The Rainy Day Baker

Meredith: I was browsing your blog last night for what to bring into the office next week for V-Day. I want to make everything lol…I think I might do the thumbprint cookies you emailed at Christmas with pink frosting

My mom and I have been making Thumbprints for Christmas for years and years and it would never have occurred to me to transform this tried and true holiday cookie into a Valentine’s Day sweet. So, it goes without saying that this post is the brain child of Meredith, and she deserves all the credit.That said – I knew I had to change the “thumbprint” into a heart for festivity’s sake.

Know how you do that?

A potato! (I picked up this little trick over at Rookno17.com)

I drew the heart shape on to the cut side of a potato, traced the shape with a small knife, and then cut away the surrounding area so that the heart was exposed and taller than the rest of the remaining potato.The spud then worked like a stamp when gently pressed into each partially baked cookie. Brilliant.

After each cookie is stamped, they’re placed back into the oven for an additional 8 minutes (they only took 6 minutes more in my hot oven). I found that the stamped centers tended to puff back up during this time, so I used the clean, back-end of a wooden spoon handle to re-define the hearts and make enough room for the icing.Once the cookies had cooled completely I got to work filling them in with icing. You want to make sure the icing is thin so you can drizzle it in easily. I used a simple combination of powdered sugar, milk, and food coloring and adjusted the consistency by adding powdered sugar if it needed thickened or milk if it needed to be thinned out.

To make it easier to get the icing into the hearts without it dribbling down the sides of each cookie I used these squeeze bottles (purchased at Michaels). Allow enough time for the icing to harden before storing the cookies in an airtight container.

Happy Valentine’s Day, all!

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 egg yolks (save the egg white if you plan to roll the cookies in walnuts)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and a 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts (optional)

In the bowl of your electric mixer, mix the butter and shortening.
Add to it the brown sugar, egg yolks and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt.
Add the flour and salt mixture to the butter mixture and combine.

Roll dough into 1″ balls.

If rolling in chopped walnuts, slightly beat the egg whites in a small bowl.
Dip each dough ball into the egg whites and then roll in the chopped walnuts.

Place each about 1″ apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.
Bring the cookies out of the oven and gently press your thumb into the center of each (careful, they’ll be warm!).
Place the trays back in the oven for 8 minutes or until cookies are done through the center.
Cool completely.

Once the cookies have cooled, fill each with a thin (I would describe it as soupy) confectioner’s sugar icing.
The recipe I use is:

Powdered sugar
Milk
Food coloring

Allow the cookies to dry and set.