Christmas Pittsburgh-Style Thumbprint Cookies

/ Jodi

Christmas Pittsburgh Thumbprint Cookies 2

Christmas baking time is in full swing around here.

Christmas Pittsburgh Thumbprint Cookies 3

And those of us that live in and around Pittsburgh make thumbprints our own special way.  With icing!  and Sprinkles!

Christmas Pittsburgh Thumbprint Cookies

So for my Cookie Swap Party this coming weekend, Christmas Pittsburgh Thumbprints it is!

If you’d like to give them a try and share something different with your family and friends, try a few new thumbprints – like last week’s Twix Chocolate Caramel Shortbread version and these tasty Pittsburgh favorites.

Christmas Pittsburgh Thumbprint Cookies

Cookie Ingredients:

  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 tsp vanilla extract
  • Sprinkles

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour and salt. Once it is mostly incorporated, slowly increase the speed back to medium-high and beat for another minute or so until a dough forms.
  3. Form tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in the sprinkles.  If dough is a bit dry, you can add a little bit of milk or cream or put on your hands when rolling the balls to allow sprinkles to stick.
  4. Place on baking stone about 1 – 1/2  inches apart. Make a slight indentation with your thumb or finger on the tops of all the cookies.
  5. Bake for 8 minutes, then make a deeper indentation in the middle, and bake for an additional 7-8 minutes. The cookies should not brown much at all around the edges. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing:

  • 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp corn syrup
  • 3 Tbsp milk or cream
  • Pinch salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp butter, room temperature
  • Food coloring

Stir together all ingredients until smooth, then drop a spoonful into each cooled cookie.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

33 thoughts on “Christmas Pittsburgh-Style Thumbprint Cookies”

  16. Icing AND sprinkles! It doesn’t get much better than that!
    But do you think the icing would work without the butter? I have a hard time eating uncooked butter… I think I’ll give it a try, just to see what happens.

    Like

    Reply

I love hearing from you - hope you'll drop me a line