These colorful Cookies for Springtime are soft, buttery and delicious. They are easy to make and fun to decorate with the kids. Perfect for your Easter celebration.

Almond Thumbprint Cookies for Springtime

I usually make these cookies at Christmastime. They are so easy to make, that I don’t mind rolling out a few batches.

While they are beautiful in red and green, I love them so much better in pastel colors.

If you are looking for springtime cookie ideas, try some of my other fun recipes – like:

• Bunny Shaped Cookies – Easy to make
• Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites for spring
• Rainbow Chocolate Covered Strawberries 

Do you put icing on cookies before or after baking?

• You should put icing on cookies after baking and cookies have completely cooled

How do I keep my Thumbprint Cookies from spreading?

• Chill the dough. Warm batter will spread more
• Don’t over beat the sugar and butter step. Just mix until well blended
• Use parchment paper or silicone sheets in place of greasing the pan

Iced Almond Thumbprint Cookies for Springtime Recipe Ingredients:

Ready to bake? Make sure you have all of the ingredients handy…

• • margarine melted – melted butter leads to chewier cookies
  • sugar
  • vanilla extract – or almond extract – I used to only use vanilla, but now I prefer the taste of almond in these cookies. They are almond thumbprint cookies, after all
  • salt – this sharpens the buttery flavor
  • flour – all purpose
  • optional – finely chopped nuts (almonds) – I love the nutty flavor that the almonds lend to the cookie, but the kids don’t like the texture. This is completely optional

  Filling

  • powdered sugar – this thickens and sweets your icing
  • almond extract – the best flavor for this icing
  •  water – be sparing. Add less water at first and more to thin the batter, if necessary
  • Gel food coloring – this is just to not oversaturate the icing with more liquid. If you only have liquid, then just use less water to thin the icing

Iced Almond Thumbprint Cookies for Springtime | Kid Friendly Things To Do

Print Recipe

Delicious springtime cookies

• Author: Melissa
• Prep Time: 15 minutes + refrigeration
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 41 minute
• Yield: 2 dozen 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 cup of margarine melted
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. of milk – I used 2%
• 2 cups of flour
• optional – 1 cup of finely chopped nuts (almonds)

Filling

for each color

• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 2 – 3 Tbsp. of water
• Gel food coloring – I used neon colors
• *you can use liquid food coloring, but you’ll want to use less water so your icing isn’t too runny

Instructions

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. 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)
3. In a large bowl mix melted margarine or unsalted butter and sugar together until sugar is dissolved
4. Add extract and milk – stir in
5. In a small bowl mix the salt, flour, and *optional nuts
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together
7. Roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter
8. Push the center down with your thumb or the back of a Tbsp. measuring spoon that has been greased
9. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes
10. 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
11. If it gets too runny…just add a little more powdered sugar
12. After the cookies are done and cooled – add a spoonful of icing to each center
13. Enjoy!

Notes

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 extract 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. 🙂