In my humble opinion, these Iced Almond Thumbprint Cookies are one of the easiest and most delicious of all the Christmas Cookie Recipes. Why spend hours on tedious cookies when these are simple and a huge crowd-pleaser?
Almond Thumbprint Cookies
These Almond Thumbprint Cookies from my grandmother and the Snowball Cookies also a recipe from my grandma are on the blog and are the easiest cookies in my holiday cookie recipes.
You also might like another passed-down cookie recipes like Christmas Cut Out Cookies, or here is where you can find Over 21 Christmas Cookies to try
Table of contents
These delicious cookies can be adapted to any holiday just by changing the icing color.
Here is the printable recipe:
Thumbprint Cookies With Almond Flavored Icing Center
Easy, Beautiful, and Delicious! A sure crowd pleaser at your Holiday Functions!
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Servings: 30 servings
Calories: 108cal
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter – melted unsalted or margarine
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 2 tsp. milk I used 2%
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 2 cups flour all-purpose
- optional – 1 cup of finely chopped nuts almonds
Filling – For Easch Color
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 2 – 3 Tbsp. water
- food coloring colors of your choice. I used red and green
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Melt the butter until it is warm enough to dissolve the sugar (I usually microwave the 1 lb. for about 30 seconds) If it is only partially melted, that’s fine. It will probably have a warm, and creamy texture)
- In a large bowl mix melted margarine or unsalted butter and sugar together until sugar is dissolved
- Add extract and milk – stir in
- In a small bowl mix the salt, flour, and nuts
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together
- Roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter
- Push the center down with your thumb or the back of a Tbsp. measuring spoon that has been greased
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes
- While that is baking – stir the ingredients for the icing together adding the water 1 Tbsp. at a time, and stopping when the icing is a nice smooth consistency but not too runny
- If it gets too runny…just add a little more powdered sugar
- After the cookies are done and cooled – add a spoonful of icing to each center
Notes
nutrition facts are only an estimate
updates to recipe explained:
The addition of milk is a new ingredient. Feel free to omit this ingredient. Your cookie will still turn out delicious, but it will have a more dense texture. The original version from my mom’s generation did not have the milk. The milk binds the dough with more moisture so it is not so crumbly, it adds fat and flavor, and it even contributes to color.
Almond extracts in place of vanilla – these 2 extracts are completely interchangeable in this recipe. I happened to like the almond flavor over the vanilla, but it is entirely a personal preference
*Also, I have discovered that it is not necessary to refrigerate the cookie dough before baking which gives us one less step to worry about. 🙂
Nutrition
Calories: 108cal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 12mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 190IU | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.4mg
~ Melissa – KidFriendlyThingsToDo.com
These look amazing, and i love how easy they are to make , definitely something I could have my grandchildren help me with.. Thanks for sharing
Is the margarine suppose to be melted? Hard to cream melted margarine with sugar and my final product doesn’t look like yours
Thanks for asking…We actually just had our cookie baking day, yesterday and made these cookies.Yes. The margarine or unsalted butter is supposed to be melted. It’s an old recipe, and it’s one that I grew up with. My mom always used margarine. I now use unsalted butter, but the result is always the same. I guess cream is not the right terminology. It’s how it was written a long time ago. Mix until sugar is dissolved might be a better way of phrasing it. I’ll change the wording in the recipe. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I hope the cookies work out for you. Happy Holidays!
Hi again, Shawn! As you can tell it really bothers me when someone’s recipe does not live up to expectations. I have been experimenting in the kitchen and have made some slight adjustments to hopefully make the recipe the perfect texture and even took a step out to make it easier. I’ve even had the kids participate in a blindfold cookie tasting! 🙂 I’m sure the original version is still delicious and I hope you liked the flavor, but I think you’ll like the new improved version even better. Merry Christmas to you and yours!