1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped pistachios
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Additional confectioners' sugar, optional
1. Preheat oven to 325°. Cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Add pistachios; mix well.
2. Shape dough into 1-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press a deep indentation in center of each with your thumb; fill each with 1/2 teaspoon jam.
3. Bake until bottoms are light brown, 13 to 16 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. If desired, dust with additional confectioners' sugar.
Thumbprint cookies are a Christmas classic, and I especially like my updated version with pistachios. The rich, buttery bites are not only delicious, but they are also pretty enough to give for gifts—if you manage to share them!
TOTAL TIME: Prep: 25 min. Bake: 15 min./batch + cooling
YIELD: about 3 dozen.
Nutrition Facts
1 cookie: 97 calories, 6g fat (3g saturated fat), 12mg cholesterol, 65mg sodium, 10g carbohydrate (4g sugars, 0 fiber), 1g protein.