Pineapple Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 tablespoons canola or light olive oil
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 to 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup coarse sugar
- 1 whole egg beaten, only if needed as an egg wash
- ¼ cup pineapple preserves
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment), cream together the butter, oil and sugar. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and the sea salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet gently and mix until incorporated.
- Fold the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour and 30 minutes at least.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a cookie sheet with a non-stick spray. (Cookies aren’t supposed to stick because the amount of fat in them, but these tend to so you’d better to take precautions). Set pan aside. Put the coarse sugar in a shallow bowl.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and begin pulling off small pieces and rolling them into 1 inch balls. Roll the balls in the coarse sugar and place on the cookie sheet. If you find the sugar isn’t sticking to the balls, make a quick egg wash by beating an egg and douse the balls in the egg wash first.
- Repeat until all of the dough is gone. With your thumb, make an indentation in the middle of each cookie. Press hard enough that the print is noticeable, but don’t press too hard or the dough will begin to crack at the sides.
- Fill each cookie with a tiny dollop of pineapple preserves (or whatever kind of preserves you like to use. I made half pineapple, half apricot).
- Bake at 350°F for 18 – 20 minutes until they start to very lightly brown.
- Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
