Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
[donotprint]
I don’t know about you, but when I think about thumbprints, I almost always think of them filled with jelly or jam and they usually only show up around the holidays. The thing is, I’m not a huge jam person. I mean, I love my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just as much as the next gal (well, maybe even more so, I do loooove my peanut butter!), but even then, the peanut butter to jelly ratio has to be very high. It always seems too sweet to me, so I’ve never been a huge fan of thumbprint cookies for that reason. Well, thumbprint cookies minus the jam and plus chocolate? Awesome. Totally awesome. The base for the cookie is a really simple shortbread dough made with just butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, salt and flour, which makes for a delicious buttery cookie that melts in your mouth.
The original recipe for these thumbprints calls for using your thumb to make the indentations in the middle of these cookies (hence, why they’re called thumbprints). But umm… the cookies are really freakin’ hot out of the oven! I tried one and was not about to subject my thumb to any additional cruel and unusual punishment for the sake of cookies. I used the back of a melon baller to make the indentations and that worked great. No one will ever know the difference :)
One year ago: Anadama Bread
Two years ago: Chicken Fajita Enchiladas
Three years ago: Dark Chocolate Chip Scones[/donotprint]
Chocolate Thumbprints
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided, (1¼ sticks )
- ½ cup (60 g) confectioners' sugar
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) corn syrup
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside. If you are not using parchment or a silicone baking mat, you do not need to grease the baking sheet.
- 2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together 1 stick of the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium-high.
- 3. Using a small cookie scoop or heaping teaspoons, roll the dough into balls, and place 1-inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and make an indentation into the middle of each cookie. Return to oven, and bake until light brown on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
- 4. Combine chocolate, 2 tablespoons butter, and corn syrup in a small heat-proof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth. (Alternately, you can microwave the mixture on 50% power in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until completely melted and smooth.) Allow to cool slightly. When cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Haven’t made yet but will tomorrow! I’m going to color dough green and use re /white striped Hershey kisses.
Can you put raspberry preserve under the chocolate?
Are you using cold butter or softened room temp? Â
Hi Dee, Room temperature!
Followed the recipe exactly and just didn’t like them. They were way too dense and salty and they cracked horribly. Definitely needed wet ingredients besides butter. Just made another batch using a different recipe that calls for an egg and they are a lot better.
Is confectioners sugar correct or did you mean granulated sugar?Â
Hi Anna, Confectioners sugar is correct.
Me and my family absolutely loved it.  This is  a wonderful recipe.
Can I use this recipe to add jam before if bakes and then bake it for some more time like the classic jam filled cookie.
Yes, I don’t see why not!
i am imagining that chocolate replace with blueberry or strawberry, can i? :D
Absolutely!
Do you know how to modify the dough to be used with a cookie press? Thanks on advance.
Hi Diane, I have never used a cookie press, so unfortunately I’m not sure how this would be modified.
Just made these babies in the oven and they turned out spectacular!!! Next time I’m gonna add some chocolate chips in the cookie batter. I’m gonna use milk chocolate to make the filling cause semi-sweet is a little bitter for my taste. I guess that’s why we add the corn syrup in to make it a little sweeter. My cookies were a little hard. Does anyone know how to make them a little softer and chewier??
Hi Meenu, If you’d like the cookies a little soft and chewier, you could replace 50% – 100% of the butter with shortening.
I’m currently making this recipe and the dough is super soft… I used confectioner’s sugar in step 2 but now I’m wondering if you meant reguar sugar? the dough is too soft to roll into balls! :-/
Hi Samantha, No, confectioner’s (powdered) sugar is correct. Try refrigerating the dough to firm it up if you can’t roll it into balls.
I have my Cranberry Nut bread in the oven baking, and was searching for thumbprint cookies to make next. I’m actually glad I found your blog, because I thought you made the thumbprint and put the chocolate in before baking. WHAT? Don’t know where I got that idea, but am glad I didn’t try it and waste a bag of Hershey’s Kisses!
Thanks for clearing it up for me. These sound yummy!
You’re meant to make the ‘thumbprint’ in the dough before it goes in the oven not after..
This recipe barely made 1 dozen cookies… Think I will double it next time!
Do you really need the 3/4 tsp of corn syrup? I’m trying to figure out if I can get away with it. Thank you in advance!
Hi Anna, It helps give the frosting a smooth, shiny appearance. You can probably omit it if you’d like.
Thank you. Exactly what I was looking for.
I don’t have a paddle attachment on my electric mixer. What can I use as a substitute? I am a beginner baker. So far I’ve tried 2 of your recipes, and they turned out great! Thanks!
Hi Raflin, You can just use whatever standard beaters come with your mixer.
I plan on making these soon, and i apologize for my ignorance, but is the butter supposed to be cold or at room temperature?
Hi Henna, I apologize for leaving out that note – it should be at “cool” room temperature – soft enough so that you can press an indentation in the butter, but not so soft that it smooshes when you do. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your quick reply! And no need to apologize :) These were fantastic! My 21-month-old son loved these! I was happy because we’ve had problems with him eating and not being interested in food, but he totally devoured these! I made a blogpost on them:
http://myninjanaan.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/chocolate-thumbprint-cookies-2/
Again, thanks sooo much!
yaaay,these were great!!;D
Yummie!!! When I make thumbprint cookies with jam, I too use my thumb prior baking. Howevere, in this case when your supposed to fill the indentaion after baking the cookie, I’m not sure it will work?! I think the dough might rise/evene out a bit. Well, it’s just one way to find out and it’s to try. Thanks for the recipe I def need to try it with chocolate! And if anybody wants a recipe for a raspberry filling check out:
http://meandmysweets.blogspot.com/2011/12/raspberry-thumbprint-cookies.html
I liked these – very rich! I’m glad I doubled the recipe because they’re so small. I substituted honey for corn syrup and it worked fine. I also found the dough to be dry and tough to work with but I kept pressing it together with my hands and they turned out fine. Thanks!
:( I just tried to make these and the dough ended up being extremely dry and impossible to work with. As soon as I saw the end result after adding the flour I knew there was no way that I was going to be able to roll it into balls and make cookies out of it. Any idea what I did wrong? I followed the directions exactly so I am completely stumped and sad.
I’m guessing an egg is missing but not sure, I had the same problem. I followed the recipe above and they taste like danish wedding cookies with chocolate.
I tried these today to. Mine rolled into a ball ok…but when I used the melon baller to make the indentation, the rest of the cookie fell apart. I don’t know where I went wrong. I would like to try again though, they look so cute! (Not mine!)
I’m on a commenting roll today :) Sorry.
Just thinking… when I make my thumbprint cookies, I use my thumb to make an indentation prior to baking. Then, depending on whether I want my centers chewy or light, I fill them up before or after.
Do you think I can do that with this recipe too? Make my indentation prior to baking? I like using my thumb :)
You know, that’s a good idea! I don’t see why not!
I cannot wait to try these!!
I made these amazing cookies yesterday & OMG they were freakin’ delicious
my mom fell in love with them ♥♥
what surprised me more that they look exactly like the pictures O__O
I’m such a kid when I made a new recipe :P
thank you Michelle you are a true talented baker ^__^
These look delicious! Love the chocolate center, I’m not much of a jam fan on cookies either!
They look perfect. Clever idea using a melon baller!
http://www.makingmemorieswithyourkids.blogspot.com
So pretty! I think I might make these this weekend!
You started talking about PB & no J. I couldn’t get it out of my mind so I sub’d PB for the butter in the filling. Heaven! Love the mellon baller idea.
These look so perfect and like you, I think I prefer the chocolate filling over jam! You’re the best!
Are these cookies similiar to a cookie a Publix called Tortica de Moron? I LOVE LOVE LOVE those cookies.
Made these today- super quick, super yummy.
I did want to mention this only made 15 cookies for me. I had a feeling I wouldn’t get the 24 the recipe claims from the ingredient list— so I am not disappointed, just thought I would share with others. I made balls approx 5/8″ in diameter, nothing big.
Very sweet cookies, Michelle! I do like the idea of filling them with chocolate rather than jam.
These cookies look great and remind me of the Stella Doro Fudge filled cookies my grandmother always bought for me.
No see I can learn something new almost every day. I had no ideas these things were called “thumbprint” cookies. Why is that? It doesn’t really look like a thumbprint does it?
So nice, I always use the back of my wooden spoon.
I want to use this filling on peanut butter blossoms–just switching the Kisses for the filling. I really don’t like how the Kisses get hard after the cookies are cool and think this would be perfect!
These cookies are adorable!
Thumbprint cookies are one of my favorites. I like chocolate instead of jam in yours!
One word…..YUMMY!
I LOVE chocolate, and this looks really yummy :)
These look so good especially as I write this after mid-night! Your fantastic photography makes them even more delish! I’m going to try this recipe for sure! Thanks. :)
thy look delicious
Yes…someone mentioned it in an earlier comment – reminds me of jam thumbprints too. Chocolate filled is always great too. The crinkle texture looks so good!
These sound so good!!! HEAVEN!
I love these!! Yum!
Love the idea of thumbprints filled with chocolate. Waaaay better than jam.
Oh my gosh! I was just thinking about making thumbprint cookies, mostly because we have so many jars of jam that I wanted to use some up, but these chocolate ones look sooo yummy I mught leave the jam alone!
You should try the recipe for fudge puddles on allrecipes.com they are peanut butter cookies with fudge in the middle. Too DIE FOR!!! Its my most requested recipe
Good idea with the melon baller!
I love the chocolate filling!
Uhm … yes please. Thank you. Oh, and the perfect little circles really appeal to the neat freak in me. (It’s a really, really hidden freak.)
Precious! And you’re making me hungry.
Yum! These look sooo good to me right now. I sometimes use a wine cork for indentations in cookies like these, in case any one doesn’t have a melon baller.
Look picture perfect + delicious. I will try these and may try adding peanut butter to some of them. Thanks for a fun post. Cute little cookies.
I think it must be my inner perfectionist, but I really love how each of the chocolate thumbprints are exactly circular and just centered. Not to mention, they are really cute. :)
yeah i think so, how about decorate it like a… bear head, that will be so cute too, super cute :3
I’m so bookmarking these. Right. Now. ;-)
These look so yummy. Can’t wait to try out this recipe.
Love these Michelle! So cute and I bet they are to die for!
These look insanely delicious! I love thumbprint cookies. My mom makes them around Christmas and I snatch up as many as I can! I don’t think I can wait until December now!!
These are one of my favorite types of cookies. Ever! I once made a version that used Nutella in the cookie batter. So double chocolate hazelnut thumbprints! xxSAS
I used the chocolate ganache in the batter. Nutella would be good too. Chocolate shortbread cookies!
yum lacy!
yah karen
WOW lol a reply on reply on reply on reply. djfhlfhhvkdfhvknkehfkenrufhoernviuhejvoiuerwnvuerhvlerounver
i was JUST thinking i normally think of jam thumbprints,but it makes perfect sense to make them with chocolate! these are simple and gorgeous (and no doubt delicious too!)
This recipe reminds me of the peanut butter blossoms…which are my family’s favorite. Instead of jam or chocolate you could also put Nutella in the middle once the cookies cooled :) yum
I will definitely be trying these!