These gingerbread thumbprint cookies are made with soft and crumbly spiced cookies with homemade salted caramel in the middle. They're a quick and easy addition to any Christmas cookie box!
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Notes from the baker
These simple little gingerbread thumbprint cookies don't look like much at first glance but they pack a punch in flavour. I love the spiced flavour of the cookies with the deep and salty flavour of the caramel.
The salted caramel is a fun alternative to the usual jam filling in thumbprint cookies. And they're so small that I could just stand there and keep snacking on them but that's not a bad problem to have.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Soft and buttery cookies. These cookies have a soft texture and slightly crisp exterior from the sugar coating.
- Lightly spiced gingerbread flavour. Not too much, not too little. There's just enough spice to complement the caramel flavour.
- Gooey salted caramel filling. The caramel filling is the star of the show and adds so much flavour to these cookies.
- Makes many small cookies. This recipe is perfect for cookie boxes or for sharing as you can make many small cookies easily.
Tools
- Small saucepan - You'll need this to cook the salted caramel on the stovetop.
- Baking sheet - Any baking sheet or baking tray will do for baking your cookies on. The size of your baking sheet will determine how many cookies you can bake at the same time.
- Electric hand mixer - Since we're working with softened butter, a hand mixer makes it so much easier to beat the butter and sugars together.
- 1-tablespoon cookie scoop - Thumbprint cookies are usually known to be small cookies, just big enough for a "thumb" indent. A small 1-tablespoon scoop is perfect for portioning out the cookie dough evenly.
Ingredient notes
As always, the full recipe card with ingredient amounts and instructions is at the bottom of this post! Keep reading for more details on each ingredient or skip ahead to the recipe.
- Granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter - Use room temperature butter for both the salted caramel and the cookie dough.
- Heavy cream or whipping cream - This should be at room temperature to prevent the sugar in the caramel from hardening upon contact with cold cream. I usually use whipping cream (33% fat content) because it's easily accessible to me but you can also use heavy cream for a richer caramel.
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Ground cinnamon - This mix of spices gives the cookies a spiced gingerbread flavour.
- Ground ginger
- Ground cloves
- Ground nutmeg
- Powdered sugar
- Egg - This should also be at room temperature to prevent the butter from curdling upon contact with a cold egg. If you forget to take it out of the fridge ahead of time, submerge it in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.
- Vanilla extract
Tips for making the best gingerbread thumbprint cookies
- Use room temperature ingredients. This goes for any recipe wherever it's indicated but it's especially important when making caramel and for recipes where you need to cream softened butter and sugar together.
- Cook the caramel for longer for a firmer filling. If you're making these cookies for a cookie box, you might want a firmer filling so that the caramel doesn't ooze all over. The caramel will also continue to thicken and firm up as it cools, when it's cold from the fridge, and after letting it set on the cookies.
- Chill the cookie dough balls before rolling. Chilling the dough prevents the it from being too sticky when rolling it between your hands. It allows the butter to firm up to prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking.
- Slightly underbake the cookies to prevent cracks. The middle of the cookies should still be quite soft so that you can easily press an indentation into it.
Storage
These gingerbread thumbprint cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge if you want the caramel to have a firmer texture. They will keep for about 5 days.
They can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 1 month. The caramel won't fully freeze because of the sugar content so avoid using a freezer bag or anything that can touch the surface of the caramel. Ideally, freeze in a single layer.
Frequently asked questions
Baking by weight is much more accurate than volume. When using US standard cups, ingredients like flour and sugar can easily be overpacked into the cup causing you to add too much of certain ingredients. Recipes with weight measurements are also easier to scale to smaller or bigger batches without dealing with weird fractions. To measure by weight, you simply need a kitchen scale which you can usually pick up for less than $20.
Small measurements are given in tablespoons and teaspoons because most kitchen scales are not accurate under about 10g. Tiny amounts like a ¼ teaspoon may not register accurately unless you have a drug scale. Mixing these measurements is a common practice among other recipe sites and commercial kitchens.
More cookie recipes to try
- Matcha Thumbprint Cookies
- Gingerbread Cheesecake Cookies
- Gingerbread Latte Cookies
- Easy Gingerbread Cookies
- Toffee Cookies
Recipe
Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
Salted Caramel
- 75 g granulated sugar
- 30 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 75 g heavy cream or whipping cream, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cookies
- 260 g all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 230 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 140 g powdered sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 50 g granulated sugar, for rolling
Instructions
Salted Caramel
- Melt sugar: In a small saucepan, add the granulated sugar. Heat on medium heat until the sugar has completely melted and turned an amber colour.
- Cook: Stir in the butter until melted. Add the heavy cream and stir until combined. The mixture will start bubbling up. Let it come to a boil for 3-4 minutes or until the caramel coats the back of a spoon. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Transfer the caramel to a small bowl to cool completely before using. You can pop it in the fridge to speed up the cooling process.
Cookies
- Prep: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Flour mixture: In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- Butter mixture: In a large mixing bowl, add the softened butter. Use an electric hand mixer to beat the butter until very creamy and slightly lighter in colour. Add the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and add the egg and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until combined.
- Combine: Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
- Scoop dough: Use a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough. Release them onto your lined baking sheet, leaving about 1.5" in between each one to account for spreading. Chill the entire baking sheet in the fridge for about 15 minutes to allow the dough to firm up and become less sticky.
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Fill a small bowl with granulated sugar.
- Roll dough: Roll each cookie dough ball in between your hands until they become perfectly round. Roll them in sugar until coated on all sides and then replace them onto the baking sheet.
- Bake: Bake cookies for about 8-9 minutes. Immediately after taking them out of the oven, press the back of a tablespoon into the middle of each cookie to create an indentation.
- Cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Fill with caramel: Add about ½-1 teaspoon of salted caramel into the indent of each cookie. Be careful not to overfill them or the caramel will overflow.
Lydia says
Excellent cookie, I followed the directions to the "T" and they came out
perfect.. Thank you for such a unique cookie.
Jas says
Hi! I was wondering if I could freeze the pre-baked cookies? I would like to prepare some things in advance for Christmas. Thank you!