25 Days of Cookies: Thumbprint Cookies

Miracle on 34th Street and baking :) No matter how many times I watch that old classic, I never get tired of it. Just like another childhood favorite: this cookie isn't really a cookie if we want to debate the semantics. Technically it's a mini free form tartlet. My mother used to make me these whenever she had scraps of pie dough. When I had a real thumbprint cookie for the first time, I was expecting it to taste like these. Imagine my surprise when it didn't taste anything like my mom's!

This was my first time making them for the sake of making a batch! They've always been an extra little treat made on the side of a big pie. Mom will be mortified that I used a roll of pie crust solely for these. I don't think she ever anticipated how much I would love them.

You'll only need two ingredients! I considered making pie dough from scratch but that was more work than these were ever meant to be worth. All you'll need is your favorite refrigerated pie dough and your favorite jams or jellies.

We've always used Pillsbury pie dough when we haven't made our own. Our favorite recipe for homemade pie dough is Ina Garten's on Foodnetwork.com.

I used two different jams: mom's homemade grape jam (we have a small Concord grape vine in our garden) and a specialty jam I found at the store: Strawberries and Champagne! (Yeah!!!)

The Frat Family Thumbprint Cookies

-Pie dough
-Jelly/Jam

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Flour your work surface lightly.

Form a ball with your dough then flatten on the table top into a fat disc. Using a rolling pin, spread the dough until it is about 1/4in thick.

Using a small cap (the size of a soda cap), cut out circles of dough.

Press an indent 3/4 of the way through the circle with your thumb. You might need to use a knife to cut the circles out. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or wax paper if you have some. (Makes clean up easy).

Roll scraps back up and repeat the process. Your dough won't roll out as nicely as it did before and may look a little like this:

Don't worry! It won't affect your cookie.

After you have used up all your dough, spoon just enough jelly/jam into each thumbprint to fill it. If you over fill the cookies, the jam will bubble over.

Bake for 20 minutes for a softer cookie or up to 25 minutes for more crunch.

I love how pretty these look when they come out of the oven. They're like bright edible jewels! 

Best when they're warm so serve immediate (or at least as immediately as you can without burning your mouth on molten jelly) or reheat in the microwave for a few seconds!