Christmas Thumbprint Cookies
How is Christmas next week?! As if I haven’t said it a million times already, this is my FAVORITE time of year! This month is filled with so many traditions and to be honest, I’m kind of a weirdo about traditions. Don’t you dare tell me we’re not having lasagna on Christmas eve! Whether it’s going to the Christmas eve service with my family or our annual girlfriends Christmas dinner, I get so nostalgic for each event and look forward to them every year. Since Kat and I have become roommates, we’ve started our own sister traditions! We have a wrapping party that always consists of pizza and watching Home Alone. We bawl like a baby every year watching the Family Stone and we ALWAYS make a batch of our favorite thumbprint cookies! You might remember Kat blogged about these cookies for Valentine’s Day. We always seem to find a way to make these work year round. They are THAT good!
Thumbprint Cookie Recipe
:: 2/3 cup sugar
:: 1 cup butter, softened (We ALWAYS use Kerrygold Butter in this recipe. It’s like $7 a stick but we swear by it!)
:: 2 egg yolks
:: 1/2 teaspoon salt
:: 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
:: 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
Frosting
:: 1 cup confectioners sugar
:: 1/4 cup margarine
:: 1/4 cup cocoa
:: 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
:: 1/4 cup milk
Step 1 | Cream butter, gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each one. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour (we always sieve our flour) and salt separately. Slowly add dry mix to the dough, mixing well. Chill the dough for around an hour.
Step 2 | Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Press thumb in each cookie leaving an indentation. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Do NOT brown.
Step 3 | Let the cookies cool while you whip up your frosting! For the frosting, melt the margarine then add the cocoa. Stir well. Slowly add the confectioners sugar and milk, mixing well. Depending on the consistency you might need to add a little more confectioners sugar or milk. You don’t want the icing to be really thin or it will run off the cookie and you don’t want it to be too thick or it just gets weird and won’t really pour. I typically end up adding around 1/4-1/2 cup of confectioners sugar to make the icing thicker. Mix in vanilla.
Step 4 | Using a teaspoon, fill indentions with frosting. If you want to decorate with sprinkles, make sure you do it right after you pour the icing. This frosting will set so if you try to use sprinkles later on, they won’t stick! Make sure to leave the cookies out for about 1-2 hours so the icing can dry before you store them in an air-tight container.
Between babies and businesses, the girls at YCSWU are in desperate need of some rest. This will be our last new post of 2015 so that we can spend a little more time with friends and family this holiday season. From all four of us, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. We will see you refreshed and ready to go in 2016!