These melt-in-your-mouth Iced Valentine’s Day Thumbprint Cookies are rich and buttery cookies perfect to bake for your special someone.
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The recipe for these cookies is so easy with basic pantry ingredients, plus you will love the pretty-as-can-be red, white, and pink nonpareil sprinkles and colorful icing. Perfect for parties, gifts, and when you want a festive cookie!
What is a Thumbprint Cookie
Originating in the 19th century in Sweden these cookies are also known as “hallongrotta,” which means “raspberry cave,” because the indent is usually filled with raspberry jam. The dough is an enriched shortbread dough or a sugar cookie dough that gets rolled into balls and has an indent made in the center of the cookie with your thumb.
Of course, I have to be different; I like to make these Pecan Thumbprint Cookies and fill them with apricot jam. But, instead of filling these cookies with jam, today’s recipe is for icing thumbprint cookies, and the powdered sugar icing matches the sprinkles for a real showstopper cookie.
Have plenty of sprinkles on hand
For this recipe, you want to have these Valentine’s Sprinkle Mix. Pretty, aren’t they?
I like this sprinkle mix so much I have used them on these Dark Chocolate Shortbread Cookies and these Inside Out Red Velvet Cookies have a surprise filling and lots of sprinkles. Both are delicious and perfect for Valentine’s Day.
Who can resist colorful sprinkles?
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Shortening
- Brown Sugar – I used light brown sugar
- Large Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Flour
- Salt
- Colored nonpareils – I used the Valentine’s sprinkle mix
How To Bake Thumbprint Cookies: Step-By-Step
These sweet little cookies are super easy to make. Mix the batter in a bowl with a big wooden spoon. The best part is that you don’t need to refrigerate the dough. Just mix, roll, and bake. You can also use a heavy-duty handheld mixer or a Kitchen Aid mixer.
Step 1. Get things ready. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your baking sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat, and put the sprinkles in a big bowl so you can roll the cookie dough balls in.
Step 2. Place the softened butter, shortening, egg yolk, and vanilla in a large bowl and mix to incorporate. Then add the flour and salt and mix in with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough. You can also use a mixer if you prefer.
Step 3. Using a tablespoon or a small cookie scoop, scoop 1″ balls, then immediately roll in the sprinkles and set them on the baking sheet.
Step 4. Press the rounded bottom into each cookie ball using a teaspoon to make an indent in the center. You can also use your thumb to make the indent.
Step 5. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, then set them on a cooling rack. Sometimes, you need to press down on the indents right after the cookies come out of the oven to make them deep again.
Step 6. While the cookies are cooling, make the icing. Sift the powdered sugar, then mix with milk and corn syrup until smooth. Separate the icing into three small bowls—it will be about 1/4 cup—tint with pink and red gel food coloring, leaving one of the bowls white. Cover the bowls with plastic wrap until ready to use.
Step 7. Using a small spoon, fill each cookie with one of the icings.
Step 8. Let the cookies set out so the icing can harden before storing them in an airtight container
Tips for the perfect thumbprint cookie
Get those sprinkles to stick – right after you roll the dough balls, put them in the sprinkles; the warmth of your hands will make the dough balls a bit sticky, and the sprinkles will stick better.
Shaping the dough – Once you press the teaspoon into the dough ball, you may see some cracking around the edges; if so, just reshape the dough with your fingers to make it nice and round.
How to keep these cookies from spreading – using a silicone baking mat will help; make sure your oven has heated up to the correct temperature, and use cool baking sheets for each batch of cookies.
Making the indent deeper—Sometimes, after the cookies are baked, the indent gets shallower. If this happens, press the teaspoon into the cookie to make the indent deeper. Also, once the cookies cool, the indent will get deeper.
Cookie Options
Today’s recipe has you covered for Valentine’s Day, but what about other times you want a thumbprint cookie? Luckily these cookies are so easy to change up to make for an occasion.
You can roll the cookies in so many ingredients
- Chopped nuts
- Colored sugars
- Raw sugar
- Poppy seeds
- Any color of sprinkle you can think of
You can fill the cookies with lots of fun flavors
- Melted chocolate
- Jams and jellies
- Marshmallow
- Caramel
- Lemon curd
- Different colors of icing
Pin this to your Pinterest Board for later
More cookie favorites to bake
- Lemon Slice and Bake Shortbreads are tender cookies with lemon zest baked right in.
- Have you been looking for Cacao Nib recipes? For something chocolaty, bake a batch of cacao nib shortbread cookies. They are easy to make.
- Grab a cookie cutter and make these Chocolate Chip Heart Cookies, another tasty Valentine’s Day treat.
- Rose Petal Shortbreads are delicate cookies topped with fragrant rose petals.
Don’t forget the sprinkles!
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Iced Valentine’s Day Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- ¼ cup solid shortening can use butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar I use light brown sugar for this recipe
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup AP flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 ounces Red, white and pink nonpareils
Powdered Sugar Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
- drops red and pink food coloring gel
Instructions
Making the Cookie Dough
- Preheat oven to 350° F., and prepare sheet pans with a silicon mat or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the softened butter, shortening, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until completely mixed.
- Mix in the flour and salt until combined and the dough holds its shape.
- Place the nonpareils in a bowl big enough to roll the dough balls.
- Shape the dough into 1" balls using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, then immediately roll in the nonpareils. The warmth of your hands helps make the dough balls a little soft so the nonpareils will stick better.
- Place the balls 1" apart on the baking sheets then press your thumb into the center of each dough ball or use the bottom of a teaspoon to create an indent.
- Bake for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Then remove from oven to cooling rack.
Powdered Sugar Icing
- Mix the sifted powdered sugar and milk to make a smooth mixture. This icing sets up hard after it sits for a couple of hours.
- Separate the icing into three small bowls. Tint one pink and one red with the food coloring.
- With a small spoon fill each cookie with one of the three icings.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for several days.
Notes
- This is a quick and easy dough to make and does not need to be chilled.
- The cookie dough balls need to be rolled in the sprinkles immediately after making the balls so the sprinkles stick.
- The icing will harden after sitting for a while so make sure to cover the bowls of icing with plastic wrap until you are ready to use.
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Nutrition
First Published: Jan 19, 2020… Last Updated: Jan. 16, 2023
What a wonderful day, full of sweets, flowers, and love.
Wishing you all the best this Valentine’s Day!
My inspiration for making these thumbprint cookies
There’s a little bakery in Richmond, Indiana called Joy Ann’s Cake Shop, it’s been there for years. I actually use to work around the corner from this bakery, which was dangerous; I went there a lot. I couldn’t resist their baking pans filled with thumbprint cookies, and they always had a pretty pastel icing on them. I would buy them by the bag full. The last time I was in Richmond I went to Joy Ann’s just for my cookies and they didn’t make any that day, I thought I might burst into tears. For crying out loud didn’t they know I was in town and needed a thumbprint cookie?
Thank you for stopping by the One Hot Oven blog. Please leave a comment to say Hello or just let me know what you are baking these days, I always love hearing from fellow bakers. Have any questions or just want to chat about the recipe? Please visit my about page for information, and I’ll be happy to help!
About Jere’
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.
These are so beautiful and I love the decoration options! Pretty and festive!
My kids absolutely love anything with sprinkles and these are just so cute! I could quite easily eat quite a few they look so addictive!
I’m a sucker for sprinkles.
I love the vibrant colours you have chosen to fill and decorate these thumbprints with – so much fun for Valentine’s Day.
Oh gosh, you sound like when I was pregnant with my first child, only my addiction was sausage rolls – and they had to be warm! The heartbreak I felt if I couldn’t find one. Danishes and pastry aside, these cookies are gorgeous. I think my kids would love to bake them and eat them.
These are definitely kid-friendly.
I think Valentine’s Day is my favourite holiday. I love to go mad making things heart shaped or red!
They are so cute! I wish I had one ready made in front of me. It would be perfect with a cup of tea.
Unfortunately, Joy Ann’s is not going to be open much longer. The woman running it now is posting insane things in Facebook groups insulting her customers. I haven’t lived there in 15 years and I don’t know her, but I’m dealing with stages of grief thinking the bakery will be gone soon. They’re only open Thursday through Saturday from 10 – 4 now.
The owner said that her customers are trash and told them that they have no class and eat possum. It was out of control. From one former Richmond person to another, you can understand my pain when I read that. It’s so needless and unnecessary.
That said, I can’t wait to try your recipe!
Oh my, how sad to see such a long time bakery come to an end. I know when I lived there over 25 years ago that the owner had changed. Well, I have fond memories of delicious treats.
I’m from Richmond too. My parents still live out by Hayes Arboretum. I miss Joy Ann’s bakery. I used to sneak out at lunch when I went to RHS, and would go with friends to the bakery. Is this the actual recipe for their thumbprint cookies? I could have sworn there was some kind of nut flour in them. Maybe I’m wrong! Can’t wait to try these! Thanks for posting.
Hi Annie, Glad you found my recipe for the Thumbprints. They are really good, but no like the good old Joy Ann’s. I agree they had to use something other than AP flour to make their cookies. We lived very close to the Arboretum too back in the late 70’s. Will be visiting Hagerstown next week. Let me know how your cookies come out. Jere’
There’s nothing quite like a sweet and delicious thumbprint cookie! I’ve finally bounced back from the dozens I ate during the holidays (no regrets). Looks like I’ll be eating a dozen more for Valentine’s Day -there’s no way I can resist making these cookies! 🙂
I made Apricot Pecan Thumbprints for the holidays and now these. A bit obsessed with these cookies.
This is such great work of art; a well designed cookies with a well taken pic. And the cookies look great, my son will be a fan, he likes colorful cookies.
Thanks for your kind comments. I too love colorful cookies.
These are absolutely amazing. I am so happy I decided to try this recipe.
Omg.. such cute little thumbprint cookies loaded with sprinkles. Anyone will fall in love with them:)
I love anything with sprinkles! These are adorable and just perfect to make for your sweetheart! Although… they look addictive, so it would be hard to share!