Chocolate raspberry pecan thumbprint cookies

These cookies are heavenly. I made them for a cookie exchange and they were a definite hit not to mention they have two kinds of chocolate; white and dark. Yum!



Pictures of the cookie making process:


The batter surprised me because it was rather crumbly but the cookies worked out fine even with the crumbliness.

Because the batter is crumbly you won't get a perfect ball and some of the batter will have a hard time sticking together. Just roll it between both palms and get it to stick together as best as you can.

The same thing goes for the pecans; just push the ball into the pecans and roll several times. The ball will probably become oblong and half the pecans won't stick but it didn't make much of a difference by the time they were baked and drizzled with chocolate.

I made my cookies double the recommended size and I ended up using a whole jar of raspberry jam. To form the cookies I used my thumbs and made some deep wells into the cookies. If the wells are too shallow when the cookies bake they rise quite a bit and don't look as pretty.



To drizzle the finished cookies with white chocolate I just used a ziplock bag filled with the white chocolate. Then I popped it in the microwave for around 30 seconds. Then I trimmed off the corner and squeezed the chocolate in lines over the cookies.


Chocolate raspberry pecan thumbprint cookies
Adapted from Cooks Country Magazine November 2010
makes 3 dozen cookies
Note: the quantities and instructions of this recipe have already been adjusted to make the size of cookie that I did. If you want to make smaller 1 inch cookies just half the recipe and it will give you three dozen.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
16 tbsn. (2 sticks) unsalted, softened butter
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups pecans toasted and chopped finely
18 tbsn. seedless raspberry jam
1 cup white chocolate chips melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. With electric mixer on medium high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

2. Place pecans in shallow dish. Roll 2 tbsn. dough into 2 inch ball, then roll in pecans pressing to adhere. Repeat with remaining dough. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baing sheets. Using fingers make a well in the middle of the balls. Fill each indentation with half a tablespoon of jam. Bake until set, about 15 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool five minutes on sheets, the transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

3. Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate and let sit until chocolate hardens, about 15 minutes. Cookies can be stored in air tight container at room temperature for three days.