Have you ever been cooking and made up a happy little cooking song? Yeah, I do that. Well, actually, it’s more like I rip off children’s jingles by subbing in words that relate to what I’m making.

This happened to me yesterday while I was making a yummy little dessert called Thumbprint Cookies. Because I know you are just dying to know what song I was singing while I baked, it went a little something like this:

You put your thumb in, you put your thumb out
You put some jam in and you bake um’ til they’re done! 

Or something like that… (and YES, I know that doesn’t rhyme. Deal with it)

Anywho! As you know, yesterday I had a snow day from work – and what better way to spend your day off than by BAKING! I honestly had wanted to make something chocolatey, but I didn’t have any chocolate chips and I wasn’t about to drive in the “horrific snow storm” just for the sake of some cookies. What I did have in the cupboard was – blackberry jam. Thumbprint cookies it was!

I don’t know if you’ve ever had thumbprint cookies before, but they are one of my favorite cookies (that I often forget about!). The best part about them is that they are light, “healthy,” and not too sweet. Do you feel me on that? Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I don’t want my teeth to hurt when I eat a cookie, but I still crave something sweet. These cookies are the answer to that problem.

They have a little bit of sweet jam, a nice doughy cookie underneath, and can be eaten in one bite — dare I say, they are one of life’s little “perfect” snacks.

Other than that, I don’t have much more to say about this recipe other than the fact that they are pretty easy to make (recipe below) and would be excellent for a “dainty” event like bridal or baby showers (or maybe Sunday’s Oscar parties?!). Give ‘um a try and let me know what you think!

Happy eating!

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Blackberry Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
cooking spray
1/3 cup reduced-sugar blackberry jam (or any flavor)

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
• In another medium bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla extract; beat well.
• Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture until combined; cover bowl and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.
• Roll level tablespoons of dough into 32 balls; place about 1-inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Press an indentation into center of each ball using your thumb. Using a small spoon, fill indentations with jam.
• Bake until bottoms of cookies turn golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and leave on cookie sheets for 1 or 2 minutes; remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields 1 cookie per serving.