These melt-in-your-mouth thumbprint cookies with icing are soft and buttery, and are filled with easy and simple icing!
These can be made Christmas-themed or valentines day themed! Top these with your favorite sprinkles or color the icing with your favorite food coloring!
I love these cookies so much because they are not too sweet, they are just right with the salt in the cookie dough and the icing on top!
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Why this recipe works
- It is a not chill cookie recipe, so you dont need to chill the dough!
- These cookies are soft and will melt in your mouth!
- They are perfect to fill with your favorite filling.
- These cookies are made with super simple ingrediets that you probably have in your kitchen right now!
Ingredients
Before you start to make this iced thumbprint cookies recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
Butter- use unsalted butter for this recipe. Only butter will work for this recipe, no margarine, and no coconut oil. Margarine has a weird taste and can ruin the flavor of these delicious cookies.
Egg yolk- you will need 1 egg yolk for this cookie dough. Make sure that your egg yolk is at room temperature.
Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, also the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe. cake flour will work great as well.
Kosher salt- you will need about ½ teaspoon of kosher salt for this recipe.
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor.
For the icing
Powder sugar- is known as confessional sugar. For a smoother icing, sift it before adding it to the butter.
Milk- use your favorite milk for this. Can be plant based or whole milk.
Vanilla extract- if you want to make these even better, use a vanilla bean vanilla extract.
Instructions
Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Into a large mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and sugar. Mix with an electric hand mixer until well combined and creamy.
Add the egg yolk and mix until the mixture is smooth.
Add the flour, and mix the dough until it is just combined and there are no lumps of flour visible. The dough might look crumbly, but it will come together beautifully.
Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out about 1 tablespoon of the cookie dough and roll them into balls. Using your thumb or a teaspoon, make indents on each cookie.
Bake the cookies in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 10 minutes. Don't overbake these cookies so they will stay soft!
When you take the cookies out of the oven, immediately reshape the cookies using a spoon or your thumb.
Let the cookies cool to room temperature and make the icing: in a small mixing bowl, add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon or a mini spatula until it's silky smooth.
Transfer the icing to a piping bag and cut off the tip. Fill each cookie with the icing, and top them with powdered sugar.
Expert Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cookies and not dense and dry cookies.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Line your sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat! This step helps the cookies to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your cookies release easily from the pan.
- Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Faq's
We use all-purpose flour for this recipe, and cake flour will work great as well.
If your dough is too sticky, you may have used butter that is too warm when making the cookie dough. Your butter should be at room temperature and it should be soft to the touch.
Another reason can be that you didn't measure your flour correctly. You may add not enough flour to the dough. Make sure that you measure your flour correctly.
Yes! You can make the cookie dough and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you are ready to bake, follow the instructions as written.
Storing
Store these cookies at room temperature for up to 5 days. Store these in an airtight container so they won't dry out.
Freezing
Freezing these cookies is very easy. Simply cover it with a plastic wrap tightly (a few layers) and transfer it into an airtight freezer-friendly container and freeze it for up to 2 months.
Thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for about an hour.
Substitutions
Dairy-free - If you are dairy-free, replace the butter with vegan butter or plant-based butter. Do not use margarine. It will change the flavor of these cookies and leave a weird taste.
For the icing, swap the milk with plant-based milk.
Gluten-free - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, simply replace the flour with gluten-free flour.
Variations
Filling- Fill these cookies with your favorite filling like hazelnut spread, jam, dulce de leche, caramel, etc.
Lemon zest- add lemon zest to the cookie dough for a delicious lemon flavor and aroma.
Icing- make this icing with your favorite flavoring, you can add lemon or orange zest or juice, or add almond extract for an almond flavor.
More buttery cookie recipes
Lemon curd cookies- These lemon curd cookies are made with a shortbread thumbprint cookie and filled with homemade lemon curd.
Italian wedding cookies- Italian wedding cookies are shortbread-like cookies that are tossed in powder sugar and made with only a few simple ingredients!
Almond snowball cookies- These snowball cookies are made with almond flour and almond extract for extra almond flavor. These cookies will completely melt in your mouth and you won't be able to stop at one!
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📖 Recipe
Thumbprint Cookies With Icing
Ingredients
- 115 g Butter
- â…“ cup Granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 Egg yolk
- 1 ¼ cups Flour gluten free if needed
Icing
- 1 ½ cup Powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon Milk add more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Into a large mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and sugar. Mix with an electric hand mixer until well combined and creamy
- Add the egg yolk and mix until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the flour, and mix the dough until it is just combined and there are no lumps of flour visible. The dough might look crumbly, but it will come together beautifully.
- Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out about 1 tablespoon of the cookie dough and roll them into balls. Using your thumb or a teaspoon, make indents on each cookie.
- Bake the cookies in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 10 minutes. Don't overbake these cookies so they will stay soft!
- When you take the cookies out of the oven, immediately reshape the cookies using a spoon or your thumb.
- Let the cookies cool to room temperature and make the icing: in a small mixing bowl, add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon or a mini spatula until it's silky smooth.
- Transfer the icing to a piping bag and cut off the tip. Fill each cookie with the icing, and top them with powdered sugar.
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cookies and not dense and dry cookies.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Line your sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat! This step helps the cookies to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your cookies release easily from the pan.
- Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Gina
How can you shape with your hands once the cookies are out of the oven? It doesn’t make sense
RichandDelish
You can use a teaspoon!