Raspberry Thumbprints
Melt-In-Your-Mouth Buttery Shortbread Cookies
These cookies tend to produce a swoon when eaten, and they’re not difficult to make, but they do require a few stages. These could not be more perfect for any holiday.
The most important thing to remember when you bake these cookies is to go more by the description of what they should look like at each stage rather than the timing because I have seen pretty big variations from oven to oven. The goal is for the end product to be lightly-golden for perfect texture and flavor so that it takes on the flavor of golden butter and does not resemble the raw dough in color. Just as important is that the dollop of raspberry jam which is put on after the cookies have finished most of their baking process, is cooked just long enough to rise a tiny bit in the oven but not get so hot that it liquifies and spreads all over the cookie. I’ve sold hundreds of these by the pound each day and they were loved by everyone who can somehow conjure up some memory of a family member who baked their own version.
The Recipe
Makes 48 cookies
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
½ cup raspberry preserves, with or without seeds
Place the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
Cream the butter and the sugar together with the paddle attachment in a medium size mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium high speed until the batter is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Stop mixer twice during this time to scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for several seconds. Scrape the bowl, then turn the mixer to high speed and beat until the batter is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. (This can vary greatly based on your mixer. If you only have a hand mixer, you may need to knead it with you hands at the end OR you can put it in a food processor and pulse till the dough is completely blended.)
Refrigerate the batter in plastic wrap or a covered container for 3 hours minimum.
15 minutes before baking, set the oven to 325° and line 2-3 baking sheets, depending on their size, with parchment paper or grease them lightly with vegetable oil or butter.
Measure out rounded teaspoonfuls of dough and if you have a scale, you can weigh the scoops for perfect consistency.( I do mine at .4 oz each) Roll each portion in your hands to make little balls and place the balls 1 ½ inches apart on the prepared sheet. Then make a firm indentation in the center of each cookie with your thumb or index finger. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes so as to set the shape then lower the temperature to 300° for the remainder of the baking time until the cookies are very lightly golden in color, an additional 30 minutes. Remove the sheets from the oven and set the oven for 325°.
Place a generous quarter teaspoon of jam in the center of each cookie and return the sheets to the oven. Bake the cookies JUST until the jam loosens and rises a bit, about 8-10 minutes (remember: ovens vary, so the time for something like this could easily be less. If the jam loosens and spreads, then you now to bake them less the next time — but they will still be delish!)
Remove the trays from the oven and cool.
Adapted from Rosie’s All Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book published by Workman Publishing in 2011.
