These devil’s thumbprints are fun to play with. What I did differently than Dorie was the filling on the cookies. She recommends raspberry and chocolate fillings. But when I saw the seasonal cranberries in the market, I knew I wanted to get a bag ($2.99 each) and make jam and sauces out of it. I made the cranberry jam while the dough was undergoing the 2-hour rest in the fridge.
The dough comes together quickly starting with melting the chopped chocolate with butter in the microwave or the stovetop. Away from the heat, add sugar and the eggs, one by one. Use a flexible spatula and combine the flour mix with the melted chocolate. That’s about it for the dough! In essence, it’s a simple single-bowl approach.
The sweating and the heavy lifting starts as you roll the cookie dough between your palms and then drop the cookie balls in the sugar to coat. “The cookies need to be pinched, patted, rolled around and poked before they’re sent into the oven.”
That was when I started counting down: I got 38 balls with the recipe. Well, the involvement does not end with rolling the dough 38 times. Each cookie also gets an indentation from pressing the cork in the middle. The count-down takes quite a while before reaching the finished line. It’s a Monday; the day seems to get longer by the hour.
I have to say my impatience got the better part of me in the process. (As you can see: the cookie dough balls can benefit from a tighter rolling.) However, it’s all forgotten as I sat down and savored the cookie for the afternoon tea. In the end, I was rewarded with fudgy chocolate cookies and a tangy and not-overly-sweet cranberry jam on top. My husband really enjoyed the unusual flavor of the filling on these devil thumbprints.
Well, as the saying goes: the devils are in the details. Take notice!
Devil's Thumbprints | Baking with Dorie
Ingredients
- FOR THE COOKIES:
- ¾ cup/102 grams all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5 tablespoons/71 grams unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 8 ounces/226 grams semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 1⅓ cups)
- ⅔ cup/132 grams granulated sugar
- 2 cold large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Sanding or granulated sugar, for coating (about ⅓ cup)
- FOR THE FILLING:
- 4 ounces/113 grams chocolate (white, milk, dark or ruby), chopped (about ½ cup)
- ½ teaspoon canola oil (optional)
Instructions
Make the cookies: Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Place a heatproof medium bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water; don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Drop in the chunks of butter and scatter over the chocolate. Heat, stirring now and then, until the butter and chocolate are melted, but not so hot that they separate, 5 to 7 minutes.
Remove the bowl from the saucepan and whisk in the sugar. (Don’t be alarmed when the mixture turns grainy.) One by one, add the cold eggs, whisking vigorously until the mixture is thick and smooth, and the whisk leaves tracks. Beat in the vanilla, then switch to a spatula and add the flour in 3 additions, stirring gently between each addition, until the flour disappears into the dough. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 4 days.
When you’re ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and heat it to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Put the sanding or granulated sugar in a small bowl and, if you’ve got one, have a cork from a wine bottle at hand.
Using a small cookie scoop or measuring spoon, scoop mounds of dough, each a scant tablespoon. Roll the dough into balls and then roll the balls in the sugar to coat. Place the balls on the baking sheets, giving them 1½ inches or so of space to spread. Press the cork into the center of each cookie or use your thumb to make an indentation.
Bake 1 sheet for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies feel firmish. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack. The indentations will have puffed in the oven, so you’ll want to press them down again. Repeat with the second sheet. Let cookies cool completely.
Fill the prints: Melt milk, dark or ruby chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. If using white chocolate, add oil before melting and stir until smooth. While the chocolate is still warm and fluid, use a small spoon to fill each indentation to the brim, letting the chocolate fall from the end of the spoon. Slide the cookies into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to set the chocolate. The cookies will keep for about 5 days in a covered container at room temperature.
Notes
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023005-double-chocolate-thumbprint-cookies
5 Comments
Kayte
October 24, 2023 at 2:29 pmFun post…I’m with you on rolling CHOCOLATE so much…I’m not a chocolate fan so sitting there rolling all those balls (and my hands were just covered in chocolate, ewww) was a bit of a chore. That said, it was so worth it as Mark just loved them and has been walking a bit more on his outings so he can eat more of them…lol. He is so happy with chocolate weeks over here. I liked the look of the ones that sort of weren’t so tightly rolled into a ball…they spread a bit and had these interesting cracks and edges, so it that wasn’t correct, I’m happy I was wrong as they seemed more fun with a bit of wandering. Yours look marvelous and the cranberry jam had to be a great idea.
steoh (whisk/spoon)
October 24, 2023 at 3:45 pmlove the way you brought the devil theme full circle. i did a half batch, so i had less cookie hell, haha. glad it was worth it in the end.
Kim
October 25, 2023 at 12:35 amOh gosh what a good laugh…these were a handful to get to the finish line as you said! Thank goodness they were so delicious and seemed worth it in the end 😍😂
Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)
October 25, 2023 at 6:34 amThese WERE a lot of work but yours were totally worth it by the looks and sounds of it!
Diane Zwang
October 25, 2023 at 10:48 amI am glad that the outcome was worth the work. The cranberry jam sounds lovely. I was glad I made a half a batch of these as it was a lot of work. I didn’t bake this week as I am on vacation.