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The holiday season always brings me in the mood for baking cookies. Every year, my mother-in-law and I would spend a whole weekend baking hundreds of cookies and other sweets from scratch to gift to friends and family for the holidays. It was our little tradition! One of my favorite things to bake were the thumbprint cookies. Who knew that jelly baked into a sugar cookie would be sooo good. Well, when you think about it, jelly cookies really does sound good!
I decided to put a little spin on these beloved cookies and add a little chai spice. Chai tea latte mix was another gift that we would make from scratch during the holidays. It was always a nice cozy drink that you could have curled up next to a fire by the Christmas tree. Who am I kidding, I never had a fireplace, but it was still something that I imagined during Christmas time. Being warm and cozy with a nice cup of hot chai tea. Pardon my nostalgia, but both these thumbprint cookies and the chai tea brings back such warm memories of Christmas time, so I thought it would be fun this year to combine the two!
I’ve seen various different recipes for chia spice but i decided to go with one that closely resembled what was in our chai tea latte mix. It’s a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cardamom, but I’ve seen some add allspice as well. There’s no real “correct” formula for chai spice and can be completely customized to your taste. Add a bit more ginger if you want more of a gingerbread taste, or more cloves if you prefer a strong spice with more bite. Extra cinnamon will make it more mild and sweet. Play around with your combination to find your favorite. I personally like extra ginger and cinnamon, it’s mild with a little tang from the ginger.
For the jam, I used two different types as you can tell from the photos. Raspberry jam is the most popular and I can see why. It was definitely my favorite. The other jam I used was a fig and lemon spread that I had picked up one day. This jam is delicious, don't get me wrong, but the consistency was thin and therefore didn't hold it’s structure when baked. If you’re going to use a different jam, go with one that is more firm, like jelly, than loose.
And that’s it kids! Hope you enjoy this recipe. It brings back so many great memories for me during this time of year. I’m sure you and your family will enjoy this as much as we have!
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup raw sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 cup raspberry jam or your favorite jam
Instructions- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Beat eggs, butter, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy consistency
- In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients well. Gradually beat flour mix into the eggs, butter and sugar mix. Do not over mix.
- Roll cookie dough into 1 inch balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Make a round well in the dough balls. You can use your thumb or the end of a wooden spoon. Do not push too deep so that the baking sheet is visible in the well.
- Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each well. It is okay to somewhat over fill but try not to under fill.
- Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Carefully set on a cooling rack and serve cookies room temperature.
DetailsPrep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 20 cookies
Skill Level: Easy