Lemon Thumbprint Cookies - Recipe

These cookies tend to be popular around the holidays. Actually, mt regular thumbprint cookies, which are served with apricot jam centers, are one of the most popular requests I get for the holiday season! And that's where I got the inspiration for these cookies: Lemon curd center, pistachios all around, white chocolate drizzle! An ultimate combo, don't you agree?

A couple of weeks ago, I made Homemade Lemon Curd. It is citrus season after all. I used some of it to add it to my Pound Cake, and I had some leftover and didn't want it to go to waste. So, I brainstormed, and decided to make these cookies -- and then some pancakes (recipe coming soon). Zero food waste!

What is really funny, is that lemon isn't my favorite flavor in desserts, but I have 2 lemon trees in my backyard, therefore plenty of fresh lemons to work with.

Here is your shopping list for these cookies:

• unsalted butter, at room temperature for best results (if you only have salted, omit the salt in the recipe)

• sugar

• eggs, seperated

• vanilla

• flour

• salt

• finely ground or chopped pistachios (feel free to substitute with the nut of your choice, but I think pistachios work very well with lemons)

• Lemon Curd, either homemade or store-bought.

• white chocolate, for the drizzle

How to make the cookies:

Start by lining your cookie sheets with either parchment paper, or what has saved me lately, a Silpat Baking Mat. I found these to be the best nonstick mats for baking cookies!

Preheat your oven to 325 °F (160°C).

Then, beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of your mixer, with the paddle attachment, on medium speed. Add the egg yolks and the vanilla and beat until everything is well blended, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Alternatively, you can use a hand held electric mixer. Stir in the flour and salt, and beat until your dough comes together.

butter, eggs and sugar mixed together in the bowl of a mixer

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites just to blend. Place your pistachios (or chosen nut) in another small bowl. Shape your dough into 1-inch (2.5-cm) balls. Dip each one in the egg white, and then roll in the nut mix. You should get between 34-36 cookies. Place your cookies about 1-inch (2.5-cm) apart on your baking sheets. Gently, press your thumb in the center of each cookie to make a small indentation (and that's why it is called a thumbprint cookie!)

Bake your cookies until lightly browned, 18-20 minutes. Let your cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then you can use a wide spatula to transfer them on wire racks to cool completely. The 5 minute waiting time is a MUST! Tried and tested.

Once cool, spoon about 1/2 tsp lemon curd on each cookie in the center where you made the indentation.

Melt your white chocolate in a bain marie, and drizzle with a spoon over each cookie in a zigzag motion.