Made these last week–very buttery…mine were delicate and spread a bit…probably best to chill the dough a little.
I’ve wanted to make these for a while now. Looking forward to it!
Cookies with jam are my favorite, can’t wait to try these!
I love thumb prints.
notifying
my dough was super crumbly…had to add a little splash of milk to get it to come together enough to hold a ball.
I can’t wait to make these. I have two large jars of raspberry jam waiting to be used. These make me think of Christmas. My mom always made these for us during the holidays growing up.
Made these for Christmas & loved them! Had trouble getting good depressions for the jam though, they just filled back in. Any ideas? Can’t wait to make them again!
while mine were still warm from the oven, i very gently repoked.
Jayma, I usually “re-thumb” them when they come out of the oven. Wait a few minutes and test first (and with cool thumbs)! It helps keep the depression deep enough for filling while they cool off.
I can’t use nuts, should I just use all flour instead? Of course, I ask this and I should probably be looking at the recipe.
Oatmeal might work. You just need something with substance that can absorb some of the butter. :)
That’s an excellent idea – maybe if I just grind it up, the texture will be perfect. Thanks!
Very yummy and buttery indeed. I used those Baker’s dessert fillings instead of jam. Works just as well.
I have never made thumbprints before…am excited to see how they turn out! You really can’t go wrong with buttery cookie and jam!
Mine came out really nutty. I mean, obviously with the amount of nuts, but it almost had a whole grain taste. Maybe I didn’t ground my hazelnuts enough or measured incorrectly?
just re-subscribing…
I’m super excited to make these. Do you think I could use almond flour instead of the “finely ground hazelnuts”? I’m not a huge hazelnut fan, and I’m trying to use that expensive bag of almond flour sitting in my fridge!
yes, i used almond flour instead. they were great!
Great! Thanks!
Yes, if you use almond meal (finely ground almonds) you have to take out 1/4 cup of flour and use 1/4 c of almond meal. I’m not sure how much for this recipe though…but that’s what the back of my Trader Joe bag said.
Maybe someone could figure it out?
no, here you just need to replace the ground hazelnuts with almond flour. leave the AP flour as-is.
Where can you buy hazelnuts? I can’t seem to find them anywhere!
I couldn’t find them anywhere either (this was before the holidays if I remember correctly) but finally found some at Trader Joe’s.
Really? I see them at every grocery store..some in the baking section and some in the bulk section. What chain of grocery stores do you live near? I have seen them at Walmart.
I made mine last night. Marionberry jam and hazelnuts, so very good and very Pac Northwest-ish. These are keepers.
Im making these tonight for our guests coming for dinner on Sat. I well let you all know how they turn out. Im so excited because I love these kind of cookies. ANything with jam is my friend!
I’ve never made this version, so I’m looking forward to it, think I’ll make them in the morning. I used to make thumbprints every Christmas, one of my favorite cookies :)
Lemon curd would be awesome too, if anyone is looking for an alternative. I used to make mine with blackberry, lemon curd and cherry preserves. MMMMMM
I love these cookies too Amanda..they make me think of Christmas. I have some lemon curd in the fridge but Im using raspberry jam this time. I may make a few with the lemon.I love that stuff!
these are so delicious! I actually pressed a hershey’s kiss into each cookie after they came out of the oven- like you do with a peanut blossom. So good- think nutella!
Yum Emily that is a good idea! I will do that next time. I just purchased two large jars of raspberry jam from Costco. I think I better use some of it!
ok I made these, but i was concerned about the hazelnut being too moist, so I toasted them. Now I’m wondering if that’s why mine seem dry.
Anyone use the hazelnuts and NOT toast them? Were they dry? I’ve made thumbprints many times, but never used nuts, and they were always tender. These were not :(
Amanda – I’ve used finely chopped (ground) pecans before and they’ve worked great – and I always toast them. I don’t *think* toasting brings on dryness, it just adds more “nut” flavor (in my opinion). I toasted my hazelnuts too (mostly to get the skins off), but haven’t baked them yet (just pre-made the dough). I’ll let you know if they turn out dry – I haven’t used hazelnuts for such a long time. Strange how they’re not as popular a nut as pecans or walnuts…!
Mike what filling are you going to use? I used nutella, and I wonder if that’s why mine seemed dry. Jam has a high moisture content and would probably counteract the dryness factor. Hmmm.
Also, and I might be overthinking this, but maybe not… this is what I have written in my post:
“I looked back at my own thumbprint recipe, which always turns out tender and buttery, and found that the only ingredients are flour, butter, sugar, orange juice, and an egg yolk. Dorie’s recipe contains flour and ground hazelnuts for the dry ingredients, and sugar, butter and extracts for the wet. There’s no egg yolk or any other liquid. That leads me to believe that she used the moisture from the ground nuts to contribute to the moisture.”
I could be wrong though.
>Mike what filling are you going to use? I used nutella, and I wonder if that’s why mine seemed dry.
Um… Nutella? :) Are you saying I shouldn’t? Shoot, I thought that might be a great filling (spiked with hazlenut liqueur of course) – it’s for grownups after all. :)
I used ground almonds (which I bought pre-ground) and my dough was SO dry and crumbly. I thought it would still press together like the sweet tart dough, but I had a lot of trouble making the balls of dough. They’re cooling off now and they look pretty sad.
Amanda I didn’t roast my nuts and they were still dry. The baked cookie was crumbly too. I used about a tbsp of raspberry jam in each one and that did help to make them moister. Tasted a bit peanut butter-jelly. I think that is just the way the recipe is.
My dough was fine, easy to form cookies with, cookies look totally adorbs–but they are kinda sawdusty and don’t taste like much. I should have added a little salt. I’m giving half away tomorrow–will see what my recipient thinks of them.
My dough rolled into balls just fine, but crumbled when I tried to make the indentations in them no matter how gentle I was … so I ended up pressing all my cookie dough into a 13 x 9 pan, spreading jam on top, and then making a quick oatmeal streusel to go on top .. so now I have jam bars I guess? :) Can’t say I didn’t try!
I just finished making these, and they are delicious! i had to be really careful when making the thumbprints, because they are pretty crumbly, but baked up, they are very shortbread-like. Very different from a drop cookie dough with eggs. Well worth the effort!
I loved these – but, I added 1 teaspoon of salt to the dough, which I highly recommend.
I didn’t use quite so much, but it made a big difference. Great tip — thanks!!
The only nut I have in the house is pecans. Will that work? Hoping to get these made tonight or tomorrow. :)
Pecans should be great! I ground up some almonds for these, and I left some a bit coarse, which I thought gave them a nice texture. Too fine a grind, and those pecans will turn into pecan butter. Not that that’s a bad thing…
Yeah, that should work. I used walnuts because I couldn’t find hazelnuts.
I’m sure you guys probably know this already, but hazelnuts are also called filberts. So if you can’t find a packaged labels hazelnuts, look for filberts :)
Okay, pecans a success. However, I made them way way too big, and some didnt hold their molded shape. My butter was too soft and I should have chilled the dough some. They taste fantastic though, and had I been more careful making them, they would have all come out perfect. (I was rushing, as the Pens were on when I was making them.)
I baked the cookies last night and just have to put the jam in tonight. I made two kinds, one set without the thumbprints and one set with – the first came out as cute little button shaped cookies (delicious too) but the thumbprints are all cracked and wonky. I’m disappointed.
I’m really happy with how these cookies have turned out. I used ground almonds and filled them with raspberry and blackberry jam. If they taste as good as they look then I’ll be very happy!
Just finished making these and learned that making them smaller rather than larger is a good idea (less cracking and/or spreading). I also wonder about possible errors in measuring the ground hazelnuts. When I grind walnuts, I measure out what I need in unground nuts and invariably I end up with the correct amount of ground nuts. This time, however, I ended up with about 1/2 cup more ground nuts than unground. How did that happen? I began to wonder if I ought to pack the ground nuts down when measuring instead of just scooping them into the measuring cup. Or do hazelnuts behave differently than walnuts? At any rate, these cookies are both tasty and pretty.
lol, I always wonder that too, measure whole nuts then grind? or grind them measure? I measured whole almonds then ground them. My cookies were crumbly too.
The way I always understood it was to refer to how the ingredient is listed. If it says 1 cup ground hazelnuts, then you measure after they are ground. if it says 1 cup hazelnuts, ground, then you measure first, then grind.
Ohmahgah these are delicious. I made them w/hazelnuts and pecans with some orange marmalade and strawberry jelly.
I didn’t think I would like them b/c I’m not a shortbread fan, but the addition of the jam was key. So so good. I couldn’t stop stealing them from the cooling rack. Too bad they leave a telltale powdered sugar trail on your shirt….
**For anyone who is also in Daring Bakers – there is potential for cross-over w/the recipes!**
I just made these using ground almonds and they were soooo crumbly. They just fell apart when I tried to roll them. I chilled the dough and that didn’t work. I moistened my hands and that didn’t work either. They look like craters from outer space! I’m hoping that powdered sugar will hide the bumps and cracks. They do taste good, but really dry. This has never happened with my go to thumbprint cookie recipe. Can’t figure out what went wrong!
It’s interesting that there are so many different textures going on. My dough was really soft (just like LW described); it wasn’t crumbly at all. It really makes me think that nuts, ground or otherwise, need to be measured by weight instead of volume.
That’s a good idea. I just use cup measurements because that was how the recipe was written. I always measure by weight when the amounts are given.
I used hazelnuts and my dough was soft and roll-able. A couple of them crumbled after baking (or were cracked, etc). I wonder if it was in the dough-making process… I think the dough was mixed until it just “comes together”. I tend to mix the heck out if it to save me from dealing with crumbs. I remember mixing until it was a soft, round ball (translated: probably overmixed).
I was wondering the same thing. I mixed them until they barely came together. I was thinking I should have mixed them more and they would have held up better. ?? I know this happens to me when I don’t mix my biscuit batter enough, it tends to be too flaky and falls apart. Anyone else want to comment on this?
We loved these! I measured the nuts before chopping finely and had no problem with cookies crumbling. I made them on the small side. I halved the recipe (60 cookies) and still got 40+. Small and far too easy to keep popping in my mouth!
These were delicious! I wish I’d made them bigger (mine look nothing like Dorie’s in the cookbook) but the shortbread was buttery and delicious. I used finely ground walnuts and raspberry jam and made half the recipe (other half of the dough is in my fridge for later in the week). We’ll see if the coworkers are into them tomorrow :)
I’ll need to make these tomorrow. We’ve been in and out of town and had my mother in-law visiting, so I’ll get to it soon! Thanks for all the great tips, everyone!
I loved these cookies! I used ground pecans and cherry preserves. We loved the combo of the two! Great Pick!!
I had so much fun making these cookies! I used almonds. I filled half with blackberry preserves and the other half with chocolate (a Martha Stewart recipe using semi-sweet chocolate, butter, and a smidgen of corn syrup). They were great!
I was disappointed, but it may have been my own fault. I was worried about how much they would spread, so I made them in mini-muffin pans and put the jam in before I baked them. I thought they were REALLY nutty and crumbly. I think someone else mentioned that perhaps the nuts weren’t ground enough and that may also have been my problem.
Cookies AGAIN!!! but they are soooooo good! We really enjoyed this recipe, but found the baked cookie to be a little dry. I think next time we will add a little bit more liquid and maybe instead of filling them with jam… maybe milk chocolate drops.
Tuesdays with Dorie 
Made these last week–very buttery…mine were delicate and spread a bit…probably best to chill the dough a little.
I’ve wanted to make these for a while now. Looking forward to it!
Cookies with jam are my favorite, can’t wait to try these!
I love thumb prints.
notifying
my dough was super crumbly…had to add a little splash of milk to get it to come together enough to hold a ball.
I can’t wait to make these. I have two large jars of raspberry jam waiting to be used. These make me think of Christmas. My mom always made these for us during the holidays growing up.
Made these for Christmas & loved them! Had trouble getting good depressions for the jam though, they just filled back in. Any ideas? Can’t wait to make them again!
while mine were still warm from the oven, i very gently repoked.
Jayma, I usually “re-thumb” them when they come out of the oven. Wait a few minutes and test first (and with cool thumbs)! It helps keep the depression deep enough for filling while they cool off.
I can’t use nuts, should I just use all flour instead? Of course, I ask this and I should probably be looking at the recipe.
Oatmeal might work. You just need something with substance that can absorb some of the butter. :)
That’s an excellent idea – maybe if I just grind it up, the texture will be perfect. Thanks!
Very yummy and buttery indeed. I used those Baker’s dessert fillings instead of jam. Works just as well.
I have never made thumbprints before…am excited to see how they turn out! You really can’t go wrong with buttery cookie and jam!
Mine came out really nutty. I mean, obviously with the amount of nuts, but it almost had a whole grain taste. Maybe I didn’t ground my hazelnuts enough or measured incorrectly?
just re-subscribing…
I’m super excited to make these. Do you think I could use almond flour instead of the “finely ground hazelnuts”? I’m not a huge hazelnut fan, and I’m trying to use that expensive bag of almond flour sitting in my fridge!
yes, i used almond flour instead. they were great!
Great! Thanks!
Yes, if you use almond meal (finely ground almonds) you have to take out 1/4 cup of flour and use 1/4 c of almond meal. I’m not sure how much for this recipe though…but that’s what the back of my Trader Joe bag said.
Maybe someone could figure it out?
no, here you just need to replace the ground hazelnuts with almond flour. leave the AP flour as-is.
Where can you buy hazelnuts? I can’t seem to find them anywhere!
I couldn’t find them anywhere either (this was before the holidays if I remember correctly) but finally found some at Trader Joe’s.
Really? I see them at every grocery store..some in the baking section and some in the bulk section. What chain of grocery stores do you live near? I have seen them at Walmart.
I made mine last night. Marionberry jam and hazelnuts, so very good and very Pac Northwest-ish. These are keepers.
Im making these tonight for our guests coming for dinner on Sat. I well let you all know how they turn out. Im so excited because I love these kind of cookies. ANything with jam is my friend!
I’ve never made this version, so I’m looking forward to it, think I’ll make them in the morning. I used to make thumbprints every Christmas, one of my favorite cookies :)
Lemon curd would be awesome too, if anyone is looking for an alternative. I used to make mine with blackberry, lemon curd and cherry preserves. MMMMMM
I love these cookies too Amanda..they make me think of Christmas. I have some lemon curd in the fridge but Im using raspberry jam this time. I may make a few with the lemon.I love that stuff!
these are so delicious! I actually pressed a hershey’s kiss into each cookie after they came out of the oven- like you do with a peanut blossom. So good- think nutella!
Yum Emily that is a good idea! I will do that next time. I just purchased two large jars of raspberry jam from Costco. I think I better use some of it!
ok I made these, but i was concerned about the hazelnut being too moist, so I toasted them. Now I’m wondering if that’s why mine seem dry.
Anyone use the hazelnuts and NOT toast them? Were they dry? I’ve made thumbprints many times, but never used nuts, and they were always tender. These were not :(
Amanda – I’ve used finely chopped (ground) pecans before and they’ve worked great – and I always toast them. I don’t *think* toasting brings on dryness, it just adds more “nut” flavor (in my opinion). I toasted my hazelnuts too (mostly to get the skins off), but haven’t baked them yet (just pre-made the dough). I’ll let you know if they turn out dry – I haven’t used hazelnuts for such a long time. Strange how they’re not as popular a nut as pecans or walnuts…!
Mike what filling are you going to use? I used nutella, and I wonder if that’s why mine seemed dry. Jam has a high moisture content and would probably counteract the dryness factor. Hmmm.
Also, and I might be overthinking this, but maybe not… this is what I have written in my post:
“I looked back at my own thumbprint recipe, which always turns out tender and buttery, and found that the only ingredients are flour, butter, sugar, orange juice, and an egg yolk. Dorie’s recipe contains flour and ground hazelnuts for the dry ingredients, and sugar, butter and extracts for the wet. There’s no egg yolk or any other liquid. That leads me to believe that she used the moisture from the ground nuts to contribute to the moisture.”
I could be wrong though.
>Mike what filling are you going to use? I used nutella, and I wonder if that’s why mine seemed dry.
Um… Nutella? :) Are you saying I shouldn’t? Shoot, I thought that might be a great filling (spiked with hazlenut liqueur of course) – it’s for grownups after all. :)
I used ground almonds (which I bought pre-ground) and my dough was SO dry and crumbly. I thought it would still press together like the sweet tart dough, but I had a lot of trouble making the balls of dough. They’re cooling off now and they look pretty sad.
Amanda I didn’t roast my nuts and they were still dry. The baked cookie was crumbly too. I used about a tbsp of raspberry jam in each one and that did help to make them moister. Tasted a bit peanut butter-jelly. I think that is just the way the recipe is.
My dough was fine, easy to form cookies with, cookies look totally adorbs–but they are kinda sawdusty and don’t taste like much. I should have added a little salt. I’m giving half away tomorrow–will see what my recipient thinks of them.
My dough rolled into balls just fine, but crumbled when I tried to make the indentations in them no matter how gentle I was … so I ended up pressing all my cookie dough into a 13 x 9 pan, spreading jam on top, and then making a quick oatmeal streusel to go on top .. so now I have jam bars I guess? :) Can’t say I didn’t try!
I just finished making these, and they are delicious! i had to be really careful when making the thumbprints, because they are pretty crumbly, but baked up, they are very shortbread-like. Very different from a drop cookie dough with eggs. Well worth the effort!
I loved these – but, I added 1 teaspoon of salt to the dough, which I highly recommend.
I didn’t use quite so much, but it made a big difference. Great tip — thanks!!
The only nut I have in the house is pecans. Will that work? Hoping to get these made tonight or tomorrow. :)
Pecans should be great! I ground up some almonds for these, and I left some a bit coarse, which I thought gave them a nice texture. Too fine a grind, and those pecans will turn into pecan butter. Not that that’s a bad thing…
Yeah, that should work. I used walnuts because I couldn’t find hazelnuts.
I’m sure you guys probably know this already, but hazelnuts are also called filberts. So if you can’t find a packaged labels hazelnuts, look for filberts :)
Okay, pecans a success. However, I made them way way too big, and some didnt hold their molded shape. My butter was too soft and I should have chilled the dough some. They taste fantastic though, and had I been more careful making them, they would have all come out perfect. (I was rushing, as the Pens were on when I was making them.)
I baked the cookies last night and just have to put the jam in tonight. I made two kinds, one set without the thumbprints and one set with – the first came out as cute little button shaped cookies (delicious too) but the thumbprints are all cracked and wonky. I’m disappointed.
I’m really happy with how these cookies have turned out. I used ground almonds and filled them with raspberry and blackberry jam. If they taste as good as they look then I’ll be very happy!
Just finished making these and learned that making them smaller rather than larger is a good idea (less cracking and/or spreading). I also wonder about possible errors in measuring the ground hazelnuts. When I grind walnuts, I measure out what I need in unground nuts and invariably I end up with the correct amount of ground nuts. This time, however, I ended up with about 1/2 cup more ground nuts than unground. How did that happen? I began to wonder if I ought to pack the ground nuts down when measuring instead of just scooping them into the measuring cup. Or do hazelnuts behave differently than walnuts? At any rate, these cookies are both tasty and pretty.
lol, I always wonder that too, measure whole nuts then grind? or grind them measure? I measured whole almonds then ground them. My cookies were crumbly too.
The way I always understood it was to refer to how the ingredient is listed. If it says 1 cup ground hazelnuts, then you measure after they are ground. if it says 1 cup hazelnuts, ground, then you measure first, then grind.
Ohmahgah these are delicious. I made them w/hazelnuts and pecans with some orange marmalade and strawberry jelly.
I didn’t think I would like them b/c I’m not a shortbread fan, but the addition of the jam was key. So so good. I couldn’t stop stealing them from the cooling rack. Too bad they leave a telltale powdered sugar trail on your shirt….
**For anyone who is also in Daring Bakers – there is potential for cross-over w/the recipes!**
I just made these using ground almonds and they were soooo crumbly. They just fell apart when I tried to roll them. I chilled the dough and that didn’t work. I moistened my hands and that didn’t work either. They look like craters from outer space! I’m hoping that powdered sugar will hide the bumps and cracks. They do taste good, but really dry. This has never happened with my go to thumbprint cookie recipe. Can’t figure out what went wrong!
It’s interesting that there are so many different textures going on. My dough was really soft (just like LW described); it wasn’t crumbly at all. It really makes me think that nuts, ground or otherwise, need to be measured by weight instead of volume.
That’s a good idea. I just use cup measurements because that was how the recipe was written. I always measure by weight when the amounts are given.
I used hazelnuts and my dough was soft and roll-able. A couple of them crumbled after baking (or were cracked, etc). I wonder if it was in the dough-making process… I think the dough was mixed until it just “comes together”. I tend to mix the heck out if it to save me from dealing with crumbs. I remember mixing until it was a soft, round ball (translated: probably overmixed).
I was wondering the same thing. I mixed them until they barely came together. I was thinking I should have mixed them more and they would have held up better. ?? I know this happens to me when I don’t mix my biscuit batter enough, it tends to be too flaky and falls apart. Anyone else want to comment on this?
We loved these! I measured the nuts before chopping finely and had no problem with cookies crumbling. I made them on the small side. I halved the recipe (60 cookies) and still got 40+. Small and far too easy to keep popping in my mouth!
These were delicious! I wish I’d made them bigger (mine look nothing like Dorie’s in the cookbook) but the shortbread was buttery and delicious. I used finely ground walnuts and raspberry jam and made half the recipe (other half of the dough is in my fridge for later in the week). We’ll see if the coworkers are into them tomorrow :)
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I’ll need to make these tomorrow. We’ve been in and out of town and had my mother in-law visiting, so I’ll get to it soon! Thanks for all the great tips, everyone!
I loved these cookies! I used ground pecans and cherry preserves. We loved the combo of the two! Great Pick!!
I had so much fun making these cookies! I used almonds. I filled half with blackberry preserves and the other half with chocolate (a Martha Stewart recipe using semi-sweet chocolate, butter, and a smidgen of corn syrup). They were great!
I was disappointed, but it may have been my own fault. I was worried about how much they would spread, so I made them in mini-muffin pans and put the jam in before I baked them. I thought they were REALLY nutty and crumbly. I think someone else mentioned that perhaps the nuts weren’t ground enough and that may also have been my problem.
Cookies AGAIN!!! but they are soooooo good! We really enjoyed this recipe, but found the baked cookie to be a little dry. I think next time we will add a little bit more liquid and maybe instead of filling them with jam… maybe milk chocolate drops.
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