Does anything cue winter holidays like the stained glass reminiscent thumbprint cookie? Tangy fruit dancing on taste buds paired with a lightly caramelized cookie base–what’s not to love? While these are not a usual for me, having guava paste accessible and an itch for something that screams holiday cheer (short of eggnog and ugly sweaters), these were a wonderful way to blend homesick tropical flavor with the near universal unspoken love language known as cookies.
This year really puts into perspective home sickness. No matter how chaotic the year got, I could always rely on an end of year stint home to catch up with college friends, bombard my parents with love, and eat my heart out in tropical fruits and Caribbean food, and soak up the sun that has long since abandoned the Midwest. I think during a time period where we typically reconvene with those people and things that are timeless staples, we’re allowed a little wistfulness. Thankfully, with technology and some kitchen skills, I can still feel close to family and still taste some home bound flavors even if the sun is down by 4 PM here already.
And so, lemon zest inclusive, guava thumbprint cookies were an unplanned but necessary addition to this bake roster! After being optimistic and trying a recipe elsewhere, I decided to remake the recipe based on preferences for a sturdy cookie offsetting the gooey jam filling–personally I think a shortbread style based cookie really works well as iterated below. Also the wet to dry ratio lends well to my preference of adding the jam before baking.
Ingredients
Makes ~26-30 cookies
- 100g sugar
- 200g room temperature butter
- 300g All Purpose Flour
- 3-4 lemons, zested (optional, but used in my personal bake)
- 5g baking powder
- 6g salt
- 5 mL (1 tsp) Vanilla Extract
- Jam of choice, ~100 g (~1/3-1/2 cup)
- Cream sugar and butter in large bowl.
- Mix egg and vanilla into wet ingredients bowl.
- In a separate (medium) bowl, mix flour, zest, baking powder, and salt together.
- In batches (personally added 1/3 a cup at a time) incorporate dry bowl blend into wet ingredients bowl
- Preheat oven at 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Form 1″ diameter balls, spaced 1.5″ apart, push thumb into dough to form the jam crevice.
- Add jam (if using guava paste first rehydrate paste with water in a small sauce pan on medium heat). If looking for a hefty fruit thumbprint, fill to brim.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes.
- Cool and enjoy!
If using a block of paste like pictured…you have extra paste/jam that can go into a quick and easy guava and cream cheese pastelito if you have puff pastry on hand (or feel like making it from scratch!). Now those combined with these cookies, scream home holiday vibes.
Stay Hungry
XOXO
Mish
P.S. I recognize that while weighing ingredients is the ideal, there are those who only have volumetric tools (looking at you imperial cups and spoons). If that’s your preference I recommend checking out this recipe on the Food Network, I don’t think rolling a cookie in sugar on top of what’s in a cookie and jam is the dream, but recipes are more so guides than rule books so have fun with it!
Looking for more cookies?
Brown Butter Miso Cookies
Chocolate Crunch & Sesame Crunchem Cookies
Easy as 1-2-3 Shortbreads