Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

Even though my holiday cookie recipes are not original to my head I thought it would still be fun to share some of them. Whenever possible I try to use local and/or organic ingredients.

I have always been a bit nutty about saving recipes that I stumble across in magazines, etc. This recipe I happened to find when I was just out of college working at a small local newspaper. Land O Lakes had sent out recipe booklets to the media. When I saw this recipe I immediately held onto the brochure because I love raspberry jam!

Raspberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprints

Preparation time: 45 min Baking time: 14 min

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• Raspberry jam

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions:

1. Combine butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy.
2. Reduce speed to low; add flour. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
3. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour.
4. Place rack in upper third of oven.
5. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
7. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly).
8. Fill each indentation with 1/4 teaspoon of jam.
9. Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Turn the cookie sheet half way through the bake time.
10. Let stand 1 minute; remove cookies from cookie sheets.
11. Cool completely.
12. Whisk all glaze ingredients in small bowl until smooth.
13. Drizzle the glaze over cookies. (I usually pour the glaze into a small plastic bag, snip just a tiny bit off a corner and gently pipe the glaze over the cookies.

Alternative:

• Substitute raspberry jam for your favorite flavor.
• You can also easily substitute the all-purpose flour, for example, with whole wheat pastry flour or another type of flour, depending on your preference.