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Nov 7, 2022

Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies

Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies - super chocolate-y and extra fudgy cookies rolled in crunchy sparking sugar and filled with raspberry jam. 

Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies with Raspberry Jam.

 


If you love soft, rich, and fudgy chocolate, you will love these cookies. 

These devil's food thumbprint cookies are loaded with semi-sweet chocolate that you melt and mix with just enough flour, butter, sugar, and eggs to hold everything together. 

They are the opposite of cakey or chewy, and more like super dense and fudgy brownies. 

Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies on a Tray.


When you take a bite out of one of these cookies, you will love how rich they are. These will pretty much reaffirm that there is nothing as amazing at dark chocolate. 

Ingredient Notes:

For the chocolate, you will need a full half pound of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate. The hardest part is chopping the chocolate to melt it. You don't have to get too fancy. Baker's Chocolate works just fine in these cookies. 

You will also need all purpose flour, but just 3/4 cup. The chocolate really dominates this recipe. 

Other ingredients include a little bit of salt, some cinnamon, butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, as well as sparkling sugar for finishing. 


Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies on a Plate.


I filled these with raspberry jam, but any jam will do. I'm planning on trying filling them with sour cherry jam next. 

Tips for Making These Thumbprint Cookies:

First, you melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. I use a Pyrex bowl, which can handle the heat, but if you are nervous, a metal bowl will work too. Just make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water. 

You want to make sure that the bowl is large enough for adding the eggs and the flour. A medium bowl works perfectly. 

When you are ready to add the eggs to the melted chocolate mixture, be sure to be ready with a whisk to stir them in right away. The chocolate mixture will be warm, so you don't want the eggs to "scramble." 

For putting the impression into the dough, a wine cork is just the right size. If you don't have one, a round 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon or a thick handle of a wooden spoon would work too. 

Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies before baking.


Form the chilled dough into balls, roll them in sparkling sugar, and then press the wine cork into the middle of each ball. 

Because the impression will kind of fill in as the cookies bake, once you've baked the cookies, press them again gently with the wine cork just to make sure the indent is deep enough. Plus, the center of the cookies will be extra fudgy. 

Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies on a rack.


These cookies take only 10 minutes to bake. Once they've baked for 10 minutes, let them cool on the pan for five minutes, and then move them to a wire rack. 

I filled these cookies with raspberry jam, but you could also fill them with white or dark chocolate if you prefer. Just melt some chocolate chips with a little bit of shortening, drop it into the center of the cookie, and chill until the chocolate has set. 

For the holidays, you could also try using green and red sanding sugar or non pareils to really dress these cookies up for your cookie platter. 

If you are having a holiday dinner party, these cookies are fabulous for dessert. They have a wonderful grown up appeal and would be delicious paired with a dessert wine too. 


Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies with a bite taken out.



These cookies will keep well at room temperature in an airtight container for about five days, if they last that long! 


More Christmas Cookie Ideas:

Zimsterne (German Christmas Cookies)

Cinnamon Spiral Cookies

Christmas Ornament Cookies

Orange-Scented Alfajores

Almond Spice Christmas Wreath Cookies

Stained Glass Cookies

I have many more Christmas cookies. Just use the search box to find even more. 



Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies on a pink plate.


Welcome to #ChristmasCookies Week! That time of year when we soften the butter, fire up the oven, and make cookie trays for family, friends, and neighbors. This year more than 20 top-notch bloggers are sharing their very favorite creations for all to make and enjoy. Join us for a week’s worth of Christmas cookie deliciousness.


Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies on a plate.



Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies

Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies
Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 10 MinInactive time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 30 M
Devil's Food Thumbprint Cookies - super chocolate-y and extra fudgy cookies rolled in crunchy sparking sugar and filled with raspberry jam.

Ingredients

  • 102 grams (3/4 cup) all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 71 grams (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 226 grams (8 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 132 grams (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, cold
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Sanding or sparkling sugar for finishing the cookies
  • 1/3 cup raspberry jam

Instructions

  1. In a 1 quart bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and cinnamon.
  2. Bring a small pot of water to a simmer and top it with a medium heatproof bowl. Be sure that the simmering water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate and the butter to the bowl and cook, stirring regularly, until the chocolate and butter are fully melted. Remove the bowl from the heat.
  3. Add the sugar to the bowl and whisk constantly until the sugar begins to disolve. Add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk to fully incorporate between each addition until smooth. Beat in the vanilla.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the bowl and combine with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 4 days.
  5. When ready to bake, heat your oven to 350 degrees F and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Add some of the sparkling sugar to a small bowl.
  7. Form the dough into 24 to 26 1 1/2 inch balls with your hands, roll them to coat them in the sanding sugar, and place them on the baking sheets.
  8. Using a wine cork, press an indentation in the middle of each ball.
  9. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 10 minutes. When they first come out of the oven, place the baking sheet on a wire rack, and press the centers down again with the wine cork.
  10. After 5 minutes, move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the second baking sheet.
  11. Heat the jam in a sauce pan until liquefied and then, using a small spoon, drop some into each indentation. Let cool to let the jam set.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

133.96

Fat (grams)

6.47

Sat. Fat (grams)

3.73

Carbs (grams)

17.49

Fiber (grams)

0.93

Net carbs

16.55

Sugar (grams)

11.79

Protein (grams)

1.6

Sodium (milligrams)

57.31

Cholesterol (grams)

22.43
cookies, chocolate
dessert
Did you make this recipe?
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This recipe was adapted from the new book, Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty, and Simple,  by Dorie Greenspan. I'm a huge collector of her cookbooks and recommend each and every one of them. Dorie is a gem. 



Would you like to comment?

  1. They look wonderful. Great tip about using the cork.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! There's always corks laying around, lol.

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  2. Fudgy cookies with a dollop of raspberry jam, count me in!

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  3. Oh I am loving the chocolatey twist! It will be perfect with the raspberry jam!

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  4. Raspberry jam in a chocolate cookie sounds divine.

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  5. The raspberry jam in these lil' cuties really puts them over the top! YUM!

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  6. Just love the sparkly sugar! I'm thinking cherry jam would be fantastic with the chocolate cookie!

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  7. Mmmmm, Love a good thumbprint cookie and the coarse sugar on these is fantastic too!

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  8. These are so cute and tasty looking. I was hoping you were going to say we needed to drink a bottle of wine to get the cork though :)

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  9. I love the chocolate twist on these thumbprint cookies! Such a great cookie for the holidays!

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  10. Karen, these were simple SPECTACULAR. Period! thank you thank you thank YOU!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so excited that you tried them! Yours are gorgeous. Great tip on using the cookie cutter for holding the shape.

      Delete
  11. These look amazing! I'm a big fan of devils food and I know I will like them!

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  12. These sounds lovely. Thanks for the recipe.

    ReplyDelete

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