Thumbprint Cookies (Guest Post - 19 By Archana)

Archana from Tangy Minds is our 19th guest contributor in "Be My Guest With A Guest Post". Archana is from India and is currently staying in US. She is hearing impaired and also a software professional. She is a full time home maker taking care of her cute daughter. She is an avid baker passionate about cakes, cupcakes and pastries. She loves to bake, experiment, decorate and celebrate it with her family and friends. She wanted to start a blog about pastry and wanst everyone to try out the recipes at their kitchen and make their family and your friends happy. Her blog is just 2 months old, so do visit her space.
She is her to share her wonderful recipe thumbprint cookies. Thumbprint cookies are very popular for holidays. They are made with a shortbread like dough that is formed into balls and rolled in chopped nuts of your choice. It is called as "Thumbprint Cookies" because you use your "thumb" to make an indentation into each ball of dough and then fill it with your favorite jam. Isn't it yummy? Well go for it and surprise it for your kids and your family.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - Half cup(room temperature)
White Sugar - One-fourth cup
Vanilla Extract - Half teaspoon
Egg - 1(large and separated)
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Salt - One-eighth teaspoon
Nuts of your choice - 3/4 cup to 1 cup(Pecans, Walnuts, Cashew nuts, Pistachios, Hazelnuts and Almonds toasted and finely chopped)
Jam of your choice - 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup(Strawberry jam is used here)

Preparation:

For Toasting the nuts either of the below 2 options can be used.
1. Oven Method
Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C. Spread the nuts of your choice(Cashew nuts,walnuts and almonds are used here) on a baking sheet and bake it for about 5 to 8 minutes or varies till it comes out light brown color and fragrant.
2. Counter top stove Method
Take a pan and add all the nuts of your choice. Roast well till it comes out light brown color and fragrant. Once cooled, place them into the food processor/ mixie to get finely chopped. Alternatively you could chop them by your hands.
For making the dough:
Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C. Line a baking sheet using parchment paper and set aside.
In an electric mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar till it is fluffy and smooth for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract. Mix well until combined.
For dry ingredients, whisk the sifted flour and salt into another bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients batter and mix well until its combined.
If you find the dough is too soft to make into balls, then keep it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to 1 hour or until its firm.
In a small bowl, beat the egg white until frothy and place the chopped nuts spread on the plate.
Roll the dough into 1 inch or 2.5cm balls. Take a ball of a dough at a time, dip it into the egg white first and then lightly roll in the nuts. Place it on the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch(2.5 cm) space apart.
Using your thumb, make an indentation into the center of each and every cookie and fill it with your favorite jam.

Bake it for about 12 to 15 minutes until the cookies are set and the nuts have got nicely browned.

Remove it from the oven and place on the cooling wire rack.
Garnish it and serve the tasty cookies. This serves 20-25 cookies.

Serving Options:

Garnish it with your favorite icing colors or you can use store bought gel icing colors to make your own designs or you can serve it without icing.