pecans instead of walnuts. I used the handle of a knife to make the thumbprints so as not to burn my thumb in the hot dough. I took an earlier poster's recommendation and put the jam in a ziploc bag with a corner cut off so I could pipe it in, and that worked very well.
If you roll in sugar instead of walnuts, don't use the egg white. The one I did without egg white (I forgot at first) came out prettier and better than all the rest. The egg white gave the others a strange crust. I'm sure it's great with walnuts, though. Great taste to these cookies!
Awesome recipe. I did increase the time as someone else suggested as my family likes the outside a little crunchy. A+ for this one.
Super easy to make and I am not a baker. The dough was Great to work with. If the directions are followed correctly there should not be any problems.I did not use egg white to roll them in since they were sticky enough, the nuts adhered beautifully. I did however read the reviews and I did increase the oven temp to 350 instead of 300, other than that not other changes. They were incredible !! Awesome recipe.
The 300 degree temp is way too low to safely cook cookies with eggs...I cranked the oven to 350 which all other Thumbprint recipes call for.... Not the best cookies to cook with kids as they can burn themselves on he hot pan and cookies (I realized today when made these with y granddaughter!
These are the best! I make them at home, for work, for gifts!! I don't add the nuts at all (lots of allergies all around). They are light and delicious =)
Made these for my father in law for Christmas. Thumbprints are his favorite cookie and he said these were perfect!
Fast, easy and tasty. I did cook them longer and have tried chocolat and jam, both were good.
Loved this cookie. I wanted to go retro with my Christmas cookie trays this year so I needed a good Thumbprint Cookie recipe. I read all the reviews for this one and everyone said to quadruple it so I did. The dough was very soft so I did have to add a half cup more flour to be able to work with it. I also followed the reviewers advice and baked them 8 minutes each time. They turned out great! This one is a keeper, retro or not.....
Wow! Although I can't stand that moronic recipe buddy, these cookies are worth having to deal with him. I am frantically pawning them off on visitors so I don't eat the whole tray. I had to bake them a bit longer than the recipe said.
I love this recipe. I add just a touch of lemon extract to it. One of my favorite X-mas cookies.
Delicious, but the recipe has some fatal flaws. The dough is extremely sticky and yo have to handle it with a scooper or two spoons. Add more flour possibly? Also, I ran out of walnuts about half way through my cookies. Double the walnuts. Also, note the number of cookies this recipe makes in only 12 small cookies.
Yummy! I altered the recipe slightly: I upped the oven temp to 350 and lowered the bake time. They came out buttery, nutty and delicious! These are some of the best thumbprints I've ever tasted!
I absolutly LOVED these cookies!!! I made half of them strawberry and half of them apricot. The apricot was my favorite. Also i rolled some of them in pecans intsead and that turned out very good. I am going to make these for a Christmas party this year. I do agree with some of the other reveiws that this does need to be quadrupled. The original recipe didn't make quite enough. But overall a VERY good cookie.
First try at thumbprints and these are 5 stars with just a couple modifications! (4 stars as written). My changes, based on other reviews. *Fill the thumbprints prior to baking. *Bake at 300 for 15 minutes. I'd reduce the salt a little next time. Also, I was in a hurry, and didn't do the egg white (just rolled them in the nuts) and it worked fine. As written, it made 15 cookies with my regular cookie scoop.
I could not find my original recipe for these cookies. However, these seemd pretty close. The only thing different I did was to up the temp to 350 and put the thumbprint in BEFORE I baked them. Then, baked them for 8 mins. When I removed them from the oven, I put the jam in them and then let them cool. They look SO much prettier than when you bake the jam. Plus, the jam doesn't go all over the place. I made these with homemade raspberry jam. Delicious!
I like these very much...finally a cookie that is NOT loaded with sugar. I did increase the heat to 325 and kept them for 15 min on 2nd baking, to brown up bottoms more. Will make again. Chris
Love these cookies! I'm not a very good cookie baker so these were easy and turned out great. The only change I had to make was the timing and the temperature. I cooked them at 325° for five minutes, took them out , filled them and then cooked them for another 13 minutes.
I am not sure why this recipe got such good ratings. I made these today and could not even fill them with anything as they fell apart as soon as I put my thumb in them. Way too dry!!!!
I love these even known I don't like jelly or jam! When I baked them the first time, I acciddentally put too much butter anad had to throw them away.
just finish baking this and cant stop eating ..its a five star for me..thanks for the recipe
excellent recipe, will do again. Next time I will double or triple the recipe because my husband and son ate them in about 15 min. flat! lol
These were nice simple cookies. I left out the nuts so my toddler could eat them.
Soooo Goood! I substituted the walnuts for almonds and cooked them a bit longer at a higher temp. They just didn't seem ready when I followed the recipe instructions. But, these are so easy and I will definitely make these again.
if dough is stickier than expected, don't add more flour to it. didn't try rolling it in walnuts: do u really need all of the egg whites? try with peanut butter next time if too sweet. really good if u have extras (easily puts away in freezer to take out at another time to put jam on and eat). cost: 2$ jar of jam (you only use 1/4 cup not even)
I followed the recipe perfectly and they were wonderful! I used seedless strawberry jam after a while i ran out of nuts to roll them in so i just cooked them plain and even those were delicious!!!
This is, in my opinion, the best thumbprint recipe I've ever found. It was exactly what I was looking for, and I make it year after year now. I usually have to Triple or quadruple the batch to make enough for a gathering, so keep that in mind when making them. Also, to those complaining about the cookies spreading or being too wet, I have experienced this issue too. It's important to keep this dough chilled. After I make the dough I always chill it for around 30 minutes before making my first batch, and then make sure to keep the dough refrigerated in between batches. Occasionally I'll add a little more flour as I go to it as well if it doesn't seem dry enough. Otherwise these thumbprints are perfect! Thank you so much for making this recipe available. I love it.
Cookies were runny, I baked them an extra few minutes at 300 and when I tried to make an indentation they fell apart.
Definitely loved the flavor of brown sugar. I added a little cinnamon in the batter and with the walnuts. I put the batter in the fridge for a few minutes before and after rolling because batter felt too soft. Definitely appreciated reviewer tips: Baked at 325 for 10min then 10 min again after jam. They were moist and held together perfectly. Yielded 13 cookies. Love that cookie is not too sweet. I used 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon to make an indent and piped preserves into cookie using small plastic baggies( had 2 flavors). I will use this recipe whenever I'm in the mood for superior thumbprint cookies again! Yummy!!
Wonderful & the same recipe as my Grandma taught me many years ago! Thank you!
Because others' review of this recipe not being very sweet scared me, I added 1/4 cup of white sugar. I thought they turned out great! Someone else said the baking time wasn't right, so I did this: 350 degree oven, after 7 minutes, I put the indentation and jam into the cookie. Then I baked it for 10 more minutes. Perfect!
Very good and easy but the recipe needs to be tweaked a bit. First of all, they are delicious and 2 dozen is not enough. I would double or quadruple it. A quarter cup of diced walnuts ran out on the first dozen so double that too. I haven't figured out how to cook them long enough yet - I ended up adding 8 minutes to the cooking time and they are still underdone; I will consider cooking them at 350 degrees (as another person suggested) next time. I used Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam from Stonewall Kitchen and they are delicious.
I remember having these cookies around the holidays, and searched for what I remembered, and this was it!! The only thing I would recommend, is that you double the recipe! I made one batch and they were gone in no time! I sent them to my new in-laws and they called for the recipe!
These are soooooo good! I make them every few weeks, I double the recipe and they're gone in less than a day. Cooking does take much longer, at least 25 minutes in total. This is what I do for double recipe: I grind 1 cup of walnuts, add half a cup of almond meal, then use half of it for rolling and add the other half to the dough (taking half a cup of flower out). I don't make very small cooking, because I like to use round measuring spoon instead of my thumb (1. Tsp size), this way I don't burn my finger and prints come out uniform, then use the same spoon to fill up the cookies. Yuuuuum! I think I'll be making them today
these cookies turned out very good. I baked on convec at 300 for 10 minutes and instead of nuts (due to alergies) I rolled in coconut......they were very yummy!
The kids loved making this cookie! I used my home made apple jelly. Everyone grabbed for this cookie first and just went on and on about how good it was! Thank-you!
I made these cookies last night and the next day I immediately had to make more because when I woke up in the morning my siblings had devoured them. I didn't use nuts or egg whites and instead just rolled them in sugar before baking. The cookies turned out great but I did have to add two extra minutes to the baking time. I would recommend double or triple the recipe, but otherwise it was great, really simple.
This is my favorite thumbprint cookie recipe and my go-to for cookie exchanges! I make them exactly as described. The buttery lightness of the cookie balances nicely with the sweetness of the jam. Be careful not to overcook or the bottom will brown too much. Let them continue to cook during cooling instead.
simple, yet delicious
Yummy! I have always loved eating these and now I can make them! I would definitely bake these for at least 15 minutes after adding preserves. I chopped up pecans in a pulsing blender. I needed twice as much nuts as recommended, but I like them to be fully covered with lots of nuts. I am excited to finally be able to make these classic cookies on my own! Thanks for a great recipe.
