Trust me when I tell you that these chocolate thumbprint cookies are going to be your new Christmas cookie favorite, this year and every year. These buttery vanilla thumbprint cookies are rolled in sugar and filled with wells of dark chocolate ganache (and a hint of bourbon!); these are irresistibly festive and simple but decadent cookies.
I hope you don’t have a problem with cookies.
I have a feeling that you don’t (and this is why we’re friends), but I just want to give you fair warning that I make a lot of cookies in December.
I’ll try to mix things up a bit and push out some candy recipes (one coming Monday, actually) and maybe even a cake or cupcake, but there are definitely cookies in your pre-Christmas Sugar Spun Run future. ‘Tis the season, right?
First up for this month are one of my new favorites: Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies.
We’ve got buttery, vanilla-bean flecked cookie bases, a coating of sugar crystals, and sweet chocolate wells of a bourbon infused chocolate ganache.
Do I have your attention?
These chocolate thumbprint cookie bases aren’t quite a shortbread, but they’re close.
They’re supremely buttery, but softer and less crumbly than standard shortbread (I’m all about soft cookies around here). They also have an egg yolk added for a richer dough, and a little more vanilla than your standard shortbread cookie.
Good vanilla extract is a must in any good cookie recipe, and that’s why I always use Rodelle vanilla extract (also why I’m now a brand ambassador for them!). Their Rodelle’s vanilla bean paste might be my favorite way to use vanilla in baking yet, so I added a little bit of that to the dough as well.
I definitely recommend an electric hand mixer or (preferably) a stand mixer when making your chocolate thumbprint cookie dough, as this dough is pretty thick and it can be tough to work in all of the flour that the recipe calls for.
Once everything is done mixing, the dough should be firm enough that you can roll it into balls and in sugar without needing any chilling beforehand. We’ll chill them after we’ve rolled them (I’ll get to that in a bit), but first we want to roll them into balls and roll them in sugar.
I rolled these cookies in a coarse organic cane sugar because I liked the bigger sugar crystals, but regular granulated sugar would work just fine, too (turbinado sugar has a slightly more molasses-y flavor, but would also work with these cookies).
Next, press thumbprints into the dough. It’s best to do this at room temperature because if the dough is too stiff or too cold, the edges will crack. We want our edges smooth and seamless, because it’s just prettier that way.
Once you’ve prepped your cookie dough, chill it in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 30 minutes. Your cookies will spread a little bit when they bake, but by chilling the dough beforehand you prevent any major spreading — you don’t want your thumbprints to be completely flat when they come out of the oven!
You will likely lose a little bit of depth in the craters when they come out of the oven, so keep a rounded teaspoon handy to re-indent those thumbprints as soon as they’re done baking (you only have a small window to do this, once they cool you won’t be able to re-indent your cookies without breaking them).
Enjoy, and if you’re looking for more great Christmas cookie ideas, Rodelle has a whole collection that you can check out HERE!
Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (226g)
- ⅓ cup sugar (70g)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar tightly packed (70g)
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon Rodelle vanilla extract* (5ml)
- ½ teaspoon Rodelle vanilla paste** optional
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (280g)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coarse sugar for rolling turbinado or organic cane sugar both work well (100g)
Chocolate Bourbon Ganache
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (175g)
- ¼ cup heavy cream (60ml)
- ½ Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon Rodelle vanilla extract* (5ml)
- 1 teaspoon bourbon optional but recommended (5ml)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Using an electric mixer, beat butter until well creamed.
- Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.
- Add egg yolk, vanilla extract, and vanilla paste (if using), and stir well, pausing to scrape down the sides and mixing until ingredients are well-combined.
- Add flour, gradually (about ½ cup at a time), pausing to scrape down sides of bowl. Halfway through the addition of the flour, sprinkle in the salt with the beater still running.
- Roll cookie dough into approximately 1" balls and roll through the coarse sugar until completely covered in sugar. Place on a wax paper lined plate and use your thumb to create an indent/crater in the center.
- Transfer cookie dough balls to freezer and chill for at least 30 minutes (this will keep cookies from spreading too much).
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and prepare a cookie sheet by lining with parchment paper (if you don't have parchment paper, just use an ungreased cookie sheet).
- Once oven is preheated, remove cookie dough from freezer and transfer to prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 1 ½" apart. Bake for 12 minutes.
- Remove from oven and immediately use a rounded teaspoon to re-indent the thumbprints, if needed.
- Allow cookies to cool while you prepare the ganache filling.
- Combine chocolate chips, heavy cream, and butter in a small saucepan over medium-heat. Stir frequently until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, bourbon, and salt. Stir well.
- Allow mixture to sit and cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
- Use a spoon to pour chocolate ganache into the crater of each prepared thumbprint cookie. Ganache will set after about 1 hour at room temperature or you can put them in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to speed up the process (cookies taste best at room temperature though).
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
PIN IT:
In case you’re interested, I’ve used the recipe for the base of this cookie multiple times on my site (with slight variations). Here are a few other recipes that you can make with this dough:
Chocolate Star Sprinkle Cookies
Kimberly
Does it matter if you use semi-sweet bakers chocolate instead of chocolate chips, or will that change the taste/texture of the ganache?
Sam
Hi Kimberly! A baking bar will work just fine here. 🙂
Lisa Stein
When my friend, Melissa, made these they were THE BEST COOKIE I have ever put in my mouth. Then I made them. They were then about the third best cookie ever. BUT the ganache was sheer and utter perfection. Also made them with the key lime filling. Also perfection!
Her cookie had a slightly chewier texture while mine was more crumbly.
The differences:
I had to roll mine in superfine bakers sugar as it is all I had. She rolled hers in coarse sugar
She cooked hers in a 40 year old oven for 12 minutes (could hers cook a bit lower than stated temp?)
I cooked mine in a 20 year old oven for 11 minutes (does mine cook too hot?)
I recall that I accidentally added the vanilla and vanilla paste and egg yolk to the butter BEFORE I added the sugar!!. Could that account for the difference? I really preferred the slightly chewier texture of hers…
Sam
Hi Lisa! I’m glad you enjoyed them! If your cookies were a little crumbly they may have had a little too much flour in them. Every oven can bake differently. I’ve seen brand new ovens not be true to temperature so I definitely recommend an oven thermometer if you can get one. They are pretty cheap and definitely help so you can adjust to the proper temp. If you aren’t weighing your flour, make sure to check out my post on how to measure flour so you can get your cookies to be as tasty as your friends’. 🙂
Stephanie Baumgardner
could we just put a Hershey kiss in it after baking,cooling?..
Sam
That will work! 🙂
Stephanie Baumgardner
They turned out amazing!!!
James
First off- thank you for this recipe. To say these are my new favorite cookie would be an understatement. WOW.
I’m the cook and my wife’s the baker in our home. With our five month old needing mom’s attention all weekend I baked a batch of these to get the ball rolling on our holiday cookies.
Unfortunately we are behind anyway because that batch is not being shared.
The chocolate ganache is fantastic and well balanced with the bourbon (I used Jim Bean Vanilla bourbon) and half of a fresh vanilla bean instead of the paste.
But in my opinion, the star of this show is the cookie. It’s definitely not a traditional shortbread. It’s better. Haven’t had anyone disagree yet! (Ok so we did share a few but not many!)
We’ll bake another batch of these and we’re going to use the dough recipe for a tweak on a couple of other varieties of shortbread/thumb prints.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, James! It’s great that you can help with the baking, little ones sure can be a handful. 🙂
Benni
I loved them. They turned out great. Mine spread more than yours, even though I did freeze them for 30 min; the coarse sugar didn’t stay on the cookies & I had to cook them for an additional 3 minutes, but as long as they turned out, it’s fine. I’ve always been confused why everyone who posts recipes states it only takes a nano second. These took 2.5 hours from start to finish & that doesn’t include the cooling time before frosting them. I see you didn’t include the 30 min freezer time in your heading. I did sift & weigh my Einkorn, but that didn’t really take long. Just kind of exhausting to make, but thankfully they turned out great. Thanks for the recipe.
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed them, overall! This is an older recipe, and I didn’t include the freezing time in here. Sorry for any confusion. 🙁
Wendy
I used this recipe this Christmas Eve. They were delicious! The only thing I noticed in the cookies was that it looked uncooked just in where I made the thumbprint. Do you have any tips or does it happens because I push the cookie when it’s hot?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Wendy! I am so glad that you enjoyed the thumbprint cookies. I typically press them in when the dough is raw, freeze for thirty minutes and then fill (be sure to check out my video in the post to see my process) so it is most likely due to the fact you pressed them when they were still hot. 🙂
Melody
Omg I recently tasted your worst chocolate chip cookies recipe and fell in love, I asked my friend for the recipe and have since made them 3 times in less than a week I figured your other recipes would also be Amazing. Love this recipe it was not confusing at all and they taste awesome. I also made the scones, thank you for posting such great and easy recipes 😍
Sam
I am so glad you have enjoyed everything, Melody! I hope you continue to enjoy everything you make. 🙂
Pearse
Hi Sam
How did u make those indent so precise ? I tried with back of wooden spoon and such but not so good looking as yours ? Can u please share your secret
Thanks in advance
PF
Sam
Hi Pearse! I used the rounded back of a teaspoon.
Margaret
Can these be frozen after baking and filling?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Reema
Hello Ellie! Wonderful recipe! I’ve been making a similar recipe for years (uses only 2/3 white sugar and no egg yolk), but I love the addition of the egg yolk and the brown sugar/molasses flavor! I was wondering if I can make these cookies with a jam filling instead of chocolate? Any ideas? Thanks!
Sam
I actually have a recipe for this! https://sugarspunrun.com/thumbprint-cookies/
Essentially the same base but with jam instead, I hope you love it!
Candice
Ok I totally just made these and I was so excited! They look beautiful but do not taste right. I am not sure what I did wrong! Even when they were baking they smelled funny… like something was bad. Hard to explain what I am smelling/tasting… ugh! I’ll try again… my chocolate ganache was AMAAAAAZINGG though! Lol
Sam
HI Candace! It sounds like maybe your butter was bad/rancid, do you think that might have been the case? Or a bad egg? that would be my best bet.
Ellie D
Hi Sam,
It seems tome you are not clear on your instructions on when to place the dough in the fridge/freezer. Is it after making the thumb print or after? You say to line up in cookie sheet twice, look:
Roll cookie dough into approximately 1″ balls and roll through the coarse sugar until completely covered in sugar. Place on a wax paper lined and use your thumb to create an indent/crater in the center.
Transfer cookie dough balls to freezer and chill for at least 30 minutes (this will keep cookies from spreading too much).
Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Remove cookie dough from refrigerator and place on cookie sheet, spacing at least 1 1/2″ apart.
I am baking them today and I placed the entire cookie sheet all lined up in the freezer… more to come…
Sam
Hi Ellie! I’m so sorry about the confusion! I mean the freezer, and you are right, that is a little confusing how I worded that, I just went in and re-wrote it to be clearer. Sorry about the confusion and I hope that you enjoyed the cookies!
Suzie
Honestly? Not impressed with the recipe. I used the weights for my ingredients. Seem like it needed more flour. The cookies came out very greasy. I also had to bake them longer. I printed the recipe off. The recipe says to add salt to the dough while mixing. The ingredient list does not list salt for the dough. The printed recipe also says nothing about rolling the cookie in sugar before baking, even though it is listed as an ingredient and your explanation says to do it.
I have a party at work tomorrow and I tripled the recipe so I would have enough to bring in. Now I have nothing to bring in. That’s how bad I think this recipe is. I’m actually too embarrassed by them to even take them in. I guess that’s what I get for trying a recipe that does not have very many reviews. I would give the recipe 0 stars but I don’t want anyone to think I forgot to review it.
A total waste of money and ingredients.
Sam
I’m so disappointed to hear that they didn’t turn out for you, Suzie!!! I’ve made them so many times without issue, and I’ve also used the base as the base for several of my other cookie recipes because it’s always been such a reliable recipe and cookie dough.
Maybe because the recipe was tripled the issue occurred? I’m not sure but I am sorry you were disappointed in them!
Heather Hodge
I definitely think the issue was with tripling it! I have noticed with several recipes over the last couple years that once you go over double doesn’t quite hold up! Small batch is the best, especially when trying a new recipe! It also might not have helped having the cookie dough sit out for too long before getting it to the oven! Sometimes that can make a world of difference!
Sam
I agree with you on this one Heather. 🙂
Jessi
I was hesitant to add the bourbon but so glad that I did!!!! These were amazing, my family loved them!
Sam
Definitely a good call with the bourbon! So glad to hear you enjoyed them! 🙂
Joanne
I love lots of vanilla in cookies, too, and have that same vanilla bean paste. If I were to bake these cookies a few weeks before Christmas, can I freeze them? If not, how long will they stay fresh in a sealed container?
Sam
Hi Joanne! Isn’t the paste amazing??
I have been looking into your question, but I realllly don’t know how these would do frozen, the cookie itself would be fine but I think the ganache may not fare so well. I think these would stay fresh in a sealed container for up to two weeks (good luck getting them to last that long! 😉 ). I hope that helps!
daisy skinner
Hi there. I’ve been making these cookies for years for Holidays. They freeze very well.
The cookie and the ganache both go from freezer to gift boxes with other cookies to
recipients. Enjoy
Pat
Cookies, me loves cookies
no plate, knife or fork
just a paper towel, ice cold milk and grab
Cookies, me loves cookies
added bonus, dark chocolate
2 cookie exchanges this year
thanks for a solution for 1 of them
Sam
Pat these have your name all over them! 😉 I hope you love these cookies, I can’t stop making them.