Well, it is Day 14 of our “15 Days of Red, White and Blue” series, and today we are posting one of my favorite cookies, thumbprints! I have been in love with this cookie since I was a little girl. There is something about the sweet, buttery flavor of this cookie! When I was growing up, there was a bakery not too far from my house. My brothers and sisters and my mom and I would walk down the hill to the bakery, and always, the woman behind the counter would give us a complimentary cookie! What fun! I would always have a difficult time deciding between the icing of my favorite cookie, a type of buttery thumbprint. Did I want yellow, green, or pink icing? It’s was always a big decision. I really don’t know why, because they all tasted the same! But it was a decision I took very seriously, and the bakery lady was always so sweet and patient. Now, I haven’t been in that bakery in quite a few years, but I have been salivating over the memory of the cookies, and I am on a quest to find a recipe for them. This recipe for Red, White and Blue thumbprints is not exactly like my cherished bakery cookies, but these are close, and oh soooooo delicious!
Red, White and Blue Thumbprints
(from Ladies Home Journal 12/10) Makes 5 1/2 dozen
2 2/3 cups all purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Antonia74 Icing
3/4 cup Warm Water
5 tablespoons Meringue Powder
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
2.25 pounds of Confectioners Sugar
Americolor Holiday Red
Americolor Royal Blue
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream your butter and sugar together on medium high
until fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
On low speed, add in flour mixture.
Once mixed together, wrap your dough in plastic wrap
and chill it until firm. It should take
about 1 1/2 hours.
Roll 1″ balls of dough and place them about 1″
apart on your baking sheet.
Using your finger, make an indentation in the center of each one.
Bake for 15 minutes, until cooked through, but not golden.
Remove the cookies from your oven.
Re-indent each cookie if it needs it.
Icing Instructions
In your mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix by hand with a whisk until frothy, about 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar and mix again for 30 seconds. Pour all of the confectioners sugar into the bowl at once. Using the paddle attachment on the lowest speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. When done, transfer a little icing to 3 different bowls. I like to use plastic bowls with lids. The icing gets crusty and dry if it is uncovered for even a few minutes. Color the icing in one bowl with the red coloring. Also add water to get the correct consistency You basically want 10 second icing here. That means that you can take a spoon through the middle of the icing and it will take 10 seconds for it to go back together again. Do the same exact thing with your second bowl, only use the blue coloring. For the third bowl, just make the correct consistency. No color is needed, of course. 
I used a Wilton Tip #5 to fill in the indentations in the cookie.
Once the indentation is filled in, shake the cookie side to side, just slightly to smooth the icing out. 
Fill in the white the same way,
and the red also. Let dry.
Enjoy your cookies! Thanks for joining me today! Stop by tomorrow for Day 15 of “15 Days of Red, White and Blue” and Have a Happy 4th!