OLD FASHIONED THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Old-Fashioned Thumbprint Cookies

You can also vary the dough by flavoring it with another extract such as almond, or with orange flower or rose water. The sugar for rolling them can also be a flavored one, such as vanilla, lavender, or coconut sugar.

The jam in the ones that are pictured here is peach, because it’s what was in my fridge, but just about anything will work, so use whatever you happen to have on hand: apricot, blackberry, fig, festive holiday red cherry, raspberry, or strawberry, or even orange marmalade. They’re also lovely with equal parts peach jam and orange marmalade mixed together.

Makes about 30 (2½ dozen) cookies

8 ounces (2 sticks or 1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

1 large egg yolk

2 teaspoons Bourbon Vanilla (see ) or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

10 ounces (about 2 cups) all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ cup granulated sugar, for coating

About ½ cup jam (apricot, blackberry, cherry, peach, raspberry or orange marmalade), at room temperature

1. Cream the butter until fluffy and light and blend in the confectioners’ sugar. Blend in the egg yolk and vanilla. Whisk or sift together the flour and salt. Gradually work it into the butter and sugar mixture to form a fairly stiff dough. Cover and let it rest 15-20 minutes.

2. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Scoop tablespoons of the dough onto the parchment, then with your hands roll them into an even ball. Roll each ball of dough in the granulated sugar and return them to the parchment, spacing them about 1 inch apart.

3. Using your thumb or the back of a round ½-teaspoon measuring spoon, press a well into the center of each cookie. When all the cookies are rolled, shaped, and pressed, refrigerate them until the dough is very firm, at least 30 minutes.

4. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350° F. Put the jam in a shallow bowl and stir until it’s smooth and soft enough to spoon. Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and spoon enough jam into each imprint to fill it even with the top (about ½ teaspoon).

5. Bake until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottom and beginning to color at the edges, about 15-18 minutes. Cool them in the pan on a wire cooling rack before storing in airtight tins with parchment paper between each layer.