Christmas cookies, I love them. And although I bake gingerbread at least once a year, I also like to come up with new recipes for Christmas cookies. For this holiday season I made cranberry orange thumbprint cookies.
Orange and tangy cranberries go really well together. In this case, the orange zest went in the cookie dough and I spooned some cranberry filling into the center of each cookie before putting them in the oven. The result: delicious jam-filled cookies. Crispy on the outside thanks to the layer of sugar and soft on the inside. Perfect for this time of year.
As with most cookies these cranberry orange thumbprint cookies use pretty basic and simple ingredients.
You will need the following:
As always make sure you have all the ingredients at room temperature. Starting by creaming the butter and sugar in the food processor or hand mixer for a few minutes on medium speed until nice and creamy. Add the flour, salt and orange zest and knead into a firm dough. You can keep using the food processor if you set it to a low speed.
Now wrap the dough (form dough into a disc first) into some plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Want to know why you need to chill your dough?
Once the dough is chilled enough you form balls with around 40 grams (1.5 ounce) per ball of dough. They should be roughly 1-inch balls. Roll each ball through the cane sugar and place on a prepared baking sheet. Make sure to leave enough space between the cookies.
Now press a thumb in the center of the cookie and use a small spoon to add some cranberry compote. I use about 1 teaspoon of cranberry sauce or compote per cookie. Bake the cookies in the center of the oven until golden brown.
Let them cool a little on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. You can keep the cookies in an airtight container for up to one week.
It depends what you use to fill the cookies with. Jam or compote are typically added before baking, but if you fill them with a chocolate ganache or cream cheese you would do that after baking. For a classic thumbprint cookie the filling is usually added before baking.
Sure! You could use any kind of jam and even cherry pie filling is an option.
If you want to make substitutions to the recipe, for instance by adding almond flour or oat flour or changing the sugar to brown sugar, all the other elements will likely have to change as well. I have not tested this myself but you could probably make several changes by testing it thoroughly.
Press gently into the cookie dough balls and it usually helps if you use the back of a spoon or the back of a cookie scooper for making the indent.
You likely did not chill the dough enough, used butter that is too soft or not enough flour.
Most importantly is not to add too much of your filling to the cookie indent. It also helps using a thicker jam or compote.
You can! You can sprinkle a little bit of icing sugar over the top just before serving or sprinkle some nuts over the top before baking. A drizzle of white chocolate just before serving is also delicious.
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