Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints a winner!  2 thumbs up to this recipe.  Fairly easy to make.  They did have to be chilled for an hour, so need to plan for that.  I used some of my Sour Cherry jelly I made in June; therefore, I didn't need to use the lemon juice in my jelly prep for the cookies.  One could use any type of jam or jelly they wanted I suspect.

Recipe also said to get 36 cookie use 2 1/2 tsp of dough.  To get 36 cookies I needed to use 4 teaspoons of dough.  I used my cookie scoops to scoop out the 36 cookie balls.  Dough was fairly oily and my hands didn't need oiling to shape them into balls.  Refrigerated all 36 cookies on one cookie sheet to save space.  I used a silpat instead of parchment paper..  They peeled off intact to place on other cookie sheets for baking.

2 pictures of the cookies.  I just never know which looks best flash or no flash.

Instructions said to press each cookie with your thumb prior to refrigeration.  BUT after baking my thumbprints were nearly gone.  With the back of a spoon I gave each hot cookie another press.  This worked out well to reestablish the thumbprint to hold the jelly.

Another thing to mention this is a Cooking Light recipe.  It's still a cookie and not really that much lower in calories.  I figure any calorie saving in my day is always a plus.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints


2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray
7 tablespoons seedless raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and salt, stirring well with a whisk; set aside.

Place sugars, peanut butter, and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture, beating on low speed just until combined.

Lightly coat hands with cooking spray. Shape dough into 36 balls (about 2 1/2 teaspoons each). Place balls 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Press thumb into center of each dough ball, leaving an indentation. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Uncover dough. Bake at 350° for 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove cookies from pans, and cool on a wire rack.

Place preserves in a small microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 20 seconds, stirring once. Add juice, stirring until smooth. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon preserves mixture into the center of each cookie.  Yield: 3 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

CALORIES 103 (30% from fat); FAT 3.4g (sat 1.2g,mono 1.3g,poly 0.6g); IRON 0.5mg; CHOLESTEROL 15mg; CALCIUM 8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16.9g; SODIUM 48mg; PROTEIN 1.9g; FIBER 0.5g

Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2007