Granini's Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Granini's Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 Tablespoon orange juice (or 1 teaspoon orange extract)

2 1/4 cups flour

1 small jar of raspberry jam (or preserves, or jelly, or goo.  Whatevs.)  *

granulated sugar for rolling

*For what it's worth, I can't stand raspberries.  Never liked 'em.  Never will.  It's a design flaw, I'm quite sure.  Needless to say, feel free to substitute strawberries, blueberries, orange marmalade, lemon, or whatever berry goo floats your boat here.  There's no judging.  Just pick what tastes yummo to you, and insert in the wee thumbprint, and off you go!*

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar.  Add in egg, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Mix thoroughly.  Slowly mix in flour - but don't over mix.

Use a 2 teaspoon cookie scoop to dollop out cookies onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Roll cookies into balls.  Pour some sugar into a small bowl, and roll each ball of dough around in the granulated sugar until it is thoroughly coated.  Place each ball back onto the lined cookie sheet.

Gently press your thumb into the center of the cookie until you leave a divot.  (If you're a fan of the tv show "Friends," you can put Ross' voice inside your head and say "Divot!!" If you aren't a fan of "Friends," or you have no idea how yelling "Divot!" should instantly put Ross's voice into your head, you should go on a Netflix binge and start at the beginning.  Trust me.  It's worth it.)

Using a small spoon, gently ladle a small dollop of raspberry goo into the center of each cookie thumbprint.  I picked (oh surprise, surprise), Trader Joe's raspberry stuffs.  I can't remember if it was jam or jelly, but whatever it was, it was the perfect consistency.

Pop those suckers into a 350º oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Try not to let the edges get too brown. 

Allow to cool completely and devour.  Good luck having enough left over to serve to friends and family.  These are delish!!!  In fact, this recipe is so beloved now that I often make a double batch (or I make 1 teaspoon scoopfuls, rather than 2 teaspoon scoopfuls) in order to double the amount of holiday treats I can get out of one batch!!

Here are a couple pics of the process, should you like to have pics.

* * * * *

A 2-teaspoon sized cookie scoop will leave lovely cookie-sized dollops for you!

Roll them up into balls.

Roll them into sugar. 

 "Divot!"

 Lightly squish your clean thumb into the cookie to make a small indentation.

Look how pretty that divot is!

Fill each divot with a dollop of raspberry goo.  

Or strawberry. 

 Or lemon.  

Or blueberry.  

Or whatever floats your boat.

After you bake them in the oven, they come out looking REALLY pretty!!

 And they're so pretty on a wee red plate.

Delish!!

Enjoy!

* * * * *

I wrote a murder mystery!  Here are the links so you can buy it:

You can buy the paperback version of my book here:

Diamonds for Diamond by Kay Nimitz Smith

Or, you can buy either my e-book or the paperback version on Amazon here:  

Diamonds for Diamond by Kay Nimitz Smith