12 weeks of Christmas cookies - week 12

In this fun search for new and old cookie recipes, time has really passed more quickly than usual. And here we are, last week in 12 weeks of Christmas cookies and just one week till Christmas.
I've already started with some serious baking this week, all very simple because they were for my daughter's kindergarten Christmas party.

And this week's recipe is a classical one that everyone just loves, thumbprint cookies. I looked through several different recipes and in the end went with these delicate, delicious cream cheese pearls.
I still had a little caramel sauce left, so I used it as well to fill them up. No need to say, those were my favourite ones.
I'll be rather short today, because my little one managed to get ill, just unhappy timing, she got bronchitis and is in bed with fever right now - well, at least I'm trying to keep her down, but as soon as she's feeling a little better she's running all over the place.
Wish you lots of fun if you're starting with Christmas baking this weekend, and if you still haven't found inspiration, here's a link to the recipes I presented in 12 Weeks of Christmas recipes.
And on the tray bellow you can find two more of my favourite cookies published earlier.


Canestrelli, Chocolate flowers, Cream cheese thumbprint cookies

 Cream cheese thumbprint cookies


225 g butter
85 g cream cheese
150 g sugar
1 hard boiled yolk
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
450 g flour
strawberry (or other) jam


Boil an egg for 8 minutes from the moment the water starts boiling. Cool it down and then shell and take the egg yolk out. Press it through a fine mesh sieve.
Cream the softened butter, the cream cheese and the sugar with an electric mixer.
Add the egg yolk and the vanilla extract and beat again shortly until the mixture's homogeneous.
Stir in the flour to form a soft dough.
Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour or until firm enough to work with.
Take the dough out and shape it into small balls - I like them to be a bite size, so mine weigh about 10-12 g each.
Flatten them just lightly and then using a measuring spoon (1/4 teaspoon in my case) or the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center of each ball. Fill them with about 1/4 teaspoon of jam and bake at 175°C (350 F) for 10-12 minutes.



Note: I filled some cookies with caramel sauce, and I also sprinkled some with shredded coconut.




Thumbprint cookies con formaggio cremoso


225 g di burro, ammorbidito
85 g di formaggio (tipo Philadelphia), a temperatura ambiente
150 g di zucchero
1 tuorlo sodo
3 cucchiaini di estratto di vaniglia
450 g di farina
confettura di fragole (o altra a piacere)


Mettete a cuocere 1 uovo - 8 minuti dall'ebollizione. Raffreddatelo e poi sgusciatelo e separate il tuorlo. Setacciate il tuorlo attraverso un colino con le maglie strette.
Lavorate il burro, il formaggio e lo zucchero con lo sbattitore elettrico per renderli cremosi.
Aggiungete l'estratto di vaniglia e il tuorlo setacciato e mescolate ancora un po'.
Unite alla fine anche la farina e formate la pasta morbida. Lasciatela in frigo un'ora finché diventi abbastanza soda da poter formare dei biscotti.
Prelevate un po' d’impasto e formate le palline (io le faccio di circa 10-12 g), appiattitele leggermente e poi create un buco al centro con un dito o aiutandovi con un misurino (come nella foto) o il manico di un cucchiaio di legno. Riempite il buco con un po' di confettura e cuoceteli a 175°C per 10-12 minuti.




Thumbprint keksi s krem sirom


225 g maslaca
85 g krem sira (philadelphia, ABC ili sl.)
150 g šećera
1 tvrdo kuhani žumanjak
3 žličice ekstrakta vanilije
450 g brašna
pekmez po želji


Skuhajte jaje - 8 minuta od trenutka kad provrije voda. Ohladite ga u hladnoj vodi, očistite i izvadite žumanjak.
Protisnite žumanjak kroz gusto mrežasto cjedilo.
Umutite mikserom maslac i krem sir (oboje sobne temperature) sa šećerom.
Dodajte protisnuti žumanjak i ekstrakt vanilije i opet kratko mutite da se smjesa izjednači.
Umiješajte brašno i oblikujte mekano tijesto.
Ostavite tijesto u hladnjaku oko 1 sat (može i malo duže) dok ne postane dovoljno čvrsto da se može oblikovati.
Oblikujte kuglice od tijesta (ja volim da su mali kao zalogajčići pa sam ih pravila težine 10-12 g).
Svaku kuglicu prvo lagano pritisnite prstima, a onda napravite udubljenje u sredini (ja koristim mjericu/žličicu, možete također koristiti dršku drvene kuhače ili prst - odatle i dolazi naziv thumbprint = otisak palca).
Napunite udubljenje pekmezom po želji i stavite peći kekse u pećnici zagrijanoj na 175°C, 10-12 minuta. Pazite da ostanu svijetli. Ostavite kekse da se ohlade na rešetki.