Updated Post- Grandma's Thumbprint Cookies

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Hi everyone!  I hope you had a great 4th of July celebration with your family and friends.  I know that I did!

Today's post is an updated post, meaning that is a post that is being revamped for one reason or another.  Today's post is being revived form a photography standpoint.  You can find the original post here.

Although my grandma passed away when I was very young, I still know a lot about her.  One of the things I have been told over the years is that she was a wonderful cook.  It's not like she knew how to make a bunch of fancy dishes, but she knew how to artfully execute classic cultural dishes like her unique Croatian sauerkraut and her soulful chicken noodle soup.   But her cooking repertoire was not limited to just savory recipes; she also crafted some delectable desserts 😋!  One of these treats was her sponge cake, which was fluffy and sweet and whose underside was smeared with sticky, fruity jam.  Another dessert that she made were her thumbprint cookies, which I will tell you more about today.

So what are thumbprint cookies?  Essentially, they are sugar cookie style cookies filled with jam and garnished with walnuts.  Although they take some time to make, my grandma's thumbprint cookies are quite simple to prepare and require ingredients that the average home cook has on hand.

There are a few major steps when making thumbprint cookies.  First off, you've got to make the dough, which, as I mentioned before, is a lot like a sugar cookie dough.  Then, you need to make an assembly line.  In one bowl add the jam, in another bow, add the egg whites, and in another bowl add some chopped walnuts.  To prepare the cookie, make a dough ball, indent it, fill it with jam, brush in egg whites, and sprinkle with the chopped walnuts.  Pop these beauties in the oven and you'll have sweet, comforting cookies to eat in no time!

While these cookies are perfectly tasty in their own right, they get even better when dunked in a steaming cup of coffee or an icy glass of milk 😋.

I look forward to posting again on Monday!

Grandma's Thumbprint Cookies

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened 
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
  •   2 egg yolks + reserved egg whites
  •   1/2 tsp. salt 
  •   1/2 tsp. vanilla 
  •   2 cups all-purpose flour
  •    1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
  •   1/2 cup fruit preserves ( I like apricot of strawberry. 
1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2.  In a large bowl, beat together the butter, shortening, brown sugar, egg yolks, salt, and vanilla until a soft dough forms.
3.  Gradually add the flour and mix until combined.
4.  In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites.
5.  In another small bowl, add the chopped walnuts.
6.  In another small bowl, add the fruit preserves.
7.  Scoop 1.5 Tbs. balls of dough from the mixture.
8.  Dunk each dough ball in egg whites.
9.  Roll each dough ball in the chopped walnuts.
10.  Make and indentation with your thumb in the center of the dough ball and fill the indentation with fruit preserves.
11.  Bake the dough in the preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, until lightly browned.
12.  Enjoy, storing at room temperature for up to 3 days.





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