Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies...
There used to be a grocery store in Irvine, California, called Stonecreek Market. It was on Barranca Parkway, and they had the most amazing bakery. My favorite item from their bakery was their Thumbprint Cookies. They were these amazingly rich, chocolaty confections. Stonecreek Market closed, and for awhile they had a bakery at Crystal Court in Fashion Island, so I could still get a cookie if I was lucky enough to make it before they sold out.
I decided I would try to recreate those cookies for my first blog here. Here is a step by step guide to making chocolate thumbprint cookies.
Here's the recipe I used:
2 cups shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 cups of flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
First, no kitchen should be without these awesome canisters from Tupperware. The set of four is perfect for storing flour, sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar:
The next essential piece of equipment for any kitchen, is a stand mixer. I prefer KitchenAid (my mom and grandma both have them that are older than I am):
Start by adding the shortening to the mixer:
Add the sugars and cream together with the shortening:
Add the vanilla and mix well:
Next, add the eggs one at a time:
Add the flour 1 cup at a time, scraping the bowl in between cups:
Once all the flour has been added, dough will be very thick:
Prepare two cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper:
Use a cookie scoop, so that all of your cookies are the same size. Scoop balls of dough, and drop them into a bowl of chocolate sprinkles:
Roll dough until thoroughly covered in sprinkles, and then place on cookie sheet:
Place one dozen dough balls on each cookie sheet:
Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove pans from oven, and place on a flat surface, cookies will only be half-cooked. Use a rounded implement (I like a measuring teaspoon, or tablespoon for bigger cookies) and press into dough to make "thumbprint":
Make indentation into each cookie:
Place cookies back into oven and cook an additional 6 minutes. Remove cookies from oven, and place on a cooling rack:
Let the cookies cool, and then it's time to fill them. Now, I'm relatively certain that the reason Stonecreek's cookies were so rich, is because they used crappy canned frosting to fill theirs, so in hoping to capture the same flavor, that's what I filled mine with as well. I used just a little more than one large can.
Fill a star-tipped pastry bag with whatever type of chocolate frosting that tickles your fancy, and pipe into cookies:
Continue piping, until your hands hurt, and every last cookie is filled:
Enjoy!!
This recipe made just a little over 7 dozen cookies. I found that the night the cookies were made, they were extremely crispy, however, by the following day, they had a delightful consistency, that made it hard to eat just one.
Special thanks to my husband, who took some of these pictures!
Check back again soon for another recipe!
I decided I would try to recreate those cookies for my first blog here. Here is a step by step guide to making chocolate thumbprint cookies.
Here's the recipe I used:
2 cups shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 cups of flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
First, no kitchen should be without these awesome canisters from Tupperware. The set of four is perfect for storing flour, sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar:
The next essential piece of equipment for any kitchen, is a stand mixer. I prefer KitchenAid (my mom and grandma both have them that are older than I am):
Start by adding the shortening to the mixer:
Add the sugars and cream together with the shortening:
Add the vanilla and mix well:
Next, add the eggs one at a time:
Add the flour 1 cup at a time, scraping the bowl in between cups:
Once all the flour has been added, dough will be very thick:
Prepare two cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper:
Use a cookie scoop, so that all of your cookies are the same size. Scoop balls of dough, and drop them into a bowl of chocolate sprinkles:
Roll dough until thoroughly covered in sprinkles, and then place on cookie sheet:
Place one dozen dough balls on each cookie sheet:
Place in oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove pans from oven, and place on a flat surface, cookies will only be half-cooked. Use a rounded implement (I like a measuring teaspoon, or tablespoon for bigger cookies) and press into dough to make "thumbprint":
Make indentation into each cookie:
Place cookies back into oven and cook an additional 6 minutes. Remove cookies from oven, and place on a cooling rack:
Let the cookies cool, and then it's time to fill them. Now, I'm relatively certain that the reason Stonecreek's cookies were so rich, is because they used crappy canned frosting to fill theirs, so in hoping to capture the same flavor, that's what I filled mine with as well. I used just a little more than one large can.
Fill a star-tipped pastry bag with whatever type of chocolate frosting that tickles your fancy, and pipe into cookies:
Continue piping, until your hands hurt, and every last cookie is filled:
Enjoy!!
This recipe made just a little over 7 dozen cookies. I found that the night the cookies were made, they were extremely crispy, however, by the following day, they had a delightful consistency, that made it hard to eat just one.
Special thanks to my husband, who took some of these pictures!
Check back again soon for another recipe!