These Buttery Raspberry Shortbread cookies are one of my favorites. They are tender, buttery and totally addictive. I’m fond of raspberry jam, but you could certainly substitute with apricot, strawberry or pretty any kind of fruit jam that you prefer. The cookies are drizzled with an almond glaze that looks fancy but are quite simple to do. When I first made these, a certain “kitchen mouse” polished them off in less than two days! They are that good!
This Christmas, I practiced restraint from baking cookies. I think my decision was mostly because we were in “lockdown” due to COVID, and I had to cancel our family gathering. Sigh… The last thing the two of us needed was platefuls of sugar cookies and homemade candies!
I’ve been bonding with my newly remodeled kitchen– including calibrating my new gas oven. Now that I’m retired, I have the time to practice new recipes (like sourdough bread baking) .
One day, this week, I got a hankering for a buttery cookie. I had a jar of seedless raspberry jam, and butter is a commodity in my freezer and refrigerator. This dough recipe had simple ingredients and came together pretty fast. I refrigerated it for about 30 minutes. Once each cookie dough was rolled into balls, flatten them with a pastry tamper (though a spoon will do the trick, too).
Raspberry Jam is a personal favorite in our household. However, you can use whatever flavor you really like!
A word of caution: Don’t fill the indentation too much (as seen in the cookie in the front left). You really need a scant teaspoon per cookie. I popped these into the oven between 14-16 minutes. I’m still learning my new oven, so I ended up baking the cookies for about 15 minutes– until they were a golden brown.
Let the cookies cool for a couple of minutes, then place them on a wire rack. While the cookies were still warm (but not HOT), mix up a simple glaze of confectioners sugar, almond extract and a little bit of glaze. Using a spoon, drizzle each cookie with glaze. Voila! Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies, at your service.
TASTING NOTES: Oh me, oh my! The cookies were crispy and buttery. The tartness of the raspberry jam counterbalanced that really well. The jam filling became chewy and so good! Almond flavored anything is irresistible to me, so doubling the almond extract in the glaze was perfect. My husband could not, literally, keep his hands out of the cookie jar!
THE NEXT DAY: The cookies became a tad bit softer, but in a good way. According to my husband, these are truly one of the best cookies I’ve ever baked! I hope you try this recipe. You won’t be sorry.
Buttery and Delicious Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookie:
- 1 cup butter 226g; softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar 150g
- 1/2 tsp almond extract I love almond flavor, so I doubled this. Can substitute vanilla extract if you prefer
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 256g
For the filling:
- 1/2 cups seedless raspberry jam can substitute flavor of your choice such as apricot, strawberry, blueberry etc.
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar 63g
- 3/4 tsp almond extract optional, but I actually increased this to 1 tsp.
- 1 teaspoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
For the cookie dough:
- Using a mixer, cream together butter and white sugar until smooth. Add almond extract, egg yolk, and flour until the dough comes together.
- Chill dough for 15-30 minutes. (This is important)
- Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 9i use a small cookie scoop, and then roll the dough into balls, which makes the cookies more uniform.Using a spoon (or a pastry tamper), make a small impression in the center of each ball. To fill each cookie, I stir the jam into a small bowl to make it smoother. Fill impression with about a teaspoon of jam.
- Bake for 14-18 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool on a baking rack.
For the glaze:
- In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners sugar, almond (or vanilla) exact and milk until smooth. I played around with the amounts, until the glaze was a smooth and pourable consistency. I also tasted it to make sure my coveted almond flavor was coming through. TIP: While the cookies are still warm, balance the wire rack over the kitchen sink, or a baking sheet, and drizzle the glaze with a spoon
Notes
For the sake of our waists, we need to adhere to “The last thing the two of us needed was platefuls of sugar cookies”. These are Sooooooo Good!