These are buttery, soft-baked thumbprint cookies stuffed with gooey salted caramel and drizzled with chocolate. Completed with a sprinkle of sea salt, these cookies are excellent for Christmas platters and cookie exchanges!
Caramel thumbprint cookies are nice for vacation baking, together with pignoli cookies, candy potato cookies, and coconut macaroons.
These gentle and buttery salted caramel thumbprint cookies are one in all my favourite Christmas cookies. The cookie dough is a straightforward, soft-baked 5-ingredient shortbread, with a gooey caramel heart and a drizzle of melted chocolate. What actually takes these excessive is the sprinkle of coarse sea salt. You already know I LOVE a sweet-salty mixture in my chocolate truffles recipe!
About This Simple Christmas Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
- 5-ingredient cookies. You want solely butter, powdered sugar, flour, vanilla, and salt to make the shortbread cookie dough.
- No chilling. The dough is prepared to enter the oven straight away. No want to sit back it beforehand.
- Fast caramel filling. I exploit a bag of caramel candies and soften them all the way down to make the cookie filling. It’s faster than making caramel from scratch. Although you possibly can completely try this, too!
- Adaptable. The filling choices for thumbprint cookies are limitless. Caramel is my seasonal selection, however like kolacky cookies, you possibly can fill these thumbprints with jam, preserves, chocolate, or absolutely anything you’d like.
Collect Your Elements
The components for the cookie dough and caramel filling are simple to seek out in most pantries and grocery shops. You’ll discover some notes right here, together with doable ingredient swaps in case you want them. Scroll to the recipe card under the publish for the printable step-by-step recipe with measurements.
- Butter – Unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.
- Powdered Sugar – Additionally referred to as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar. Professional tip: You may make powdered sugar by pulsing common granulated sugar within the meals processor till it turns into a high quality powder.
- Vanilla – Use pure vanilla extract or an equal quantity of vanilla paste.
- Flour and Salt – Be certain that to measure the flour utilizing a digital kitchen scale, or the spoon-and-level methodology. Quite than scooping straight from the bag, spoon the flour into the measuring cup. Afterward, degree off the cup with the again of a knife for a pleasant, even cup of flour.
- Caramel Candies – You’ll want about one 11-ounce bag’s price of unwrapped gentle caramels, like Werther’s Originals or Kraft. In case you have a favourite home made caramel recipe that you simply’d like to make use of as an alternative, you need to use that, too.
- Half-and-Half – To mix with the melted caramels to make the creamy filling. You need to use heavy cream in case you’d choose.
- Chocolate Chips – I exploit darkish chocolate, however you need to use semi-sweet, milk, and even white chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. You’ll soften the chocolate for drizzling.
- Sea Salt – Use a rough sea salt or flaky salt, like Maldon salt, as a garnish. Desk salt received’t work right here.
Suggestions for Good Cookies
- Make the dough simpler to deal with. Chilling the dough isn’t essential for these cookies. Nevertheless, if the dough is simply too gentle to deal with when shaping the cookies, place it into the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Press the indents gently. For those who press the dough too shortly or too aggressively, the thumbprint cookies might crack.
- Repair cracks within the dough. If the perimeters of the dough crack whilst you’re making the indents, merely reroll the cookie dough right into a ball and take a look at once more.
Steadily Requested Questions
Fillings like caramel and chocolate should be added after the cookies are baked. For those who’re utilizing fruit preserves, these will be added to the cookies earlier than baking.
I bake these cookies for 16 to twenty minutes at 350ºF. The precise baking time varies from oven to oven. I like to recommend checking the cookies on the 15-minute mark and going from there.
These cookies get their title from how they’re formed. After rolling the cookie dough into balls, you’d historically use your thumb to press down within the heart of the cookie to make a effectively. Because of this they’re referred to as thumbprint cookies.
Thumbprint Cookie Filling Variations
- Jams and preserves. Make “jam drops” and fill the middle of those cookies with strawberry jam, plum jam, marmalade, or any fruit preserves you’d like. You can even fill them with lemon curd.
- Chocolate. Fill the middle of the cookies with melted darkish, semi-sweet, or milk chocolate.
- Peppermint. As a substitute of sea salt, sprinkle the tops of those caramel thumbprint cookies with crushed peppermint sweet or sweet canes.
- Nuts. Add a garnish of crushed pecans, walnuts, or almonds.
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For the Cookies
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Put together for baking. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Cream the butter. In a big mixing bowl, beat the butter on excessive pace till creamy, about 1 minute.
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Add the remaining components. Decrease the pace to medium and add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt; proceed to beat till mixed. Scrape down the perimeters and the underside of the bowl as wanted. Flip the mixer off and pour within the flour; with the mixer on low pace, beat the combination till a gentle dough varieties.
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Form the dough. Pinch off 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and form into easy balls. If the dough is simply too gentle to deal with, put it within the fridge for 10 minutes.
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Make a effectively within the heart of the cookies. Organize the dough balls about 1 ½ inches aside on the lined cookie sheets. Utilizing the again of a ½-teaspoon measure, press down into the middle of every ball to make a effectively. If the perimeters crack, reroll the cookie dough ball.
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Bake. Bake for 16 to twenty minutes, or till the tops of the cookies are dry and edges are golden brown.
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Cool. Cool for five minutes on the cookie sheet; switch from the cookie sheet to cooling racks. Cool fully, about 20 minutes. Within the meantime, put together the filling.
For the Filling
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Soften the caramels. In a microwavable bowl, microwave caramels and half-and-half uncovered on Excessive 1 to 2 minutes, stirring vigorously each 30 to 45 seconds, till the caramels are melted.
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Fill the cookies. Spoon the caramel into the indentation of every fully cooled cookie; let stand about 10 minutes.
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Drizzle with chocolate. Drizzle every cookie with melted chocolate and sprinkle with sea salt. Let the cookies stand about 10 minutes or till the chocolate is ready.
- Be certain that to stir after every interval so the caramel melts evenly and doesn’t get too scorching, which may make it flip grainy or agency up. You can even use store-bought caramel sauce.
Make Forward and Storage:
- Baked, unfilled cookies will be frozen for 1 month. Organize the cookies in single layers, divided by waxed paper in an hermetic container.
- You can even hold unfilled cookies on the kitchen counter at room temperature for five days.
- Cookies will be crammed as much as 3 days forward; as soon as crammed, prepare on a sheet pan in a single layer and canopy with plastic wrap. Be certain that the plastic wrap isn’t touching the caramel. Retailer at room temperature.
Serving: 1cookie | Energy: 191kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fats: 10g | Saturated Fats: 6g | Ldl cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 154mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 255IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 0.6mg
Dietary information is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values might differ in keeping with the components and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed information.
How one can Make Thumbprint Cookies
Comply with the steps under to combine the dough and bake your thumbprint cookies from scratch.
- Make the cookie dough. Begin by beating the butter till it’s mild and creamy, then combine within the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Scrape down the bowl, and slowly add the flour, mixing to type a easy dough.
- Form the dough. Subsequent, pinch off about 1 tablespoon of dough at a time. Form the dough right into a ball, and prepare the cookies 1½ to 2 inches aside on a lined baking sheet.
- Make a effectively within the heart of the cookies. Now, use the again facet of a ½ teaspoon measure to press a small effectively within the heart of every cookie. You possibly can additionally do that together with your thumb! The deal with finish of a wood spoon does the job, too; no matter you’ve obtained useful.
- Bake. Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 16 to twenty minutes. The cookies ought to be evenly browned on the edges and dry on high.
- Cool the cookies. After baking, your cookies might want to cool fully earlier than you possibly can add the filling. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack.
Add the Filling
Whereas the cookies bake and funky, put together your caramel filling. In conventional thumbprint cookie recipes, the fruit jam filling is added to the cookies earlier than they’re baked. Nevertheless, when utilizing caramel or chocolate, the filling must be added after baking. In any other case, the filling will soften.
- Soften the caramels. Microwave the unwrapped caramels with the half-and-half in 30-second intervals, stirring in between till the caramel has totally melted.
- Fill the cookies. Subsequent, spoon a dollop of easy caramel into the small indent in every cookie. Give the caramel about 10 minutes to agency up earlier than you add the chocolate.
- Add a chocolate drizzle. Soften the chocolate the identical approach you melted the caramel, and drizzle it over the cookies. Lastly, end these thumbprint cookies with a sprinkle of sea salt. Let the chocolate set earlier than serving.
Make-Forward, Storage, and Freezing
- Retailer the crammed cookies. These thumbprint cookies will be crammed as much as 3 days forward. As soon as crammed, retailer the cookies lined in a single layer. For those who’re utilizing plastic wrap, be sure that the plastic wrap isn’t touching the caramel. Retailer the cookies at room temperature.
- Retailer the unfilled cookies. You can even hold unfilled cookies on the kitchen counter at room temperature for five days.
- Freeze the unfilled cookies. The baked, unfilled cookies will be frozen for as much as 1 month. Organize the cookies in single layers, divided by waxed paper in an hermetic container.
