Merciful God, You are great in compassion and Your tenderness for us is without measure. We ask You to give us today our daily bread, and also provide for the needs of all of Your hungry children around the world. Through Christ Your Son and Our Lord. Amen.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Raspberry Shortbread Thumbprints -- Thumbs Up



This recipe is one of my all-time favorites, but one which is usually reserved for special occasions -- primarily Christmas and Valentine's day. These are a decadent cookie --- a true shortbread dough, with a thumbprint of jam in the center. The recipe is from Land o' Lakes and I make them just as the recipe is written, except when I made them yesterday I found I had forgotten to buy raspberry jam, so I used a new jar of blackberry that I had in my pantry. Just as good, maybe better. They would also be good with strawberry.

photo from Land o' Lakes


Raspberry Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
3 dozen cookies

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract***
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam**

Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract***

Combine butter, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in large bowl.
Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy.
Reduce speed to low; add flour.
Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350°F.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls.
Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly).
Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon jam.

Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Let stand 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.
Cool completely.

Meanwhile, stir together all glaze ingredients in small bowl with wire whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

**Substitute 1/2 cup of your favorite flavor jam.
*** I substitute the almond with vanilla

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2 comments:

Dea said...

I was sitting here looking for a fun recipe to make with the girls when this popped up in my reader. We went for it and they had a blast making thumb prints. These are AWESOME! Light and buttery, with a nice tang from the jam. Oh and did I mention I hate jam? You've definitely won me over! ;-)

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

I'm totally going to have to make some of these soon.

If you have BOYSENBERRY jam, it's fantastic in these cookies. So far I've tried them with cherry, raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry. All delicious :)

I'm cookie'd out today, though....my huge recipe for Christmas cookies yielded a record 189 (must be the humidity or something; the dough was really soft and rolled nice and thin).