Iced Valentine's Day Thumbprint Cookies

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 ¼ 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

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

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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!

There are always more recipes

Recipe

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.