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These are buttery, soft-baked thumbprint cookies filled with gooey salted caramel and drizzled with chocolate. Finished with a sprinkle of sea salt, these cookies are perfect for Christmas platters and cookie exchanges!
Caramel thumbprint cookies are great for holiday baking, along with pignoli cookies, sweet potato cookies, and coconut macaroons.
These soft and buttery salted caramel thumbprint cookies are one of my favorite Christmas cookies. The cookie dough is a simple, soft-baked 5-ingredient shortbread, with a gooey caramel center and a drizzle of melted chocolate. What really takes these over the top is the sprinkle of coarse sea salt. You already know I LOVE a sweet-salty combination in my chocolate truffles recipe!
About This Easy Christmas Thumbprint Cookies Recipe
- 5-ingredient cookies. You need only butter, powdered sugar, flour, vanilla, and salt to make the shortbread cookie dough.
- No chilling. The dough is ready to go into the oven right away. No need to chill it beforehand.
- Quick caramel filling. I use a bag of caramel candies and melt them down to make the cookie filling. It’s quicker than making caramel from scratch. Though you can absolutely do that, too!
- Adaptable. The filling options for thumbprint cookies are endless. Caramel is my seasonal choice, but like kolacky cookies, you can fill these thumbprints with jam, preserves, chocolate, or just about anything you’d like.
Gather Your Ingredients
The ingredients for the cookie dough and caramel filling are easy to find in most pantries and grocery stores. You’ll find some notes here, including possible ingredient swaps if you need them. Scroll to the recipe card below the post for the printable step-by-step recipe with measurements.
- Butter – Unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.
- Powdered Sugar – Also called confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar. Pro tip: You can make powdered sugar by pulsing regular granulated sugar in the food processor until it becomes a fine powder.
- Vanilla – Use pure vanilla extract or an equal amount of vanilla paste.
- Flour and Salt – Make sure to measure the flour using a digital kitchen scale, or the spoon-and-level method. Rather than scooping directly from the bag, spoon the flour into the measuring cup. Afterward, level off the cup with the back of a knife for a nice, even cup of flour.
- Caramel Candies – You’ll need about one 11-ounce bag’s worth of unwrapped soft caramels, like Werther’s Originals or Kraft. If you have a favorite homemade caramel recipe that you’d like to use instead, you can use that, too.
- Half-and-Half – To combine with the melted caramels to make the creamy filling. You can use heavy cream if you’d prefer.
- Chocolate Chips – I use dark chocolate, but you can use semi-sweet, milk, or even white chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. You’ll melt the chocolate for drizzling.
- Sea Salt – Use a coarse sea salt or flaky salt, like Maldon salt, as a garnish. Table salt won’t work here.
Tips for Perfect Cookies
- Make the dough easier to handle. Chilling the dough isn’t necessary for these cookies. However, if the dough is too soft to handle when shaping the cookies, place it into the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Press the indents gently. If you press the dough too quickly or too aggressively, the thumbprint cookies may crack.
- Fix cracks in the dough. If the edges of the dough crack while you’re making the indents, simply reroll the cookie dough into a ball and try again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fillings like caramel and chocolate must be added after the cookies are baked. If you’re using fruit preserves, these can be added to the cookies before baking.
I bake these cookies for 16 to 20 minutes at 350ºF. The exact baking time varies from oven to oven. I recommend checking the cookies at the 15-minute mark and going from there.
These cookies get their name from how they’re shaped. After rolling the cookie dough into balls, you’d traditionally use your thumb to press down in the center of the cookie to make a well. This is why they’re called thumbprint cookies.
Thumbprint Cookie Filling Variations
- Jams and preserves. Make “jam drops” and fill the center of these cookies with strawberry jam, plum jam, marmalade, or any fruit preserves you’d like. You can also fill them with lemon curd.
- Chocolate. Fill the center of the cookies with melted dark, semi-sweet, or milk chocolate.
- Peppermint. Instead of sea salt, sprinkle the tops of these caramel thumbprint cookies with crushed peppermint candy or candy canes.
- Nuts. Add a garnish of crushed pecans, walnuts, or almonds.
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Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIES
- 1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
FOR THE FILLING
- 12 pieces of soft caramel cubes, unwrapped and chopped, I use Kraft caramels
- 2 tablespoons half & half
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips, melted
- coarse sea salt, for topping
Instructions
For the Cookies
- Prepare for baking. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Lower the speed to medium and add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt; continue to beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Turn the mixer off and pour in the flour; with the mixer on low speed, beat the mixture until a soft dough forms.
- Shape the dough. Pinch off 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and shape into smooth balls. If the dough is too soft to handle, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Make a well in the center of the cookies. Arrange the dough balls about 1 ½ inches apart on the lined cookie sheets. Using the back of a ½-teaspoon measure, press down into the center of each ball to make a well. If the edges crack, reroll the cookie dough ball.
- Bake. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies are dry and edges are golden brown.
- Cool. Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet; transfer from the cookie sheet to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the filling.
For the Filling
- Melt the caramels. In a microwavable bowl, microwave caramels and half-and-half uncovered on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring vigorously every 30 to 45 seconds, until the caramels are melted.
- Fill the cookies. Spoon the caramel into the indentation of each completely cooled cookie; let stand about 10 minutes.
- Drizzle with chocolate. Drizzle each cookie with melted chocolate and sprinkle with sea salt. Let the cookies stand about 10 minutes or until the chocolate is set.
Notes
- Make sure to stir after each interval so the caramel melts evenly and doesn’t get too hot, which can make it turn grainy or firm up. You can also use store-bought caramel sauce.
- Baked, unfilled cookies can be frozen for 1 month. Arrange the cookies in single layers, divided by waxed paper in an airtight container.
- You can also keep unfilled cookies on the kitchen counter at room temperature for 5 days.
- Cookies can be filled up to 3 days ahead; once filled, arrange on a sheet pan in one layer and cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap isn’t touching the caramel. Store at room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
How to Make Thumbprint Cookies
Follow the steps below to mix the dough and bake your thumbprint cookies from scratch.
- Make the cookie dough. Start by beating the butter until it’s light and creamy, then mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Scrape down the bowl, and slowly add the flour, mixing to form a smooth dough.
- Shape the dough. Next, pinch off about 1 tablespoon of dough at a time. Shape the dough into a ball, and arrange the cookies 1½ to 2 inches apart on a lined baking sheet.
- Make a well in the center of the cookies. Now, use the back side of a ½ teaspoon measure to press a small well in the center of each cookie. You could also do this with your thumb! The handle end of a wooden spoon does the job, too; whatever you’ve got handy.
- Bake. Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 16 to 20 minutes. The cookies should be lightly browned at the edges and dry on top.
- Cool the cookies. After baking, your cookies will need to cool completely before you can add the filling. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack.
Add the Filling
While the cookies bake and cool, prepare your caramel filling. In traditional thumbprint cookie recipes, the fruit jam filling is added to the cookies before they’re baked. However, when using caramel or chocolate, the filling needs to be added after baking. Otherwise, the filling will melt.
- Melt the caramels. Microwave the unwrapped caramels with the half-and-half in 30-second intervals, stirring in between until the caramel has fully melted.
- Fill the cookies. Next, spoon a dollop of smooth caramel into the small indent in each cookie. Give the caramel about 10 minutes to firm up before you add the chocolate.
- Add a chocolate drizzle. Melt the chocolate the same way you melted the caramel, and drizzle it over the cookies. Lastly, finish these thumbprint cookies with a sprinkle of sea salt. Let the chocolate set before serving.
Make-Ahead, Storage, and Freezing
- Store the filled cookies. These thumbprint cookies can be filled up to 3 days ahead. Once filled, store the cookies covered in a single layer. If you’re using plastic wrap, make sure the plastic wrap isn’t touching the caramel. Store the cookies at room temperature.
- Store the unfilled cookies. You can also keep unfilled cookies on the kitchen counter at room temperature for 5 days.
- Freeze the unfilled cookies. The baked, unfilled cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month. Arrange the cookies in single layers, divided by waxed paper in an airtight container.
I made these for the first time and I have made another batch and will probably make a third. So delicious and perfect combo with sweet and salt and the base cookie is mouth watering. Just follow recipe and you can’t go wrong. Highly recommend making…
That’s great! I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
The caramel was hard as a rock when cooled
Hi! I am so sorry these didn’t turn out for you! 🙁 I think the caramel was hard because it cooked too long in the microwave. This is why I suggest to cook it for 1 to 2 minutes. Everyone’s microwave heats differently. Caramel can go from soft ball stage to the hard ball stage very quickly. If it heats for too long, the sugars start changing state and they will harden when the caramel cools.
These kept cracking and cracking no matter what I tried!
Oooh, these look heavenly! These are mouth watering!