Holiday Challenge Day 17 - Chocolate Thumbprints

 

Day 17...Can you believe it?!  Time sure flies when you're having fun.  Or when you're all hopped up on sugar...Regardless of which it might be, I'm sure you'll agree that the 2009 holiday season seems to be flying by faster than Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. 

With only 8 days left in the Holiday Challenge, I thought I'd try my hand at making Chocolate Thumbprints.  Again.   Why, I'm not really sure.  Because I've never been particularly enamored of any of the thumbprint recipes that I've baked in the past.  (Just for the record, the execution has been nothing short of flawless, if I do say so myself).  Even the "bonus" of chocolate ganache welled on top of the cookie isn't usually enough to entice me to make or eat them with enthusiasm.  And if you can't eat a cookie with enthusiasm, what's the point of making it?! 

But, I'm all about rooting for the underdog - in sports it's the team that's least likely to win the SuperBowl or the World Series; in baking, it's the cookie that's least likely to end up on the plate left out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.  Surely there had to be something I could do to turn your run-of-the-mill Chocolate Thumbprint from "so-so" to "ho ho ho"! 

And there certainly was.  First, I found a recipe for Chocolate Thumbprints that had you roll the dough in turbinado sugar for a little extra texture and taste.  Then, instead of making the regular chocolate ganache, I made a to-die-for (TO-DIE-FOR!!) chocolate filling that normally makes its home between two homemade oatmeal cookies.  I piped it into the thumbprints on my cookies, and voila, the end result was a Chocolate Thumbprint that was definitely Santa-worthy.  And worthy of a place in my recipe book, too!

Chocolate Thumbprints
Makes about 50 cookies
modified from www. myrecipes.com (Sunset, November 2003)

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Turbinado sugar (also known as "Sugar in the Raw"), approximately 1/3 cup

Chocolate Filling
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients and stir over medium heat until chips melt.  (You can also do this in the microwave - I throw it all in a bowl and cook it for a couple of minutes on 3/4 power, stirring frequently, until everything melts together).

Preparation
1. In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla until well blended, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
2. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill until dough is firm but pliable, about 30 minutes.
3. Place about 1/3 cup turbinado sugar in a shallow bowl. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll to coat in turbinado sugar. Place 1 inch apart on buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie to make a 1/2-inch-deep imprint.
4. Bake cookies in a 325 degrees until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. If baking more than one sheet at a time in one oven, switch positions halfway through baking. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely (if indentations have disappeared, make them again while cookies are warm).
5. Carefully fill each indentation with about 1/2 tablespoon of chocolate filling (I used a disposable pastry bag without a tip and piped the filling onto each cookie).  Let cool until filling is firm to the touch.