When I was growing up, one of our family traditions was my Grandma Werge’s Raspberry Thumbprint cookies. This is a picture of her and my grandfather when I was born – that’s me in the blanket, with my mother holding me.
She didn’t share this recipe with anyone! But somehow my husband charmed her out of it the year before she passed away, so it managed to stay in the family. And now I am a grandmother, sharing it with you 32 years later. The best way to print this recipe is to use the green “Print Friendly” button at the bottom of this page.
Grandma Werge’s Thumbprint Cookies
Makes 3 – 4 dozen cookies, depending on how much you snitch.
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1 cup of sugar, separated
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam (or your favorite)
A quick grandma note: use the real thing whenever possible. Real butter, real almond extract, good quality jam. If you want to amend the recipe, make it this way at least once, so you know what it tastes like.
Combine butter, 2/3 cup sugar & almond extract. Beat at medium speed until creamed. Scrape sides of bowl, cover & refrigerate for at least an hour. Use that time to make the glaze.
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons water
- 1-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- add 2 teaspoons of baking cocoa to the glaze if you want.
Combine the glaze ingredients and drizzle or pipe over cookies after they are cool. Don’t do it while they are hot or warm. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can make one by putting the glaze in a plastic sandwich bag and cutting off a very tiny corner.
Before we go back to the cookies, can I brag about my grandkids? As a Christmas gift to ourselves, we are talking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. They are helping.
Ok, your cookies should be cold enough now. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While that is heating up, shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll them in the remaining sugar. You could add red or green sprinkles to the sugar if you wanted.
Place 2″ apart on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Gently press your thumb into the dough ball and fill the depression with jelly. Bake 14 – 18 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.
Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a minute or two before placing the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely. Sometimes my grandmother would use these minutes to press her thumb in the soft cookie and add the jelly. She would always burn her thumb, but she liked these cookies better.
After they have cooled, you can glaze them. (The ones below got eaten immediately after the picture was taken. No time for glaze!)
PS – If you want to distract someone from noticing that you are taking a cookie, just say, “Look! The Hindenburg!” and point to a corner. Works every time.
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I haven’t made thumbprint cookies in years, thanks for the reminder and recipe. Lovely table runner!
Oh my goodness you crack me up. “Look the HIndenburg” that is truly priceless! Don’t think I am not going to use it all the time now too! hahahahaha
Thanks for the beautiful pattern for the runner too. Have a wonderful Christmas!
I laughed out loud at “Look the Hindenburg” and will have to use that line to grab a cookie. These cookies look and sound delicious! I love that little stories you added like your husband getting the recipe and her burning her thumb. It’s great to have helpers do some of the hard work in your projects…lucky you! Thank you for the smiles and the sweetness of your post today. I love having you hop along with us! xo
Thanks so much for the treasured family recipe!
This is a new recipe for me. My thumb print cookies have nuts in them. Just wondering if there is a mistake in recipe as I noticed it calls for 1 cup sugar in the dough but, in creaming the dough together it calls for 2/3’s. I am looking forward to making them! Thanks for sharing!
Well, fun! We have something in common, and our recipes are different! =) Love the Hindenberg line!
They are. The littlest granddaughter came over today and would happily have eaten the entire plate if we had fallen for the Hindenburg story.
Thank you! That line has been in our family for years. Maybe because it works!
Sharing a recipe is the best way to live on – yea to your hubby and to Grandma Werge. I think I’d agree with Gma, making the thumbprint and adding the jam after the cookies had baked, would be the way to do it. I’m sure they”ll be delicious.
No – you use the remainder of the sugar to roll the balls in before you bake them. It’s in the directions, but I will add it to the ingredients, too.
My Grandma used to make these too – I remember them from when I was little. She also used to make what she called ‘date cookies’ which were a layer of a soft date mixture between two cookies that I think were probably made of bran. The recipe was lost when their house burned and I haven’t been able to find a recipe that duplicated them. The stuff that memories are made of!
Thankyou Kris for sharing your sweet stories, your tempting recipe, beautiful runner and the sweet, sweet photos of the littles. You are a lucky Gramma to get time with them these days 😉
Thank you so much for sharing such a special recipe with us! I have printed it and will definitely try making them – I think this year. I have a special jar of jam that is just begging to be used, and this seems like the perfect application! I’m so glad you joined in the hop this year. ~smile~ Roseanne
Fun recipe to try, thank you. Your runner is gorgeous 😍
Those cookies look and sound yummy. I’m going to have to give them a try as they sound a lot like the raspberry filled shortbread cookies from the store that I LOVE. Thank you.
Your cookies look yummy and love that you were able to get that recipe!! Loved the Hindenburg line! Too funny! Thanks for sharing!!
Looks so yummy and your table runner is fabuloso!
Look, the Hindenburg! The cookies look delicious, and the grandkids are adorable. Thanks for sharing, and Merry Christmas!