Day Two Hundred Seventy-Six

In a normal year, we would have reached the point in the festivities when I'm quite ready to be done with all things resembling a cookie. This year, though, I have barely made any so that means I am like 300 behind on my cookie consumption. To make matters worse, I suddenly thought of these Lemon Raspberry Thumbprints and now they're the only thing I can think about.

I love these darn cookies. I haven't made them for a few years, so now would be a good time for them to just magically appear.

Beuller?

Anyone?

Fine, I'll make them this weekend. I'm reposting the recipe for now so that it's easier to find then.

Lemon Raspberry Thumbprints

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jelly/jam
1 tablespoon Chambord (You can sub in any fruit-flavored booze, I believe. I haven' t tried every possibility, but I've tried about 6 of them with great results.)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (I just use whatever I get from one lemon for this -- measuring doesn't seem to be all that important here)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Trust me, this is not an optional step.

3. In a small bowl, stir together the raspberry jam and Chambord. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside for a minute.

5. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with a mixer. Once they are well-mixed and fluffy, add in the egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat everything together.

6. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and continue to beat with the mixer until the dough turns into little crumbles.

7. Smush the dough into a large ball with your hands.

8. Break off a little dough at a time and form 1" balls with it.  Place them on your parchment-covered cookie sheets. These about double in size, so leave at least an inch in between each cookie.

9. Use a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to create the little indents for the jelly.

10. Fill each of those little dents with some jelly. Be careful to only fill them to a tiny bit below the top. The jelly will bubble while the cookies are in the oven, so you'll end up with spilled jelly if you fill them too far.

11. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

12. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.