Thumbprint Cookies

I made these lovely jewel cookies over the Christmas holidays, and did not bother to post them until now. I certainly was so perfect, buttery, and the different fillings, other than just the plain jams made a huge difference. So light,flaky, and melt in your mouth. You just couldn't stop at one, since the different jams, including my homemade mango jam, seedless raspberry, lemon curd, and the most favorite was the Nutella filling that the kids loved the most!

Creation of the 'Thumbprint Cookies' came from the 19th century, either from Sweden, or the Jewish people of Eastern Europe. It's such a versatile, popular holiday cookie with so many variations. Of course it's self explanatory about the 'thumbprint'...in which, one will press with the thumb in the center of the cookie dough, for jam filling. The jam can be filled while baking the cookies, or after it has been baked. I make mine both ways, but I do prefer to fill the cookies after it has been baked to enjoy the filling more!

You can't deny how flaky and light these cookies are...and just look at the 'jewel like' filling ones...and oh, I forgot the I also used orange marmalade filling, as well, but the Nutella filling was every one's favorite, except the lemon curd filling. It was not my homemade lemon curd, but if you find a nice bright yellow colored lemon curd in a specialty store, or your favorite supermarket, just grab it, because it will show that it's very fresh, vibrant and true lemony flavor! Never mind the cost, which is not really cheap...it's well worth it, rather than using the 8 egg yolks, and all that butter and fresh lemon juice, plus time consuming, can be costly as well!

The best part is the sharing...pack most of them up in a plastic container, just make sure you overlap them carefully, otherwise they will smear! This is the only time I wish that I had baked them with the filling...instead fill them afterwards, but I assure you, this way it has a more intense flavor from the various jams, lemon curd, and Nutella filling...yumm!

I used the recipe from my trusted Gourmet magazine, from Dec. of 2007...which they called it Trios, because 3 cookies were joined together and baked that way, but for me it did not sound logical, just to break them apart!

Check out the recipe for the...
Thumbprint Cookies...TRIOS