Blackberry Lemon Thumbprint Cookies

You know those days when its kinda cloudy outside, its pretty darn cold and the wind is gusting and all you want to do is stay home, drink coffee and bake? Well, that's what I want to do most days, but Spice had one of those days on Monday. We both had off from work and when I came home, the kitchen had sprouted wings and was in the process of baking both a ginormous shepherd's pie with a homemade pie crust and these cookies.

Spice got some blackberry jam from a roadside stand when she went on a road trip upstate and has been talking about making something with it. She also got apple butter, but has yet to work her magic on that front.

These cookies are uber yummy in the tummy. The cookie dough has a great lemon tang to it and it goes perfectly with the blackberry jam. Spice got slightly overzealous on the first batch and filled them a little too full of the jam, so maybe be sparse with it until you figure out how much will make the cookies overflow.

In Spice's words:

Blackberry Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
Adapted form Emeril Lagasse

1/4 cup blackberry preserves
1 1/2 teaspoons limoncello
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter two large baking sheets.

In a small bowl, combine the preserves and limoncello. Stir to combine. Don't eat it all! It is so good you might be tempted to put it on your ice cream/fro yo...but there will be time for that later.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, or if you're fancy like Sugar and I your KitchenAid stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat just until moist clumps form. Gather the dough together in a ball. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

Pinch off the dough to form 1-inch balls. Place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Use your floured index finger or 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon to create depressions in the center of each ball. Make sure you have nice high sides on the depression. You don't want the yummy filling to escape! Fill each indentation with the blackberry mixture. Bake until golden brown, about 18-20 minutes.

Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.