Lemon Raspberry Thumbprints

I spent the first half of the weekend making the staples that I guarantee all the kids (and adults, for what it matters) in my life will devour.

Which, I have no fantastic secret recipe for those. I use the Reese's recipe. OK, so maybe there is something in that recipe in that I use the same one for both kinds of cookies. Seriously. I make a double batch of peanut butter dough. I make the Peanut Butter Cup ones first and then make the Kiss Cookies the size necessary to use up all of the Hershey Kisses. Sometimes the cookies get a little small, but that's OK. That just means you get to eat two of them.

One recipe. Two kinds of cookies.

Once I was done with the "everybody loves them" cookies, I needed to make something a little more sophisticated.

They are Lemon Raspberry Thumbprints. Alexis isn't a fan, but I think that's because she doesn't see the potential for having cookies for breakfast. These are great with coffee because they aren't terribly sweet and they're a fantastic slightly crisp texture. They're not as soft as other cookies and the lemon and raspberry compliment each other nicely.

Wait. Did I mention that there is booze in these cookies? Because WOOOO! BOOZE! The alcohol probably cooks off when they're in the oven, but that's not the point. The point is -- grown-up cookies. 

Oh, and thanks to my friend B for sharing this recipe with me. THESE COOKIES ARE SO GOOD. AND I DON'T HAVE TO SHARE THEM. YAHOOO!

Ahem.

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. I used the same method as I did for the Turtle Tassies.

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.