Thumbprint Cookie Recipe with Icing Filling
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Looking to the perfect thumbprint cookie recipe? These easy thumbprint cookies filled with cookie icing are perfect for any time of the year. Sweet and delicious, you are going to love these cookies.
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Icing Filled Thumbprint Cookie Recipe
These tender cookies are the perfect tender cookie that is filled with cookie icing. I just love the sweet/salty combination that these cookies have. They’re buttery, sweet, melt in your mouth deliciousness – just as a shortbread thumbprint should!
These cookies are super simple to make, however, make sure you set aside enough time to make them. It’s a lot of waiting-waiting for the dough to chill before baking, waiting for the cookies to cool after baking and waiting for the the icing to set overnight before eating. You can get as creative with your color combinations and sprinkles as you want for these thumbprint cookies. Maybe mix and match pink and red for Valentine’s Day or even red and green for Christmas!
Are there special cookie sprinkles to use for this recipe?
When making these cookies, you can decorate the outside of the cookie with sprinkles. You can use any kind of sprinkles that you like. For different holidays you can use different colors or designs. You can use shaped sprinkles or use all one color. You can also use fine sprinkles, called sanding sugar. Sanding sugar also comes in several different colors.
Can you freeze these cookies?
If you have more cookies than you will eat before they go stale, or you want to have thumbprint cookies on hand whenever the craving hits, you can store these cookies in the freezer. You can freeze the thumbprint cookies in several ways.
First, you can freeze the dough. You can freeze the dough in an airtight container as the whole batch. You can also scoop and get the dough ready to for the oven. Before the baking step, freeze the cookie balls. Once the balls are frozen, you can move the cookie dough to a freezer bag. When you are ready to bake the cookies, remove them from the freezer and thaw. Then you can bake the cookies as normal.
You can also freeze the baked cookies. Even with these cookies, I like to freeze the cookies before putting them in the freezer bag. This prevents the cookies from sticking together when you are trying to thaw them in smaller batches.
Ingredients
- unsalted butter
- granulated sugar
- vanilla extract
- all purpose flour
- salt
- sprinkles
- milk
- powdered sugar
- food coloring
How to make thumbprint cookie recipe
Whisk flour and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and vanilla at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until incorporated. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat Baking Mat.
Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a 1½-inch ball, roll the ball in the sprinkles and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart. Using your thumb, dowel or a melon baller, make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes, or until slightly firm. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven. Using your thumb, dowel or a melon baller, press into the cookies again. Return the cookies to the oven and until golden brown, 8 to 13 minutes. Remove cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before icing.
How to make cookie icing
To make the icing, whisk the milk and powdered sugar together in a small bowl and add some food coloring. Stir to combine and add more milk (up to 2 teaspoons more) to get a smooth and spoonable, but not runny, consistency. Fill centers with icing. Let set overnight. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 1 week.
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Iced Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- sprinkles
For the icing:
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- food coloring
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Instructions
- Whisk flour and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
- In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and vanilla at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until incorporated. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat Baking Mat.
- Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a 1½-inch ball, roll the ball in the sprinkles and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart. Using your thumb, dowel or a melon baller, make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes, or until slightly firm. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven. Using your thumb, dowel or a melon baller, press into the cookies again. Return the cookies to the oven and until golden brown, 8 to 13 minutes. Remove cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before icing.
- To make the icing, whisk the milk and powdered sugar together in a small bowl and add some food coloring. Stir to combine and add more milk (up to 2 teaspoons more) to get a smooth and spoonable, but not runny, consistency. Fill centers with icing. Let set overnight. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 1 week.
Notes
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Want More Cookie and Dessert Bar Recipes?
If you love cookies and want to have more delicious cookies and cookie bar recipes, you are going to love this. Here are a few of my favorite dessert bar and cookie recipes.
The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies – Arguably one of the best chocolate chip cookies recipes around, these extremely popular New York Times chocolate chip cookies, from Jacques Torres are guaranteed to be a hit with your family! These super size cookies are perfect for every cookie lover. These cookies are a dream come true, from the crunchy outside to the perfectly soft center.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – This is the one and only peanut butter cookie recipe you’ll ever need again! It’s adapted from arguably one of the best chocolate chip cookies recipe around, the extremely popular New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies from Jacques Torres. And they’re worth every last soft baked, chewy calorie they deliver.
Maple Brown Sugar Cookies Recipe -You have to try this Maple Brown Sugar Cookies Recipe! This soft and chewy sugar cookie recipe has an amazing maple flavor. These chewy brown sugar cookies are so good, you have to try it.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars Recipe – This moist, delicious, and easy to make pumpkin chocolate chip bars recipe is one of the best things you will ever taste. Is there seriously anything better than combining pumpkin and chocolate?
Easy Apple Crumble Bars – Looking for a delicious easy apple crumble bars? So good and so easy to make these apple pie bars with apple crumble topping. Perfect for a fall dessert or anytime you need a simple apple pie bar recipe.
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5 comments
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This recipe is not good. It is surely missing an ingredient (egg perhaps?) It was too dry and crumbly and could not be made into dough balls. Never made it to the baking stage.
Hi Carey, These cookies are super simple to make, however, make sure you set aside enough time to make them. It’s a lot of waiting-waiting for the dough to chill before baking, waiting for the cookies to cool after baking and waiting for the the icing to set overnight before eating 🙂
These look just like my all time favorite cookie that I usually get at my local bakery. Since we’re currently following a “stay at home” order due to COVID-19 I’ve been really missing my beloved bakery cookie! After reading many different online recipes, this one looked the closest to what I wanted – a soft and tender shortbread cookie with a hard on the outside/soft on the inside icing and rainbow sprinkles! I followed the steps in the recipe exactly (though I substituted vegan butter and soymilk for the dairy products) and had the same issue that the previous commenter had. The shortbread dough was way too dry to form into a solid ball of dough, it just fell apart into powdery crumbs. Fueled by my bakery withdrawals, I continued with the recipe, being sure to chill the dough thoroughly and wait for the baked cookies to cool and the icing to set overnight. The chilled dough was still very crumbly so I had to mash the cookies into fragile mounds that sort of resembled cookies (but certainly couldn’t hold up under the pressure of a thumb print or stay in a ball shape to roll in sprinkles). So I skipped the thumbprints and sprinkles and just baked them as is. The end result wasn’t pretty, but they did have a wonderful “melt in your mouth” texture. Next time I will play around with the recipe a bit to get a more workable dough – maybe a tablespoon or two of milk/soymilk will make all the difference! Flavor-wise they are really yummy and very close to what I was looking for.
Hi Claire, thanks for your feedback and tips 🙂
I didn’t have a problem with the dough. Anytime the dough looks too dry I always add a little milk. Anyways I enjoyed the cookies, I did however add extra vanilla because I like my cookies sweet. It’s a great recipe!