Old Fashioned Jam Thumbprint Cookies

These old-fashioned jam thumbprint cookies are probably my favorite Christmas cookie from my childhood. I remember my mom making these buttery treats every holiday season, and of course I remember eating them, too.

While my mom's thumbprint cookies were rolled in chopped walnuts, I've also seen them covered in coconut, too. I decided to do a taste test and we decided that the coconut ones are our favorite, although the walnut versions are delicious too.

I followed a suggestion in the Ina Garten recipe for these and finished the cookies with an egg wash. I thought the step was kind of unusual for cookies, but it really made a difference in texture and appearance. You can use any jam you like in these; I used raspberry preserves and orange marmalade.

Ingredients

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes or chopped walnuts (or some of each)
• Raspberry jam or orange marmalade

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

In a stand mixer fitted with its paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the add the vanilla and beat into the butter and sugar mixture.

In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients bit by bit to the butter and sugar. Mix until dough starts to come together. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface, roll it together, and form it into a flat disk. Wrap dough in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and form into balls approximattely 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut or walnuts (or both, if you feel like it). Place balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and press lightly on the top of each one with your finger to make a shallow indentation.

Place about a 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire cooling rack.