Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Ok, so I am FINALLY getting around to today's post. Sorry it took me so long, I had a lot going on the past couple days with school and work and trying to figure out more about whether my professors will be on strike next week or not. YIKES...I know. Needless to say, things have been a bit crazy and blogging got put on the back burner last night. But here I am now and ready to share another recipe!

These little cookies are pretty fun to make although they can be a little tricky. I have made thumbprint cookies before, but this particular recipe was new for me. The picture in the recipe looked awesome and I was really excited to try them, but they didn't turn out exactly as I had expected! (They still tasted delicious, they were just a little more difficult to make than I had anticipated)

 When I had combined all the ingredients together, I found the dough was very dry and crumbly. I think the problem was that I hadn't softened the butter enough. The butter is pretty much the only thing holding all the dry ingredients together so MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS!

It was a bit tricky trying to form cookie balls and then press thumbprints into them without the whole ball crumbling apart, but somehow I managed and this is how they turned out. They might not be the prettiest cookies in the jar but hey, it's all the same once they're eaten right?

Top it off with a dollop of yummy chocolate icing and you're good to go! I did not have an icing bag (My next investment will be a fancy icing kit) so if you find yourself in the same boat, I just put the icing in a plastic sandwich bag, cut a small hole in one corner, and used it as a makeshift icing bag!

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Bake time: 15mins   Yields ~30 cookies

Ingredients:
THE COOKIES
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

THE ICING
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup cocoa
2 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease your cookie sheet.
2) Combine all the ingredients for the cookies in a large mixing bowl.
3) Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and put them on the cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart from each other. Press a thumbprint into the top of each dough ball.
4) Bake in the oven for 5 mins, then re-dent the top of each ball. Continue to bake for another 10 mins. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven but let the cookies sit on the sheet for another 5 mins. Move cookies to a wire rack and let cool completely. Let the cookie sheet cool between batches (I used two alternating cookie sheets so one could cool while the other was in the oven).
5) For the icing, beat all the ingredients together in a medium bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy. Fill each dent on the cookie tops with icing.


(Recipe adapted from Festive Baking)