Brown butter thumbprints are cardamom butter cookies rolled in sugar, dented with a spoon handle and filled with jam before baking. That makes them a grown up Christmas cookie for a cookie exchange or a gift tin, since browning the butter adds a nutty depth. The batch makes about 36.
Freeze the browned butter back to a spreadable state before you cream it. Liquid butter holds no air at all. Thirty five to forty minutes in the freezer, stirred now and then, is what lets the sugar whip it light.
The ingredient list asks for butter at room temperature, then melts it in the very first line. Softening it first is wasted time, so take the butter straight from the fridge and put it in the pan.
Brown Butter Thumbprints
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalButter cooked until the milk solids turn nutty and brown, chilled back to a cream, then whipped with superfine sugar and bound with flour and cardamom. Each ball is dented, filled with jam and baked.
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
2 sticks unsalted butter, straight from the fridge
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1 large egg
- For the Filling:
1/3 to 2/3 cup thick jam or preserves
Directions
- Brown the butter: Line two baking sheets with parchment. Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat and cook, swirling the pan, until brown flecks appear and it smells nutty, about 7 minutes. Pour it into a heatproof bowl. There is no need to soften the butter first, since it goes straight into the pan.
- Chill it back: Put the bowl in the freezer and stir it now and then for 35 to 40 minutes, until the butter is spreadable again. Meanwhile whisk the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt together and set it aside.
- Cream and mix: Beat the chilled brown butter with 1/2 cup of the sugar on medium high for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then drop to low and add the flour mixture until the dough comes together.
- Shape and dent: Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and roll each in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Space them 1 1/2 inches apart on the sheets and press a well into each with the handle of a wooden spoon, pinching any wide cracks closed. Refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes, until firm.
- Fill and bake: Heat the oven to 375 degrees F with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Spoon 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of jam into each well. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, switching the pans halfway, until set and lightly browned underneath, then cool completely on the sheets.
Notes
- The original lists butter at room temperature and then melts it in the first line, so chilled butter works just as well. The 100 calories a cookie checks out, and the jam quantity matches 1/2 to 1 teaspoon across 36 cookies.
FAQs
What is superfine sugar and can I make it?
It is granulated sugar milled smaller, so it dissolves into fat faster and leaves no grit. Pulse regular granulated in a food processor for about 30 seconds and you have it. Do not swap in powdered sugar, which carries cornstarch and changes the dough.
Why a spoon handle and not a thumb?
A wooden spoon handle gives a deeper, rounder well with straight sides, which holds more jam without it running over the edge. A thumb makes a shallow dish that overflows. Pinch any wide cracks shut as you go.
Does browning the butter change the amount?
You lose roughly a sixth of the weight as water steams off. That is part of why these bake shorter and sandier than a plain butter cookie. The fat itself stays behind, so do not top the butter back up.
Which jam works best?
A thick preserve holds its shape through a 25 minute bake, while a loose jelly spreads and runs down the sides of the cookie. Raspberry, apricot and cherry are the usual three. The same rule applies to these jam thumbprint cookies.
How long do they keep?
Five days in an airtight tin, which is shorter than a plain butter cookie because the jam keeps the centers moist. Freeze them baked for two months instead. Layer them like these gingerbread thumbprint cookies, never stacked directly.
