Strawberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

I absolutely love Christmas time!  There's such a feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air.  It truly is the "most wonderful time of the year".

Of course, with Christmas comes Christmas cookies!  Every year my mom and I would bake dozens of Christmas cookies. We'd eat some and give some away to friends.  Nothing says Merry Christmas quite like a plate of fresh baked cookies!

I was talking with a friend one day and she told me about the "easiest, most delicious cookies ever"!  So simple that they only require 7 ingredients, and that's if you count the water!  Well, easy and delicious are two of my favorite words when it comes to describing foods, so of course I had to get the recipe from her.  Mike and I both love these cookies, so I make them frequently.  With a little bit of green icing, you can decorate these cookies to make fabulous Christmas goodies!



When I heard about the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, I immediately signed up to join in the fun.  The swap was so exciting--I made 3 dozen of these cookies and shipped them off to 3 other bloggers.  In return, I received 3 dozen different cookies from 3 other bloggers.  So fun! I knew exactly what cookie I would be making!  This is a dense enough cookie that it traveled well and from what I've heard from the recipients, this was a great choice.

Strawberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Makes 2 dozen cookies

You will need:
1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup strawberry jam (use what is needed)

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 Tablespoon water

1.  In a medium bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2.  Add in flour and almond extract and mix well.  The mixture will be very crumbly and just barely come together.

3.  Form 1 inch balls from the dough. 

4.  Place each dough ball on a greased cookie sheet and gently press your thumb into the center of each ball.

5.  Put as much jam as possible into the thumb indentation.

6.  Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes.  I aim for 14 minutes as you don't want the cookies to brown.

7.  Remove cookies from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

8.  While cookies are cooling, mix together powdered sugar, almond extract, and water to form a thin icing.  You can also add in food coloring if you'd like.

9.  Drizzle icing over cookies.  Allow the icing to set before storing the cookies in an airtight container.

Adapted from: Tasty Kitchen

As part of the cookie swap, I received a dozen cookies from 3 other fabulous bloggers!  Be sure to check out their posts today for their delicious recipes.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies from Becoming Bianca

Chocolate and Raisin Rugelach from OrlndoFoodie

Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies from Created by Diane

 Thank you ladies, and have a very Merry Christmas!