Cranberry Thumbprints

Name: Cranberry Thumbprints
Total time: 60 min
Yield: Makes 25 cookies
Ingredients: About 2/3 cup cranberry sauce, drained; 1 cup unsalted butter; 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 2 1/2 cups flour; 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 3/4 teaspoon ground allspice; Pinch of salt; 3/4 cup pecan pieces

9 Reviews

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Photo: Annabelle Breakey; Styling: Dan Becker

Total Time

1 Hour

Yield

Makes 25 cookies

Instead of using jam, fill these bite-sized cookies with your extra Thanksgiving cranberry sauce.

Ingredients

About 2/3 cup cranberry sauce, drained
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup pecan pieces

How to Make It

Step 1

Heat oven to 350°. Whirl sauce in a food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds; set aside.

Step 2

Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of a standing mixer until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Add flour, spices, and salt, then mix on low speed until blended, scraping inside of bowl as needed. Stir in pecans.

Step 3

Form dough into 1 1/2-in balls and set 1 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. Use your thumb to press a well into center of each cookie. Spoon about 3/4 tsp. cranberry sauce into each well.

Step 4

Bake cookies until light golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on baking sheet.

Step 5

Note: Nutritional analysis is per cookie.

Ratings & Reviews

Kathy415's Review

2013-12-06T20:13:25-05:00 Kathy415

These taste delicious, but consistency is tricky. I cut the flour by 1/4 cup as some had said the dough was overly crumbly. While it was pebbly, it did pack just fine - although some cookies had tough bits, and some spread more than others. This may be one where the temperature of the butter has to be juuuuuust right to get a better batter.

bakrmom's Review

2012-12-14T09:55:03-05:00 bakrmom

Great way to use leftover cranberry sauce. The flavor screams Thanksgiving!

Laurieface's Review

2010-12-02T15:43:21-05:00 Maple1

The cookie is tasty by itself but the cranberry adds a colorful and contrasting little kick. We loved them! Rather than shape into balls, I rolled dough into logs, refrigerated, then sliced about 3/8 inch each, baked 4-5 minutes to soften, then put thumbprint and cranberries onto cookies.

fielding's Review

2010-12-01T23:57:31-05:00 Laurieface

OK, they taste great. They were very hard to form into balls, many lost their shape while baking, the cranberries look like ketchup, they needed to bake more than 15 minutes. A LOT of butter for 25 cookies. Not worth the effort or saturated fat.

KimBrater's Review

2010-11-25T19:24:29-05:00 KimBrater

The recipe was interesting so I tried making them as a test for a holiday cookie swap.I was very disappointed in how the dough came together...because it didn't. Was more like pie crust and way too crumbley to be able to work with. I added one egg and the dough came together beautifully and made a very tender cookie. They are delicious and a potential for the cookie swap party.

Maple1's Review

2010-11-22T19:22:50-05:00 CyndyL

I too found these hard to form into balls. I solved this by dividing the dough into 6 balls and worked each ball into a log that was 1.5 inches in diameter. Then I cut the log in 1" slices. These were much easier to shape, were consistent in size and took less time. Not that it was my intention but it made 50 cookies. I tried blackberry jam as well. I liked the cranberry much better as it picked up the flavor in the cookie for a nice pairing.

LauraJP112's Review

2010-11-21T01:42:16-05:00 pboies

I also had trouble with this recipe. I going to retry it and modify the ingredients so they will mirror a reliable pecan sandie recipe that I have. It uses less sugar and less flour. I hope it works.

CyndyL's Review

2010-11-09T15:23:54-05:00 LauraJP112

Made these cookies last night, closely followed the recipe, they turned out great! Kind of like a shortbread cookie, and the cranberry adds a lovely tang. My husband loves these!

pboies's Review

2010-11-04T17:43:31-04:00 fielding

I think something was left out of this recipe. The dough was too crumbly to form into balls. I added an egg at the end, but it still didn't turn out right. I wonder if there is a misprint and a missing ingredient like egg or milk. Don't waste your time on this one.

Cranberry Thumbprints

Ingredients

How to Make It

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Ratings & Reviews

Kathy415's Review

bakrmom's Review

Laurieface's Review

fielding's Review

KimBrater's Review

Maple1's Review

LauraJP112's Review

CyndyL's Review

pboies's Review

Cranberry Thumbprints

Ingredients

Nutritional Information

How to Make It

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Build-a-Meal

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