11.18.10 Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies
I love how a taste or scent can magically transport you to another time and place. Thumbprint cookies do just that, taking me back 20 years, to my friend’s kitchen, which was always a perfect place to snack after school. There were peppermint patties on the mantle, fruit snacks and bags of cheetos in the pantry, and on the especially good days, whoopie pies or thumbprint cookies cooling on the kitchen island. Not a bad place to visit when you are a ten-year-old, or at any age for that matter—especially since they still have candy on the mantle, and I still stuff my pockets full (some things never change).
Perhaps it goes without saying that Mrs. C’s thumbprint cookies are the best. There are oodles of thumbprint recipes out there, but I have been tasting these cookies for 25 years, and I still look forward to the next batch. The sugar cookie base is what makes it, with a perfectly sweet, chewy crunch. For a pre-Thanksgiving treat, I thought it would be fun to play with the jam, but luckily these are year-round cookies, as the preserves can be changed with the seasons.
I hope you enjoy the holiday and if you are planning your menu, I am sharing a few of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes from around the web at The Green Phone Booth today here.
Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies
makes 32 cookies
cranberry jam
12 oz fresh cranberries
1/2 c fresh orange juice
1/2 c water
5-6 T sugar
sugar cookies
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
1 egg
1/2 c shortening
In a medium sauce pan, combine cranberries, orange juice, water and 4 T sugar, over low heat. Cover and allow to cook, 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste, adding more sugar to desired sweetness. Cook an additional 10-15 minutes, until mixture thickens and most of the large cranberries pieces have dissolved. Cool in fridge.
Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, salt and baking soda. Stir in vanilla and egg. Add shortening, and combine well with a pastry blender or spoon. Place rounded teaspoons of dough on a greased cookie sheet (these should be small, making 32 cookies total—enough for two baking sheets). With your thumb, make an indent in each of the cookies, and add a teaspoon of cranberry jam.
Transfer to oven and bake 8-10 minutes, until edges begin to brown.
