Best Thumbprint Shortbread Cookies Recipes

PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY THUMBPRINT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C); line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth; add the vanilla and continue to beat. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and arrange on prepared baking sheets. Make a small hole in the center of each ball, using your thumb and finger; fill the holes with grape jam.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, about 14 minutes; allow to cool on baking sheet for 1 minute.
• Put the peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl, and cook in a microwave oven until soft for 10 - 30 seconds, checking every 10 seconds. Be careful not to overheat the peanut butter; do not let it bubble. Stir the vegetable oil through the heated peanut butter; drizzle over the warm cookies.

SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINT COOKIES WITH LEMON CURD

Steps:

• Combine butter, sugar, and almond extract for cookies in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed, scraping the bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low and slowly add flour, a little at a time. Mix well.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Make an indentation in the center of each cookie with your thumb or a spoon.
• Bake in the preheated oven, 9 to 10 minutes. Add about 1/2 teaspoon lemon curd to each indentation and continue to bake until edges are golden, 5 to 8 minutes more. Let stand for 1 minute on the cookie sheets then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
• While cookies are cooling, beat powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract for glaze together in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

RASPBERRY ALMOND SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour and salt, set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend together butter and sugar until combined (it will take a minute or two since the butter is cold. If you don't have a paddle attachment that constantly scrapes bowl, then occasionally stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl). Mix in almond extract then add in flour blend until mixture comes together (it will take a bit of mixing since the butter is cold, so be patient, it will seem really dry at first).
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls, about 1 Tbsp each, and place 2-inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Make a small indentation with thumb or forefinger in each cookie (large enough to fit 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of jam). Fill each with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp jam. Chill in refrigerator 20 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes). Bake in preheated oven 14 - 18 minutes.
• Cool several minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool (at this point you can add a little more jam if you'd like to, it just won't be set like the other is). Drizzle cookies with glaze when when cool. Store cookies in an airtight container.
• For the glaze:
• Whisk all glaze ingredients together in a small mixing bowl, adding enough water to reach desired consistency. Pour or spoon mixture into a sandwich size resealable bag, cut a small tip from one corner and drizzle over cookies.
• Recipe source: adapted from both Land O Lakes and MarcieJ's review on allrecipes.com

THUMBPRINT SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Mix in the flour and chopped pecans. Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and place them 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Press a thumb or finger deeply into the center of each cookie.
• Bake for 9 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges are lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Fill each depression in the cookies with a dab of chocolate frosting. Let the icing set, preferably overnight.

ALMOND SHORTBREAD THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter, sugar, flour and almond extract. Chill the dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Roll the dough into 1" balls or use a 1" scoop to place them onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Press down on the top of each cookie and use your thumb to create a small indent. After all the indents are made, fill the indents with about 1/2 teaspoon of jam. Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Remove from the oven before the cookies are browned. Let cool on the trays for 1-2 minutes and then remove to a wire cooling rack. To make the glaze, add the almond extract to the powdered sugar and then slowly add the milk to this mixture. Stir constantly and stop adding milk when you reach the consistency of icing. It should drizzle off the tip of a spoon in a thin white stream. Not watery, but not thick either. When the cookies are completely cooled, drizzle the icing over the tops. These cookies freeze beautifully. When the icing has hardened, layer them into containers with wax paper between the layers. They will keep in the freezer for at least a month.