Raspberry Lemon Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint cookies are a cute, homemade looking cookie that most people love. I was looking at a few different recipe until I decided on this one. As alway, I loved the addition of lemon zest and juice in the dough and the recipe seemed pretty easy to make. The dough is delicious, but was a little sticky, so I added an extra step in the recipe to chill the dough, making it a lot easier to work with. I also tried to change the recipe by adding the jam after baking the cookies, but learned the hard way not to do that. The indent in each cookie rose and I had to re-press the cookies part way though baking, then hastily add jam to the cookies.

If you don't have raspberry jam, use whatever else you have at home that you would like paired with a lemony flavor. You could also decorate these a little more by drizzling a lemon and powder sugar glaze over the finished product. I also think (though have not yet tried this) that a lemon curd filling would be delicious in these cookies. Even if you just want to use this dough for a plain cookie, they will be great. These cookies stay fresh for about 3 days if you store them in an airtight container. This recipe made too many cookies for me, so I froze some of them and took them out of the freezer for the following 2 weeks whenever my sweet tooth kicked in. They're a great snack to have with a cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.

Recipe from Emeril Lagasse
Makes 3 to 4 dozen

For the Filling:
1/2 cup raspberry jam or jelly (I used more than this)
1 tablespoon Chambord or kirsch (optional)

For the Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (225 grams) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 heaping tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

If using the Chambord or kirsch in your filling, mix it with the jam in a small bowl. Otherwise just give the jam a quick stir and use it on its own.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg yolks, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla and mix. Beat in the flour mixture in two additions until the dough just comes together and forms moist clumps. Gather the dough together in a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF/175ºC. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Take the dough out of your fridge and roll it into 1" balls (mine were closer to 1 1/2" big). Place each ball of dough 1" apart from the others. Flour your finger (or flour the bottom of a 1/2" teaspoon) and create the thumbprint in the middle of each cookie. Fill each indent with a generous 1/2 teaspoon of the jam mixture. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

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