Strawberry Thumbprint Nutella Cookies

I love cookies in any form. They are easy to bake and requires less hassle than other Baking stuff like Cakes and Breads etc. And the best part is even if there is something wrong with your recipe you will need up in getting some or the other thing always. You won’t have to bin it just because it’s not risen enough or its uncooked from inside or its burnt. Ohh well ! Sorry I suddenly recalled all my baking disasters with cakes. So yes, you rarely fail with cookies and hence these are my fav bakes. Plus you can tweak the recipe as per your liking and it won’t destroy the end result completely. Well, don’t take my words too seriously .. you still have to follow the recipe at least but a little changes here and there won’t ruin the whole thing. So that’s my reason of loving Cookies or Biscuits.

Many people get confused between Cookies and Biscuits though. Everyone has their own perception and understanding of the two. Some says its just the American – English thing which seems a bit too clumsy to me. Some says it’s just the way both are prepared. The most reasonable difference between a biscuit and a cookie I have found so far is that a cookie is usually round, sweet and it usually contains nuts, oats, raisins, chocolate chips, whereas a biscuit normally comes in different shapes, ovals, squares and it is usually butter based, coated with sugar or plain. Cookies are hard and thin, while biscuits are crispy, slightly soft, and can be thick. But that’s just me, would love to hear what you have to say on this ?

This was the third Challenge for Home Bakers Challenge group – to bake Cookies and I selected these Thumbprint cookies since I had never made them before. And as always, I didn’t read the recipe properly and put the dish in the Oven with everything ready. When it came out, I realised something was missing, ran and read the recipe again only to scratch my head with the hair brush. I added the Nutella filling before baking the cookies while it was to be added after the baking so that its all fresh and gooey. But like I said before, cookies never let you fail. They were still very tasty to eat and eventually I realised that it was a good thing that I added the Nutella before baking since it was easy to store them in random Tins rather than laying them down all carefully in flat bottomed boxes avoiding the obvious piling them on each other.

So yes at the end it was all good for me, in fact our friend’s daughter loved them so much,  and she is not even 2 yet !  You may add different flavours to the cookie depending on the liking. Strawberry was a bit too sweet for me, so I have kept the sugar quantity a bit low in my recipe than the original one. I think  even mango will go good with this sort of cookies, if you try it let me know how you find it.

Another reason why I chose this recipe was obviously Nutella, I found this very interesting article about Nutella. Its one of those things which are always in my pantry, whether I look for it or not. Its.. its like Milk.. or rice.. or Pasta.. Something which is always there. Like a Safety net, which you know will always be there when you need it. Err.. I feel as if I am talking about my boy-friend or something. No, its still Nutella we are discussing here. So these cookies have this thumbprint of Nutella on them which is another reason to love them, or the only reason, eh ! ? :)

What you need?

1 1/2 cup All purpose flour 

1/2 tsp Baking powder 

A generous pinch of Salt 

1/4 cup Butter 

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp Vanilla essence

4 tbsp Crushed fresh strawberry mix 

Nutella – for filling

How to make Crushed fresh strawberry mix – crushing strawberries with 2 drops of strawberry essence the quantity of strawberry mix will vary depending upon the consistency but it should not be runny or watery

How to Make?

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar using a hand whisk or electric blender for about 4 minutes till the soft peaks come up

Add the vanilla essence and crushed strawberry to the bowl and combine well with the butter mixture 

Fold in the flour mixture with the butter mixture gently to form dough. The dough will be soft and a little sticky but not loose. Do not over mix. You might need to oil your hands and bring the dough together.

Once combined, cover the dough with plastic cling film and refrigerate for ½-1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F/175 C and Line your cookie sheet with a parchment paper.

Take out the refrigerated dough, lightly oil your palms and make small balls with it.  Put the balls on the cookies sheet and press down slightly to flatten out.

With the help of your thumb or back of a tea-spoon make a small hole in the middle of the cookies where you’ll fill the Nutella after baking.

Bake the cookies in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the bottom starts turning brown. 

Take out the cookie sheet from the oven and just at the same time using the teaspoon again press out the hole in the cookies. 

Once cookies have cooled, fill in the Nutella in the little holes in the cookies and store. These cookies get fresh for upto 2 weeks if kept in air tight containers. 

My Notes: 

You may like to replace Nutella with Jam to make these cookies Jam thumbprint ones. 

Do not forget to refrigerate the dough to work easily

I did not use any food colour, but you may use that in the dough with the essence for those perfect pink coloured Cookies

As I said, I filled them with Nutella before shoving them in the Oven hence the Nutella layer is a bit dry in the pictures but otherwise it should be as gooey as the spread itself. 

Linked to this months Home Bakers Challenge  hosted by Viji here