Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
These Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies are soft, fudgy, and filled with a silky chocolate ganache that sets beautifully in the center. Topped with festive Christmas nonpareils, they’re rich, chewy, and perfect for holiday cookie trays. Simple to make and incredibly delicious, they look bakery-perfect every time.
Servings: 20 cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup salted butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup natural cocoa powder I use Hershey's
- 2 tsp corn starch
- ½ tsp kosher salt
For the ganache:
- 4 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips or chopped bar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp salted butter optional, for shine
- ¼ tsp nonpareils
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a stand mixer beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy. Mix in egg yolk.
- Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt, then add to the wet ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms. Scoop 20 even balls of dough and roll until smooth. Press an indentation into each ball with your thumb or a teaspoon.
- Bake 10–12 minutes, until edges look set. Reshape the cookies by gently scooting a bowl or round cookie cutter to make cookies into a perfect circle. Re-press the center while cookies are warm to deepen the thumbprint. Allow to cool completely.
For the ganache:
- Heat the heavy cream in the microwave until steaming and just beginning to bubble around the edges (about 40 seconds) or warm it gently in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Do not let it boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, let sit 1–2 minutes, then stir until smooth. If using, stir the butter in. Allow ganache to cool for 3-5 minutes and fill each cookie. Top with nonpareils and let it set before serving.