Pumpkin-Pie Thumbprint Cookies Give You the Best of Both Holiday Desserts
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You don't need to be obsessed with anything and everything pumpkin spice to fall hard for these pumpkin-butter-filled thumbprint cookies, though a love for the cozy fall flavor doesn't hurt. Gently spiced, these festive sweets have a texture somewhere in between a cut-out sugar cookie and shortbread. In other words, they're a little bit tender, a little bit chewy, and butter rich.
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Dolloped with pumpkin butter — I'm particularly fond of Stonewall Kitchen's version — they bake up into a treat that's reminiscent of pumpkin pie. Best the day they're baked, they soften up a bit as they age, but are still quite tasty a couple days in, that is, if you can keep them around that long.
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Pumpkin-Pie Thumbprint Cookies
From Nicole Perry, POPSUGAR Food
INGREDIENTS
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (132 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (284 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 of a (12 1/2-ounce) jar pumpkin butter, such as Stonewall Kitchen
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, sugar, salt, and pumpkin-pie spice on medium-high heat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add the vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix on low until mixed in enough that it won't make a mess, then increase the speed to medium and mix until a ball of dough forms.
Shape dough into roughly 1 1/4-inch balls using a #50 disher. Place 2 inches apart onto the parchment-lined pans. Make an indentation in each cookie with your thumb, rotating your thumb to hollow it out into a round well. Fill the wells of each cookie with a dollop of pumpkin butter (about 1/2 teaspoon per cookie).
Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The cookies will spread and puff up, and should begin to color on their bottoms. Cool on the pans for 2-3 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. (A thin cookie spatula makes easy work of this delicate task.)