In every classical café in Scandinavia you will always find Thumbprint cookies. We might not eat them so often any longer, but when you do, you remember how good they are. This cookie comes originally from Sweden. They are named Hallongrottor in Swedish, meaning “raspberry cave”! It’s a buttery cookie with a shallow well in the middle that’s filled with a sweet filling, most often raspberry jam. You use your thumb to push down on the cookie dough, creating that shallow well in the middle – hence “thumbprint” cookies.
You can fill the thumbprint in the middle with any type of jam you like, I’ll be using raspberry jam and black current jam here. For those who love peanut butter, that might also be a good combination.
Ingredients (24 cookies):
- 0.55 lb butter (room temperature)
- 2/3 cup caster sugar
- 1 tbs vanilla
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 3 cups all purpose flour vetemjöl
- 2 egg yolks
- raspberry jam (or any other jam you prefer)
Pre heat the oven to 360ºF. Stir room temperature butter and sugar in a baking blender. Add the rest of all ingredients (except for jam) and mix to combine. Avoid over-mixing. Place the dough on a baking table and divide the dough into two pieces. Roll each piece out to a 12 inches long roll. Cut each roll in 12 pieces. Place the pieces on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Press each piece with your thumb so you get the whole in the middle for filling. Don’t press it all the way through. Fill every cookie with your favorite jam. Don’t fill it too much, then it will only run over. Let them bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes until they get a little bit of color. Let them cold down a bit before serving.
Your cookies might crack a bit on the sides, but don’t you worry. This is how the traditional thumbprint cookie should look like.
Smaklig måltid!
Scandinavian Simple Eating 