Cookie Thursday: Chocolate Thumbprints (recipe)

Little A came home from school wanting to make a cookie, so make a cookie we did. I was looking for something kind of quick, and something with chocolate, and after perusing the pictures in Martha Stewart’s Cookies, we chose:

Chocolate Thumbprints
from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

• 1 cup, plus 3 tablespoons, unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon corn syrup

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat together 1 cup butter with sugar, salt and vanilla extract, until very smooth, about 2 minutes.. I used my Beater Blade, which makes the onerous task of scraping down the bowl disappear. Beat in flour, slowly (it will probably make a mess), until well combined.

Using your cookie 1 1/2 scoop, form balls and place them 1 inch apart on the cookie sheets. With your finger, press little indentations in the middle of each cookie, a cup to hold the chocolate. [This is where my instructions differ from Martha's - she suggests baking the cookies for 10 minutes first, then removing the pans and poking the indentations. Since I was making these with my daughter, I decided burns from hot cookies would not be pleasant for either one of us, so we made the indents before baking. I did not notice a big problem with this method. Some of the indentations did lose their definition while baking, but I was able to poke them again when they came out of the oven.]

Bake 15-19 minutes until lightly browned around the edges, rotating the pans half-way. Remove and cool on wire rack.

While the cookies are cooling, combine the chocolate, remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and corn syrup in small bowl over simmering water. [Note, my recipe also differs here - Martha calls for twice as much chocolate filling. I found that I only used about 1/2, which is no great problem, as I saved the remaining chocolate for ice cream sauce, but in the future, I will use the above measurements for the chocolate filling.] Stir occasionally until smooth and melted. Allow to cool until slightly thick.

Fill thumbprints with chocolate mixture and allow to set. Try to avoid inhaling them all at once!