Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

So yesterday was just one of those days, ya know those where absolutely nothing seems to be going your way. I baked three batches of these cookies and all of them came out pancake flat. I’d make minor changes each time. The first time I did the recipe as stated (the classic Land O Lakes from the 80’s recipe), second time I chilled the dough half the day and the third time I even tried adding egg yolks to the mixture. I tired un-greased, yes greased and silpat lined baking sheets. Still nothing. And by this point I’m starting to question my abilities as a baker/and began to blame my oven :). I even went to the store and got more of a premium flour. Then I stumbled upon a review on allrecipes.com for these kind of cookies, where someone had mentioned they had the same problem with these cookies and listed the successful tips that worked for them. They added 1/4 cup of flour to the original 2 cups and used COLD butter (they also reduced oven temp 10 degrees from the original but I didn’t think that was necessary). Thanks to that review, which is listed as the most helpful on there (with a hoping 1318 people finding it helpful, and mine would make that 1319) these cookies turned out perfect. Finally! Plus, it’s nice that the dough doesn’t have to chill two hours before shaping (which caused a lot of cracking the first few times), just 20 minutes for this one!

I hope you love these cookies as much as I do! Sans glaze they totally remind my of a few of my childhood favorites, the Knott’s Berry Shortbread and the Pepperidge Farm Verona cookies. Really I don’t think the glaze is a must but it does add a little fanciness for a holiday cookie.

These are simply delicious and they definitely need to find a place on your holiday cookie tray!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Side note regarding the recipe if you’ve already made these: I originally I had this listed as 2 1/4 cups but I tested these again using 2 cups + 2 Tbsp and they came out even better.

Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 cups + 2 Tbsp (300g) all-purpose flour (don't pack flour in when measuring)*
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced into 1 Tbsp pieces
• 2/3 cup (140g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam, seedless if preferred
Glaze (optional)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 - 4 tsp water

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour and salt, set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend together butter and sugar until combined (it will take a minute or two since the butter is cold. If you don't have a paddle attachment that constantly scrapes bowl, then occasionally stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl). Mix in almond extract then add in flour blend until mixture comes together (it will take a bit of mixing since the butter is cold, so be patient, it will seem really dry at first).
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls, about 1 Tbsp each, and place 2-inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Make a small indentation with thumb or forefinger in each cookie (large enough to fit 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of jam). Fill each with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp jam. Chill in refrigerator 20 minutes (or freezer for 10 minutes). Bake in preheated oven 14 - 18 minutes.
• Cool several minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool (at this point you can add a little more jam if you'd like to, it just won't be set like the other is). Drizzle cookies with glaze when when cool. Store cookies in an airtight container.
• For the glaze:
• Whisk all glaze ingredients together in a small mixing bowl, adding enough water to reach desired consistency. Pour or spoon mixture into a sandwich size resealable bag, cut a small tip from one corner and drizzle over cookies.

(Recipe source: adapted from both Land O Lakes and MarcieJ's review on allrecipes.com)