There’s something elegant about these raspberry thumbprint cookies. Melt-in-your-mouth almond shortbread filled with raspberry jam and topped with a drizzle of white chocolate. They’re the perfect Christmas party accompaniment.
I love a good shortbread recipe and these are one of my all-time faves. They are also a recent Christmas cookie staple for our family because they’re very easy to put together, look beautiful, and I just love the flavor combination of raspberry, almond, and white chocolate.
Love raspberry and white chocolate? Check out this Nothing Bundt Cakes White Chocolate Raspberry Copycat Recipe.
Key Things to Remember When Making Thumbprint Cookies
- Chill the cookie dough. Shortbread is very butter heavy so while you want your butter to be room temperature to make the dough, you want your cookies to be cool when they hit the oven. If the dough is too warm, your cookies will spread out too much and crisp up on the sides. This recipe calls for chilling your dough for at least an hour, but if it’s warm in your house or something interrupts your cookie shaping, just pop them in the fridge for another 5-10 minutes before baking so they keep their shape.
- Mix and match your flavor combinations. The beauty of this recipe is its versatility. Fill with any type of jam you like. Top with different types of chocolate. Swap the almond extract for vanilla. The choice is yours! An apricot jam filled thumbprint with dark chocolate drizzle also sounds delish. 😉
- Melt the chocolate carefully. You can melt chocolate in a variety of ways. I just use the microwave and watch it carefully because I’ve ruined too many bowls of chocolate by heating it too fast. 🤦♀️ Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each. As Mary Berry says, “chocolate melts in a child’s pocket” so it doesn’t take much heat.
Because these are so easy to make (and you can make the dough ahead if you want), they make a great last-minute Christmas party dessert for anyone with crazy holiday schedules or even for people who don’t like baking that were forced to bring a dessert to family dinner. 😉
If you’re looking for other easy Christmas cookie recipes, check out my Pecan Snowball Cookies, Soft Gingerbread Cookies, Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies, or RumChata Cookies.
The dough was most likely too warm. Pop those bad boys in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before baking to help them hold their shape and texture.
Absolutely! I love making the dough the night before and so you only have to shape and bake the next day. Like mentioned earlier, you want the dough chilled for these, so refrigerating the dough overnight is a great solution!
Store cookies in an air tight container for 4-5 days. Or eat them all in one day — up to you 🙂
Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp almond extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- raspberry preserves
- 2 oz white chocolate, melted
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add almond extract.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
- Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
- Shape into small 1 inch balls. Press thumb in the center to form a well. Fill the well with raspberry preserves.
- Bake at 325 °F for 9 minutes until light golden brown around the edges and jam starts to bubble.
- Once cooled, slowly melt white chocolate in microwave (in 30 second intervals, stirring in between). Pour white chocolate into piping bag and decorate with a zig zag motion. Add as much white chocolate as you like!
Last Updated on December 31, 2022 by Kari Bakes
