After making the Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies and various kinds of muffins, I wanted more of a "challenge". Although I'm a novice baker and may sound like I'm jumping the gun by saying that, these Strawberry and Almond Shortbread Thumbprints seem quite "do-able" and at the same time, are different than normal cookies. This receipe is taken from allrecipes (I'm addicted to that site) and again, they are highly rated (4.5/5.0 stars from 910 reviews). I substituted raspberry jam with strawberry jam (hence the name change) since my boyfriend only had strawberry jam at his place.I love shortbread cookies. Actually I love butter cookies, especially those Danish butter cookies in the big blue tin cans. Yeah you know the ones I'm talking about! Because come on, nobody ever remembers that they are made by Royal Dansk haha.
Oh, how I miss them! Although these Strawberry and Almond Shortbread Thumbprints are actually shortbread cookies, not butter cookies, to me the two are pretty much interchangeable (since shortbread cookies also contain lots of butter as well).
(Yields 24 cookies)
Ingredients
Cookies:- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup seedless strawberry jam
Icing:
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon milk
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar until smooth.
3. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Mix in flour until dough comes together.
4. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make a small hole in the center of each ball, using a 1/2 teaspoon.
5. Fill the each hole with strawberry jam.
6. Place cookie sheets into freezer for 10 minutes before baking.
7. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet.
9. In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar, 3/4 teaspoon almond extract, and milk until smooth.
10. Drizzle lightly over warm cookies.
Tips:
- Some reviewers complained that the cookies turned out flat. To solve this problem, one reviewer suggested to 1) use butter that is not too soft, rather just soft enough to be cut into pieces 2) put the cookies in the freezer before baking, and 3) use 2 1/4 cups of flour (instead of using just 2 cups).
- I have incorporated these three revisions in the above recipe because as you can see, my cookies turn out nice and thick.
These cookies were very yummy. Everyone loved them!