Blackberry Sage Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies Recipes

BLACKBERRY-SAGE THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine flour, cornmeal, sage, and baking powder. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and add brown sugar, beat until combined. Beat in egg yolks, lemon zest and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture. Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls, place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Lightly press the tip of your thumb into the center of each ball. Fill the centers with about 1/4 teaspoons of the blackberry preserves. Bake 10 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute and then transfer to rack to cool completely.

CORNMEAL THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Steps:

• Combine the almonds and confectioners' sugar in a food processor and pulse until the almonds are finely ground, about 1 minute.
• Add the flour, cornmeal, lemon zest, salt, and nutmeg and pulse several times to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Stir the egg and vanilla in a small bowl and add to the almond-butter mixture. Pulse just until the dough begins to stick together.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead several times to form a flat disk. Wrap tightly in parchment paper or plastic and refrigerate for about 1 hour, until slightly firm.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Pinch off small pieces of the dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Place the balls on ungreased baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Using your thumb, press the center of each cookie to form an indentation.
• Spoon a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of preserves in the indentation of each cookie. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown around the edges.
• Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes. Serve warm or transfer to a baking rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve, or for up to 4 days.

BLACKBERRY THUMBPRINTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spread almonds in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 6 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light brown. Cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
• In food processor, place almonds. Cover; process 30 seconds or until finely ground.
• In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well.
• In medium bowl, mix flour, salt, cloves, cinnamon and almonds; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. On cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Press thumb into each ball, forming indentation.
• Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool 30 minutes. Spoon preserves into resealable freezer plastic bag; seal bag. Cut off tiny corner of bag; squeeze bag to pipe preserves into indentation in each cookie.