These sweet, soft shortbread cookies are filled with creamy chocolate and coated in sprinkles. This Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies recipe is a great one to keep around because they’re easy to make and everyone that tries them loves them. You can switch the sprinkle colors to make them fit with any occasion or holiday!
Chocolate Filled Cookies
One reason why I love these cookies is because of the ingredient list – everything you need for the cookie you is something you more than likely keep around all the time. For the filling, you’ll just need to grab two quick ingredients from the store if you don’t have them already. Simple, delicious and anything but boring.
Why Are They Called Thumbprint Cookies?
We call them thumbprint cookies because of how we make them: but pushing our thumb into a ball of dough to create the perfect little pocket for filling to go into. Clever, right? We’ve made lots of thumbprint cookies over the years if you want to check out even more.
Ingredients You Will Need
For the shortbread cookies:
- Butter – set the butter sticks out to warm to room temperature.
- Sugar – one cup.
- Flour – all-purpose.
- Vanilla – pure vanilla and not imitation if you’ve got it.
- Salt – just a bit of table salt.
For the filling:
- Almond bark – milk chocolate.
- Heavy Cream – just a few tablespoons.
- Sprinkles – we used rainbow nonpareils sprinkles but you could use whatever you’d like.
How To Make Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
- Mix butter and sugar until it’s light and creamy.
- Add in the vanilla and mix.
- Separately, stir together the flour and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture a little at a time until it’s combined.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls, then roll in a dish of sprinkles and place on a baking sheet.
- Press your thumb into the center of the cookie dough to make a divet.
- Bake for about 18-22 minutes then set them on a wire rack to cool.
- Make the filling by melting the chocolate and cream in the microwave in 10 second intervals until it’s melted.
- Pour the filling into the cookie and add more sprinkles on top.
Make these your own creation by choosing sprinkles that coordinate to any holiday or birthday party theme. You can even split the batch to make several different colors. There is no wrong way to do it!
More Great Cookie Recipes
Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 3 sticks butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 ½ cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Filling Ingredients:
- 4 squares of Milk Chocolate Almond Bark
- 2 – 3 Tablespoons heavy cream plus a few drops more if needed
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Combine the butter and sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, and mix until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla and mix well.
- Add the salt to the flour and blend.
- Add the flour/salt mixture to the butter/sugar mixture a little at a time, mixing between additions until all the flour has been added.
- Remove the mixing bowl, and place in the refrigerator for half an hour.
- When the dough has chilled for half an hour, remove the mixing bowl from the refrigerator, and line two cookie sheets with Parchment paper.
- Pour the Sprinkles out into a shallow dish and roll the dough into balls (about a tablespoonful) and roll the balls in the sprinkles, and place on the cookie sheet.
- Press the center of the ball with your thumb, or knuckle, until you’ve made an indentation in the center of each cookie.
- Bake at 350 for 18 – 22 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown. Remove from oven to a wire rack to completely cool.
- In a microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate, and cream, and microwave on high at 10 second intervals until the chocolate starts to melt.
- Stir the cream into the chocolate and place back in the microwave for another 10 seconds if chocolate is not completely melted. (Add a few drops of cream if the chocolate is too thick.)
- Pour the melted chocolate into the centers of the cookies, just filling the center.
- Sprinkle with the sprinkles while chocolate is still warm.
- Allow the cookie to sit for at least one hour for chocolate to set.
- You can also place the cookies in the refrigerator to speed up the process, but take them out at least 30 minutes before serving.
Last Step:
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