File these little gems under “best after school snacks”. The only thing that might make these even better is homemade jam. Bonne Maman is never a bad stand in though.
Thumbprint Cookies
2 cups (284g) flour 1/2 cup (50g) almond flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup butter, at room temperature 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for rolling 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 cup strawberry (or your other favorite!) jam
1. Adjust oven rack to the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line sheet pans with parchment paper. 2. In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients – flour, almond flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. 3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed for about a minute. Add the 3/4 cup sugar and mix on medium until light and fluffy – about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and then add the egg, yolk and vanilla. Mix on low until combined. 4. Add flour and mix on low until combined. Use your rubber spatula to scrape down the sides to make sure it’s evenly combined. 5. Roll the dough into 1/2 oz (15g) or about 2 teaspoon balls. Roll each ball into the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. 6. Place cookies on each sheet pan and use your thumb to make an indentation in the middle of each ball. Fill with a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of jam. 7. Bake one pan at a time, rotating halfway through. Bake until cookies are puffed, sides are set and bottom is just beginning to turn golden brown. About 10-12 minutes. Let cool on pan and store in an airtight container.
Two days until December and it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to assemble those cookie boxes this year. If you want to! Of course, it’s highly optional, but highly rewarding holiday gifting activity if you choose to do it!
Growing up in small town Indiana as part of a close knit and large extended family, cookie plates were a THING. You knew that Aunt Lee and Aunt Dianne and any number of any family members and friends were going to drop by the house the week before Christmas bearing cookie plates. Everyone had their favorite cookie on the plate and as one of six kids, you had to be quick if you wanted to get one.
Enter my own adulthood and last year I made my own cookie boxes for friends and neighbors down here in Florida. I’m not sure how other people do it, but I started early and it made for a really manageable Christmas cookie timeline that didn’t make me feel overwhelmed.
To do now: make your list of cookies/candies. I did 8 last year and will aim for the same this year. I’ll share recipes in the coming weeks, but I did – caramels, buckeyes, sugar cookies, molasses cookies, peanut butter blossoms, gingerbread, chocolate chunk shortbread, peppermint brownie cookies. I’m switching out a few but will keep most the same because part of the joy is the predictability.
To do each week from now until gifting time: make a couple doughs and stick it in the freezer. Did you know you can freeze cookie dough for up to 3 months? Last year I waited until the week before Christmas and made one dough each night and froze. It wasn’t awful but I think two a week is more manageable and doesn’t take away the joy. I’ll do one on a quiet night during the week and one on the weekend. Wait until the week of to make any candies (caramels, fudge, peppermint bark, candied oranges, etc) as those won’t freeze well. I have my sugar cookie dough in the freezer already and molasses cookies are slated for tonight.
To do at any time leading up to Christmas: find your cookie boxes. This actually gave me some trouble last year, so this year I’ll be scouting ahead. Hobby Lobby and Michaels seem to be the best resources for these little cardboard boxes for small or medium batches. Source your sprinkles and any cute decorations you want to use! Buy early as they sell out quickly. And get the giant cookie sheets. It’s 100% worth not having to do multiple batches and just getting the cookies all in the oven in one go. For your pretty instagram picture, you’re going to want to find a nice wooden box to arrange them all. I found a couple in the dollar spot at Target this year, and last year mine was from Michael’s. Check the jewelry section. They have a little wooden box with compartments that are perfect for cookies.
The night before baking day: put your doughs into the fridge to defrost overnight.
The week of: make your candies, your frostings. Pick up any extra supplies you might need.
The day before: bake your roll out sugar cookies. Stick them in the fridge after baking so that you can decorate them on baking day. You could even get these completely done and also ice them as they’re the most time consuming.
On baking day: set aside much of your day for baking and clean up. You’ve done the hard work! Now you just have to get it all baked and decorated. If you’re not dropping off your cookies on the same day – don’t make the boxes yet. Especially if you’re making a cookie with a peppermint or peanut butter profile. The taste will definitely seep into the other cookies.
Try to gift your cookies asap! The fresher the better!!
I’m going to do another post this week with some suggestions of cookies that are yummy! If it’s your first year, maybe just try a couple cookies and gift them to friends and family. Happy baking season friends!!
We have gone through many, many chocolate chip cookies. I just feel like a home with three little boys and two adults should have homemade cookies on the counter at (nearly) all times. And let’s agree that of the multitude of cookie options in the world – chocolate chip cookies are the best. Sure, I love peanut butter, and oatmeal, and sugar, and and and, but chocolate chip cookies just scream HOME. But I don’t want any old chocolate cookie. I expect Greatness.
So, let’s talk recipes – I’ve tried many. Many many. I should probably be embarrassed by the number of recipes I’ve tried. I’ve tried the Levain Bakery Recipe, the world’s best recipe on nytimes, Joanna Gaines’ recipe from her cookbook, like three different recipes from the 100 cookies cookbook, the one on the tollhouse chocolate chip bag, the one on the Ghiradelli bag, a few random ones that have really great reviews on allrecipes.com, a whole bunch of others that aren’t worth talking about, and finally, finally, I have this one. My favorite. It’s from Everyday Reading‘s blog, which is…not a cooking blog and honestly it’s not one that I even follow closely, but I was so sold by her description when I read it a few years ago that I had to try it. If you haven’t noticed – it doesn’t take much to convince me to try something. I quickly declared it my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe of all time.
But then after a few batches of Greatness, I decided that I had better keep trying others just in case because everyone else also says that they have the best recipe. And what if a better cookie is out there, but I haven’t tried it because I was so into this one?? But I’ve been underwhelmed by all others. This one is still it for me. Not gonna say I won’t keep trying others (just in case!), but these are the cookies I make when we have guests or when I’m bringing cookies to a party, or when I just want a really good cookie. When baked correctly, they’re done one the outside, but still perfectly soft on the inside. Not crunchy, not underdone – just perfect texture on the outside and inside. They’re beautiful. Beautiful! I know that it shouldn’t matter if a cookie is pretty or not if it tastes good, but these are PRETTY. And that means something to me. They’re what you want your cookies to look like when you’re sharing them with the world. And the taste – they’re just so dang good. Make them. Just try it. Tell me what you think! Are they really as good as I think they are? Do you have a better recipe? Because if you do – I need to try that one too. Just to make sure that this one really truly is THE best.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
2/3 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips 1 3/4 cups purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp salt coarse salt for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 375.
In a stand mixer, beat butter for about a minute. Add sugars and beat another minute or two. Scrape down sides of mixer with a rubber spatula. Add vanilla and egg. Beat again.
Add the flour, soda, and salt. Mix JUST until combined. It will look over-floured for a few seconds, but should come together fairly quickly.
Mix in the chocolate chips.
Scoop golf-ball size spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet, sprinkle each ball with a pinch of kosher or sea salt and bake for 9-11 minutes. They should be light-colored and puffed when they come out of the oven, but dry-looking (not shiny or wet). I often give them a little squish out of the oven on all the sides with a spatula to get that extra crinkly look on top. Then, let cool on the pan for about 3 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
**Notes: For the cookies you truly deserve – use Ghiradelli 60% Cacao. It really does make a difference.
The Metroka Family 