Peach Pecan Thumbprints with Brown Butter Glaze

This cookie was my contribution to The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap of 2013. If you don’t blog yourself, that will probably mean nothing to you, so here’s a brief explanation. Two bloggers, Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen, had the great idea of mailing cookies to other bloggers AND raising money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. They got some other generous sponsors to match donations {OXO, Dixie Crystals, Gold Medal and Grandma’s Molasses} and the Cookie Swap was born.

My cookies were mailed to three states, Illinois, Texas and Massachusetts. I have confirmation that  my cookies managed to stay fresh thanks to sealing each one individually in GLAD Press n’ Seal {they are not paying me to say that, by the way}. But really, if you are needing to ship cookies this holiday season, seal your cookies in Press n’ Seal… it seemed to work for me!

Then I received some lovely cookies from three other bloggers… Cupcake Kelly’s sent me Greek Koulourakia, Lynsey Lou’s sent me White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies dipped in dark chocolate and What Jen Does sent me Gingerbread Madeleines. My husband and kids were pretty excited to be getting cookies in the mail, and I will definitely participate in this exchange next year.

My recipe is thanks to THESE Italian Thumbprints from Cooking Classy, one of the blogs I regularly read. I have not made the original version, but I imagine they are just as tasty.

I wanted to put my own spin on these cookies and when I found this recipe, I’d recently made my pumpkin scones with brown butter glaze. I wanted to use the same glaze on the cookies {I thought that might help keep them fresh for shipping} and I thought peach and pecan seemed like a logical pairing with the glaze. Sometimes, especially in the kitchen, I think I’m southern.

These cookies do take a little more assembly time than the average cookie, but especially at the holidays, I think it’s totally worth it. After allowing the cookie dough balls to chill in the fridge, I assembled all my ingredients on the counter and went to work.

The next picture is of the cookies right before going into the oven. To be honest, I actually used my index finger to press them down, rather than my thumb. After pressing, I kind of pinched them back together a bit between my thumb and index finger so the indentation would be more uniformly round and a little deeper in the middle, so the peach butter wouldn’t go oozing out the top. And by the way, seek out the best peach butter or peach preserves you can find for these cookies. Also feel free to experiment a method for pressing the cookies that works best for you… ultimately, no matter what they look like, these cookies taste amazing!

I cannot say enough good things about my first-ever experience with this Cookie Exchange. I donated a little money to a great cause, I got to spend time in my kitchen making cookies for others, and I received some delicious cookies in exchange. Oh, and OXO even sent all us bloggers three of their awesome heatproof spatulas for participating. Bake some of these cookies for yourself and see why I got some pretty positive feedback about them.

Print Pin

Peach Pecan Thumbprints with Brown Butter Glaze

Ingredients

for the cookies

• 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. salted butter softened but still somewhat firm/cool
• 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs yolks and whites divided
• 2 t. water
• 1 c. unsalted pecans finely chopped
• 1/2 c. best quality peach butter or peach preserves

for the brown butter glaze

• 4 T. unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 t. vanilla
• 4 - 6 T. skim milk

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and set on medium-high speed, whip together butter, granulated sugar and vanilla extract until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
• Add egg yolks to butter mixture and blend. Set egg whites aside in a small bowl.
• With mixer set on low speed, slowly pour in flour and mix until combined {mixture will seem dry at first but will start to come together}.
• Using a 1 teaspoon size cookie scoop, form dough into cookie balls and place on a large plate or sheet pan. Set in the refrigerator and allow to chill for 30 minutes.
• Whisk egg whites with 2 teaspoons of water until frothy. Place chopped pecans in a shallow bowl. Remove cookie dough balls from refrigerator. Dip the top of each ball into the egg whites. Press the top of the cookie into the pecans and place each cookie on a sheet pan lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, fitting 12 cookies per sheet.
• Using your index finger, make an indentation in the center of each cookie, pressing the top together a bit to make sure the indentation is round. Fill each indentation with a 1/2 teaspoon of the peach butter {or preserves}.
• Bake cookies for 14 - 16 minutes, rotating pans once during cooking time. Allow to rest on baking sheet several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
• While cookies are cooling, prepare the brown butter glaze.
• Place butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has completely melted, watch closely. As butter starts to brown, begin swirling the pan on the burner. Allow the butter to brown for about 2 minutes, swirling constantly. Remove from heat.
• In a clean bowl, combine the powdered sugar and salt. In a glass measuring cup combine the browned butter, 4 tablespoons of milk and vanilla. Whisk until combined. Pour the milk and butter mixture into the powdered sugar mixture. Whisk until smooth. If a looser consistency is desired, keep adding splashes of milk until it looks good to you.
• Drizzle each cooled thumbprint cookie with the browned butter glaze.

Notes

Adapted from Cooking Classy