Blackberry Thumbprints Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spread almonds in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 6 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light brown. Cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
• In food processor, place almonds. Cover; process 30 seconds or until finely ground.
• In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well.
• In medium bowl, mix flour, salt, cloves, cinnamon and almonds; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. On cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Press thumb into each ball, forming indentation.
• Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool 30 minutes. Spoon preserves into resealable freezer plastic bag; seal bag. Cut off tiny corner of bag; squeeze bag to pipe preserves into indentation in each cookie.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine flour, cornmeal, sage, and baking powder. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and add brown sugar, beat until combined. Beat in egg yolks, lemon zest and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture. Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls, place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Lightly press the tip of your thumb into the center of each ball. Fill the centers with about 1/4 teaspoons of the blackberry preserves. Bake 10 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute and then transfer to rack to cool completely.

Steps:

• Combine the butter, sugar, egg, cream and vanilla extract in bowl of a mixer. Beat on low speed, then on medium speed until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of bowl. Add the salt, baking powder and flour; beat on low until just combined, forming a soft dough. Gather into a ball, flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Unwrap the dough and place between two large pieces of parchment paper. Roll out evenly to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Refrigerate (in the paper) for 10 to 15 minutes, until firm. Line baking sheets with parchment. Remove top piece of parchment from the dough; place the dough (with paper on the bottom) on the counter. Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out as many rounds as you can, placing them on a lined baking sheet and refrigerating them for 10-15 minutes. If dough seems too soft as you are working, return it to refrigerator until it has chilled again. Rewrap scraps of dough and return them to the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes. Repeat to cut out a total of 40-48 rounds of dough, making sure they are all chilled a second time. Use a linzer cookie cutter or a 1-inch round cookie cutter to create center holes in half of the rounds of cookie dough. Refrigerate the rounds with holes for 20 minutes; save scraps for another use, if desired. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fill a small piping bag with the jam. Squeeze about 1/2 teaspoon jam onto the center of each bottom round of dough. Top with the rounds that have a hole in them, pressing gently to create a sandwich. Rearrange on the baking sheets as needed, spacing the cookies 1 inch apart. Bake one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are barely golden brown. While cookies are baking, whisk together zest, sugar and thyme leaves (to taste) in a medium bowl. When cookies are done, transfer the baking sheet to the stove top (off the heat). Immediately sprinkle with sugar then cool on rack.