By Dorie Greenspan
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- 4(607)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Deeply chocolaty like devil’s food cake, speckled with sugar on the outsides and filled with soft chocolate or jam in the centers, these cookies are a double pleasure: delightful to eat and fun to make. While “thumbprints” is an adorable name, it’s a misnomer: You use every part of your hands to form these. The cookies need to be pinched, patted, rolled around and poked before they’re sent into the oven. It’s a great project to do with kids — small thumbs are perfect for forming little dimples in the dough. What you fill the centers with is up to you. Chocolate with chocolate is great — naturally pink ruby chocolate is particularly pretty — and jam is delicious, too.
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Ingredients
Yield:About 40 cookies
- ¾cup/102 grams all-purpose flour
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5tablespoons/71 grams unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 8ounces/226 grams semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 1⅓ cups)
- ⅔cup/132 grams granulated sugar
- 2cold large eggs
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Sanding or granulated sugar, for coating (about ⅓ cup)
- 4ounces/113 grams chocolate (white, milk, dark or ruby), chopped (about ½ cup)
- ½teaspoon canola oil (optional)
For the Cookies
For the Filling
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (40 servings)
84 calories; 4 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 34 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Make the cookies: Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Step
2
Place a heatproof medium bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water; don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Drop in the chunks of butter and scatter over the chocolate. Heat, stirring now and then, until the butter and chocolate are melted, but not so hot that they separate, 5 to 7 minutes.
Step
3
Remove the bowl from the saucepan and whisk in the sugar. (Don’t be alarmed when the mixture turns grainy.) One by one, add the cold eggs, whisking vigorously until the mixture is thick and smooth, and the whisk leaves tracks. Beat in the vanilla, then switch to a spatula and add the flour in 3 additions, stirring gently between each addition, until the flour disappears into the dough. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 4 days.
Step
4
When you’re ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and heat it to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Put the sanding or granulated sugar in a small bowl and, if you’ve got one, have a cork from a wine bottle at hand.
Step
5
Using a small cookie scoop or measuring spoon, scoop mounds of dough, each a scant tablespoon. Roll the dough into balls and then roll the balls in the sugar to coat. Place the balls on the baking sheets, giving them 1½ inches or so of space to spread. Press the cork into the center of each cookie or use your thumb to make an indentation.
Step
6
Bake 1 sheet for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies feel firmish. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack. The indentations will have puffed in the oven, so you’ll want to press them down again. Repeat with the second sheet. Let cookies cool completely.
Step
7
Fill the prints: Melt milk, dark or ruby chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. If using white chocolate, add oil before melting and stir until smooth. While the chocolate is still warm and fluid, use a small spoon to fill each indentation to the brim, letting the chocolate fall from the end of the spoon. Slide the cookies into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to set the chocolate. The cookies will keep for about 5 days in a covered container at room temperature.
Ratings
4
out of 5
607
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Renee
Just thinking about these with Bon Maman raspberry jam in the center...
Joe
Ms Greenspan - good luck with your newsletter and know you will be missed on the pages of the NYT. I have always relied on your column for terrific baking ideas and tips and you delivered each and every time!
SoozN
Tried this with dulce de leche. Divine. Like a rollo in cookie form. <3
Margaret
Thank you, Dorie. This recipe is now on my weekend list. I must keep up with DorieWorld, so you can now count me as a new subscriber. However, I don't use FB/Meta (find it a morally repulsive company), so I am sorry to see that I cannot comment on recipes on that platform. I look forward to baking with you anyway!
Phyllis Howe
Question: What if you wanted to put a nut in the centter. Would you insert it after the baking or before?
Kevern
This recipe looks very promising, but, how in the world do you get 40 cookies out of 3/4 of a cup of flour and 8 oz chocolate?
Shari
These are terrific-chocolatey, but not too; crunchy from the sanding sugar, yet chewy inside; and then bam! that merest whisper of cinnamon.I got 35* nice-sized cookies with a 1 Tbl disher (14-16 gram dough balls). I baked for 5 min, rotated the pan, baked for 5 more. The dough needed chilling bt batches cuz my kitchen runs warm. The large end of a champagne cork worked perfectly & I used Ghirardelli Thumbprint Drops-easy peasy.*I probably woulda gotten 36 if I hadn’t eaten so much dough.
Deborah
Margaret, I stand with you not using FB/Meta!
susan hassler
I wasn’t much interested in cooking while watching Julia with my mom but one thing I still remember vividly after all these years. Julia said not to be afraid of mistakes because that’s where you learn the most…her off-handed remark confirmed something I already had known subconsciously. Thank you, Julia, I wasn’t afraid anymore and learned so much more than just cooking and thank you Dorie for reminding me of her simple brilliance.
David
If you prefer not to use a wine soaked cork, have ready an empty, and thoroughly washed and dried Blistex or Chapstick tube. It is the correct size, and is easier to use than the handle of a wooden spoon, which is often suggested for Thumbprint cookies. If it sticks, apply a thin coating of butter to the end of it. Happy baking!
LC
If you add raspberry jam and a dark chocolate kiss, it will taste exactly like a tootsie pop. I know this from experience. I had a very lovely devil’s food wedding cake, which was served with a fresh raspberry coulis. My kid brother informed me the cake tasted exactly like a tootsie pop. I reluctantly had to agree that the kid was right.
cricket
I want to make these with a peanut-butter filling! They are definitely going on my "to cook this weekend" list.
Momof2
Delicious. The dough is too hard to scoop out after refrigeration. My wrist and arm were hurting, so for the next time, I scooped them out and formed the indentation and then froze them. So much easier this way! Also, they spread, so I formed them taller the second time and that also worked better. I used a ganache for the centers. My family and coworkers raved.
Janet
This recipe looks wonderful and perfect for gift-giving. I just want to add my thanks and good wishes and say that I have enjoyed reading even those Dorie recipes that look too intimidating for a sometime baker. Oh no, another newsletter to sign onto!
Janice
I made these today. Time consuming, but delicious. Instead of melting more chocolate for the centers, I chopped up some chocolate, removed the cookies from the oven with 1-2 minutes left and dropped some bits of chocolate into each print. Then I returned them to the oven for it to melt. Much easier! Recipe called for melting way too much chocolate for this purpose. Also, I placed a pecan half into about one third of the cookies prior to baking instead of chocolate.
David Z.
So I doubled the recipe and added an extra 1/4c of flour (1/2c total) and these still turned out super moist and rich. For the sugar dusting I used decorative gold sugar (added before baking) and then for the filling I made a peanut butter ganache. Out of all the holiday cookies we sent out these were by far the favorite!
Allison
Mildly concerned....does the dough firm up once it's in the fridge? Mine looks like a delicious cake batter. Please tell me my Cookie Extravaganza 2023 plans can still include these!
Naomi and Maya
We made a ganache from cream that was steeped with orange peel and cinnamon sticks and filled the cookies with it. Out of this world.
Marlee
Really enjoyed these. Like some others here, I found the dough quite tough to scoop after several hours in the fridge, and then when I went to make the thumbprints, it was clear that the dough was too brittle and the cookies were in danger of breaking apart. So, I put them in the oven as round balls and made the indents with the cylindrical handle of an offset spatula halfway through baking. Worked like a charm.
NT
Delicious! I mixed raspberry jam with the melted chocolate to fill in the center. They took a little longer to set but were fabulous.
minicats
Did anyone come up with a good peanut butter filling for these? I’ve tried some different variations and am still looking for that perfect balance that stands up to but doesn’t overpower the rich chocolate.
David Z.
Yes! I made a peanut butter ganache that worked perfectly. 1/2c heavy cream, 1/2c peanut butter chips, 1/4c smooth peanut butter (I used unsweetened), splash of vanilla. Heat up the heavy cream but don't boil. Whisk over the other ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Let stand until desired consistency. Worked very well with this recipe.
Kate
I added peppermint extract instead of vanilla. And in the center I pressed a Junior Mint candy while the cookies were still warm. The chocolate coating melts, adhering the candy to the cookie. Yum.
Jan
Delicious cookie. Yes a little messy to make but worth it. I ran short of chocolate filling as it’s difficult to divide it equitably between forty cookies and I must have been too generous. Next time will melt a little more than called for.
Jo
These cookies are awesomely delicious! I wondered why they only received a 4 star rating. So I read through notes to find a critical response but didn’t have time to scroll past the first dozen which were almost all 5 star. These cookies are *****!
Sfrupe
2023 Valentines Day. Used Irish butter. Filled with Maman raspberry jam and a Giraud chocolate baking disc. Used a cookie scoop with chilled dough- perhaps too cold. I pressed a cork or my finger in the dough before cooking, and cracks formed. The cookies flattened and spread (higher fat butter?) and we’re not as pretty as I hoped. Delicious- but this may not become my go-to chocolate cookie recipe. Husband and kiddos gobbled them up.
Melissa
These were delicious and melted in your mouth; I loved the hint of cinnamon. We experimented with the middle and tried raspberry jam, salty caramel, and dark chocolate fudge. They taste even nicer and warm so even a few days later, we gave them a little warm-up before eating. Made them in the shape of hearts for Vday :)
nlcary
I gave these a 4/5 because I didn’t enjoy the process of making them. As other reviewers have mentioned, the dough is really stiff after it comes out of the fridge, and rolling them is sticky and messy. BUT the end result was so, so delicious. I will make again, but I’ll enlist my children to do the messy bits!
Cathy
Much more effective to make the thumbprint AFTER the cookies are fully baked…not as much spreading.
caryn corenthal
Delicious cookies. I left out the cinnamon,bec I am not a fan of choc and cinnamon together. The dough was too solid after several hours, so I had to warm it up to roll it out. Easy to roll out. I used raspberry jam and drizzled chocolate on top. My family agreed the cookies were delicious.
Joann
What is more accurate measurement to use? grams or cups & ounces?
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