Cookies. What a beautiful word.
No need to feel guilty about eating them either. ‘Tis the season.
Being a cookie addict aficionado, imagine my delight when the New York Times ran a special cookie feature this week by cookbook author and food stylist Susan Spungen. I couldn’t wait to begin giving her beautiful recipes a try. The Thumbprint Cookie, in particular, caught my eye. Here is a link to Spungen’s collection of cookie recipes: NY Times Special Cookie Section. You’ll definitely want to read it.
And here are my Thumbprints.
Thumbprint Cookies With Cherry Jam
December 11, 2019
Ingredients
- 3 ounces whole pecans (3/4 C. plus 2 T.)
- 2 1/4 C. all-purpose flour, plus 2 t.
- 1 C. unsalted butter (softened)
- 2/3 C. granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks (at room temperature)
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1/2 t. kosher salt
- 1/3 C. cherry jam (or Nutella or other flavor of jam)
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roast pecans on a large cookie sheet for about 10 minutes until toasted. While the pecans are toasting, shake the pan several times. Cool pecans and put them and 2 t. flour into a processor bowl. Process the roasted pecans until they are finely chopped.Set aside.
- Step 2 Cream butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer on medium-high speed using the paddle attachment. This will take about 3 minutes. You will want to scrape down the bowl a couple times during this process. In the end, you want your creamed mixture to be light-colored and fluffy.
- Step 3 Add the egg yolks and vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar. Beat until the egg yolks and vanilla are combined.
- Step 4 Add 1/2 cup of the ground pecans, the salt, and the remaining 2 1/4 cups of flour to the cookie batter and beat on low speed until just combined. Then, increase the speed of your mixer to medium and mix until the dough begins to clump together.
- Step 5 Scrape the cookie dough out of the mixer bowl onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form the dough into a disk and wrap. Put the disk of dough into the refrigerator and chill for at least one hour. (I chilled my dough over night.The original recipe says that you can chill the dough for up to 3 days before baking. )
- Step 6 Heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Pinch off 1 tablespoon pieces of dough. Roll the pieces of dough in your hands until they are round balls. Roll the top half of each ball in the remaining ground nuts.
- Step 7 Place cookie balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Balls should be a few inches apart on the cookie sheet to allow for the cookies to spread. Chill the cookies in your freezer for about 10 minutes. You want them to be firm.
- Step 8 Remove the cookies from the freezer and bake for 8 minutes. At the 8 minute mark, remove the cookies from the oven and press your thumb into the center of each cookie to make a fairly deep indentation. Return the cookies to the oven and bake for 6 to 8 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully at this point. You want them to be a light brown on the bottom of the cookie and to have some attractive brown color on the top of the cookie. (I found that it was easy to over bake the cookies, so be vigilant during this step of baking.)
- Step 9 Remove the baked cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes. These are tender cookies at this point, so you don’t want to move them around a lot. When cookies have cooled a bit (and firmed up a bit), transfer them to wire racks to cool further. Fill the thumbprint indentation of each cookie with your choice of jam or Nutella. Use about 1/2 t. of filling for each cookie.
- Step 10 Sprinkle cookies with flaky sea salt or not. (I didn’t.)
- Step 11 You can store cookies in an airtight container.
