Chocolate Thumbprints

Thumbprint cookies are what happens when you give a simple cookie a spoonful of drama. This double-chocolate version pairs a deep, fudgy dough (with both melted unsweetened chocolate and mini chocolate chips stirred through) with a sweet peanut butter filling pressed into each cookie’s thumbprint after baking. Chocolate and peanut butter together is never a bad call.

The thumbprint technique is simpler than it looks. Roll the dough into inch-wide balls, press your thumb gently into the center of each (just enough to leave a shallow indent), and bake. The critical step everyone skips: press the centers again right after the cookies come out of the oven while they are still soft. They puff during baking and without that second press, your wells close up and the filling has nowhere to land.

Chef Tips

• Use butter-flavored shortening as written for the classic chewy-tender crumb, or swap in softened butter for a richer, more cookie-shop flavor.
• Chill the dough 10 minutes if it feels too soft to shape cleanly.
• Space cookies 2 inches apart. They do spread a bit, and crowded trays bake unevenly.
• Let cookies cool completely before filling. Warm cookies melt the peanut butter filling into a puddle.

Variations

• Fill with raspberry jam or dulce de leche for a non-peanut option.
• Dip the filled thumbprints halfway in melted dark chocolate and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.
• Swap peanut butter for almond or hazelnut butter for a different nut note.