A super soft thumbprint cookie with a gooey salted caramel center

These deliciously decadent salted caramel thumbprint cookies are perfect for Christmas and other holidays. These are made using a sugar cookie base that’s similar to a soft shortbread cookie. Before baking the cookies you press the center with your thumb to create an indentation that is then filled with salted caramel. A tender, buttery shortbread thumbprint cookie filled with a creamy salted caramel center.

Thumbprint cookies get their name from the method that is required to make them – in most thumbprint cookie recipes, you use your thumb to create a small indentation in the center of the cookie that can be filled with caramel, jams, chocolate, and other sweet fillings. You might have fond memories of having thumbprint cookies probably filled with fruity jam, but the salted caramel center will be a new and surprising twist. The creamy, soft salted caramel filling nestled in the middle of these sugar cookies is so good, you wouldn’t want to go back to a jam-filled thumbprint cookie ever. These Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies start with giant, soft sugar cookies and are filled with a good amount of chewy, salted caramel. Such an easy Christmas cookie recipe!

Each bite is a mixture of a sweet, tender, vanilla sugar cookie with a big hit of sweet, chewy caramel and a salty finishing touch. This Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies recipe has ingredients you may already have in your kitchen. You can have delicious cookies made in no time as this recipe only takes a few minutes to bake. They’re a perfect treat to gift or make during the holidays. Brighten your Christmas cookie tray with these delicious buttery salted caramel thumbprint cookies!

Ingredients for Salted Caramel thumbprint Cookies:

For the cookie:

Salted butter – 2/3 cup
Sugar – ½ cup
Egg yolks – 2
All-purpose flour – 1 & ½ cups

For the salted caramel center:

Salted butter – ¼ cup
Sugar – 1/3 cup
Heavy cream – 1 & ½ tablespoons

How to Make Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookie:

Prepare the cookie dough: In a large bowl, beat 2/3 cup of salted butter at room temperature. Once it is light and fluffy, add ½ cup sugar and beat well. Add yolks of 2 eggs and beat well. Then add 1 & ½ cups of all-purpose flour and mix it in. do not overwork the dough.
Shape the cookie: Once the cookie dough is made, scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and mould the dough into a ball and gently press it into a disk and keep it on the prepared cookie sheet. Make an indentation at the center using your thumb (watch the video). Repeat until you use all the dough.
Freeze the cookie dough and preheat the oven: transfer the cookie tray to the freezer and chill for 30 minutes. This is done so they’ll hold their shape much better when baked. When it is 20 minutes more to chill, preheat the oven to 180 C.
Bake the cookies: Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 C for 15 to 17 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.
Make the salted caramel filling: While the cookies are getting baked, go ahead and prepare the salted caramel filling. Combine 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to boil. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the sugar caramelizes to a light brown color. Remove from heat and stir in 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Keep stirring until it’s smooth and let it cool for 15 minutes.
Reshaping and spooning in the caramel center: If the center of the cookies has risen while baking, when the cookies come right out of the oven, using the back side of a teaspoon, press down on the indentation once again. Cool completely. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of the caramel mixture into the center of each cooled cookie. Let caramel set for about 5 minutes.

Looking for other cookies for your Christmas baking? try these too:

Best Vanilla Biscotti

Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The Best Snowball Cookies Recipe

Triple Chocolate Cookie Recipe

Masala Biscuit Recipe

Foolproof Strawberry Macarons Recipe

The Best Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookie

Recipe by EmilyCourse: CookiesDifficulty: Easy

Servings

Prep time

minutes

Baking time

minutes

Calories

0.180

kcal

Total time

minutes

A super soft thumbprint cookie with a gooey salted caramel center.

Ingredients

For the cookie:
Salted butter – 2/3 cup
Sugar – ½ cup
Egg yolks – 2
All-purpose flour – 1 & ½ cups
For the salted caramel center:
Salted butter – ¼ cup
Sugar – 1/3 cup
Heavy cream – 1 & ½ tablespoons

Directions

In a large bowl, beat 2/3 cup of salted butter at room temperature. Once it is light and fluffy, add ½ cup sugar and beat well.
Add yolks of 2 eggs and beat well. Then add 1 & ½ cups of all-purpose flour and mix it in. do not overwork the dough.
Once the cookie dough is made, scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and mould the dough into a ball and gently press it into a disk and keep it on the prepared cookie sheet. Make an indentation at the center using your thumb (watch the video). Repeat until you use all the dough.
transfer the cookie tray to the freezer and chill for 30 minutes. This is done so they’ll hold their shape much better when baked. When it is 20 minutes more to chill, preheat the oven to 180 C.
Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 C for 15 to 17 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.
While the cookies are getting baked, go ahead and prepare the salted caramel filling. Combine 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to boil. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the sugar caramelizes to a light brown color. Remove from heat and stir in 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Keep stirring until it’s smooth and let it cool for 15 minutes.
If the center of the cookies has risen while baking, when the cookies come right out of the oven, using the back side of a teaspoon, press down on the indention once again.
Cool completely. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of the caramel mixture into the center of each cooled cookie. Let caramel set for about 5 minutes.