These Thumbprint Cookie Recipes Will Instantly Become a Holiday Favorite (2024)

FAQs

Should you fill thumbprint cookies before or after baking? ›

Thumbprint cookies should be filled before baking. This gives the jam time in the oven to firm up and set a little.

Thumbprint Cookies originally got their name from bakers who pushed their thumb down into the cookies, creating a small indentation in each one.

Storing your dough in the fridge helps to harden the fat and prevent your cookies from spreading. Allow it to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

Store your baked thumbprint cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. There's no need to refrigerate. These cookies will keep for at least a week before starting to dry out and get crumbly.

Can I freeze thumbprint cookies? Absolutely! Thumbprint cookies will either have their indentions made before or after baking. If that occurs before baking, you can do that before they're frozen so that they're ready to go when you're ready to bake them.

While the English primarily referred to cookies as small cakes, seed biscuits, or tea cakes, or by specific names, such as jumbal or macaroon, the Dutch called the koekjes, a diminutive of koek (cake)...

A thumbprint cookie is an Americanized version of a Swedish favorite, called hallongrotta, according to Plated. The Swedish name translates to raspberry cave, a reference to the type of jam traditionally used to fill the fingertip-sized depression in the treat.

When does Thumbprint Cookies expire? Thumbprint cookies, whether homemade or store-bought, generally maintain their best quality for up to 1 to 2 weeks at normal room temperature. If you store your cookies in the fridge, you can extend their life to about 3 weeks.

Most cookie dough can be refrigerated, well-wrapped, for 3-5 days before baking. If you want to make it farther in advance, freeze the dough. You can either freeze the entire brick of dough or divide it into portions for quick baking.

What makes cookies fluffy and not flat? ›

Baking powder or flour in excess will cause cookies to rise more, making them more fluffy and cakey. Increased sugar will make them caramelize more and increased fat will make the dough heavier and richer, all increasing retention of water in the dough- these all add up to chewier cookies.

“Baking cookies in a too-cool oven will cause the fat to melt before your cookies set up, leading to spreading,” Dawn says. Grab an oven thermometer the next time you're in the grocery store so you can be sure your oven is at the correct temperature.

They are about 75% moisture, 12% protein, 10% fat and 2ish % sugar. The white provides strength, stability and moisture. Yolks, where all of the fat is in an egg, increase richness, tenderness and flavor. Therefore, if you put an extra egg, you will get a chewier cookie.

If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, you can try adding more fat to it. This could mean adding more butter, shortening, or oil to the dough. If you're using a recipe that calls for melted butter, you could also try using cold butter and grating it into the dough.

The most likely benefit of adding water to your cookie dough is to help hydrate the batter. If your dough looks dry after mixing (especially when using browned butter), adding a tablespoon or two of water could be just what your dough needs to prevent a dry, crumbly cookie.

Incorporating ingredients into the dough in the wrong order can entirely throw off your cookies. It's not just enough to mix the dough for the correct amount of time — the order that you incorporate ingredients into the dough matters.

If the dough is chilled before baking then the cookies will be slightly more rounded, so if you want slightly flatter cookies then bake them as soon as you have mixed up the dough. But we would not recommend flattening the cookies completely as this will affect the texture.