Ingredient	Amount
For the Cookies
Unsalted butter, softened	1 cup (2 sticks or 226 g)
Confectioners' sugar, sifted	⅔ cup (80 g)
Egg yolks from large eggs	2
Pure vanilla extract	2 teaspoons (10 ml)
Pure almond extract, optional	¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml)
Fine-grain sea salt	¼ teaspoon (1.2 g)
Unbleached all-purpose flour	21/2 cups (300 g)
For the Sugar Coating
Granulated cane sugar, or regular granulated sugar	⅔ cup (133 g)
For the Jam Filling
Homemade or fine-quality strawberry jam and/or seedless red raspberry jam	About ⅓ cup total

Instructions

Arrange oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 325°F (165°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Place granulated sugar for Sugar Coating in a small bowl and combine strawberry and raspberry jams (about ⅓ cup total or about 158 ml) for Jam Filling in another small bowl; set aside. If desired, keep jams separate to fill the cookies.

Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or handheld electric mixer, beat butter until creamy and smooth. Beat in confectioner’s sugar and mix until well incorporated scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add egg yolks and extracts; mix until well incorporated. Add salt and flour; mix on low speed until just incorporated and dough forms into a ball.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls, roll in sugar to coat and place on prepared baking sheets about 11/2 inches apart. Using thumb or end of wooden spoon, make an indentation in center of each cookie.

Fill each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon jam, being careful not to overfill.

Bake in preheated oven until cookies are set and very lightly browned on the bottom edges, about 15 minutes.

Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

For Gluten-Free Perfect Jam Thumbprint Cookies: Substitute 21/2 cups (400 g) King Arthur Flour® Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour and 1¼ teaspoons (3.5 g) guar gum, such as by Now Foods, for the regular all-purpose wheat flour called for in the recipe. (It’s important to whisk in guar gum until evenly distributed throughout the flour because it is very sticky once moisture is added and sticky lumps are undesirable in dough.)

Shopping Suggestions

Wicked Good Kitchen highly recommends selecting organic ingredients whenever possible. For this recipe, and all our baking recipes calling for unbleached all-purpose flour, we highly recommend the pure and Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour because it is naturally white and contains no additives. We also highly recommend organic grass-fed butter, eggs, granulated cane sugar, confectioners' sugar and jams or preserves as well as Nielsen-Massey® Organic Pure Vanilla Extract and Nielsen-Massey® Pure Almond Extract.

Source: Wicked Good Kitchen