Melt-in-your-mouth chocolate shortbread cookies filled with a creamy chocolate ganache for the perfect chocolate thumbprint cookie!

Table of Contents

Chocolate ganache filled chocolate shortbread thumbprint cookies

What are thumbprint cookies?

Thumbprint cookies are a classic cookie made from a simple sugar cookie base, filled with jam. These are a simple, yet delicious treat that goes perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee.

These thumbprint cookies are a little different from the classic. The cookies are closer to a shortbread, with a butterier flavour and shorter texture, and the centre is filled with a soft set milk chocolate ganache. This all comes together to create a sweet and buttery chocolate cookie!

There are a couple of tips that will help you create the best cookie, whether that be creating the perfect heart shape or cookie texture, follow these tips!

It is important to roll the balls until smooth before placing them on the baking sheet and pressing thumbprints into them. This helps to prevent cracks from forming as you press in the thumbprints, creating a perfect heart shape.

Fix up the heart

While the name suggests to use your thumbprint for the cookies, I would recommend using your index or pinky fingers when forming the heart shape as a thumbprint is a little too large for the cookie. While two fingerprints create a heart, they won’t be the perfect shape. Feel free to go in with your fingers and fix up the shape of the heart.

Chilling your cookie dough after shaping them will prevent them from spreading in the oven and losing their round shape and heart indent. Chilling the dough creates a much neater cookie, however, if you are in a rush feel free to skip this step!

Cool the cookies before filling with chocolate ganache

Make sure the cookies are at room temperature before filling them with the ganache. When the cookie is hot it will cause the ganache to melt more as it sits in the cavity, increasing the possibility of the chocolate ganache melting over the sides of the cavity and ruining the heart shape. If the ganache has cooled the ganache will sit much nicer in the cavity, and make it a lot easier to work with!

Ingredients

Unsalted butter: These cookies have a higher butter percentage for a shorter texture! Make sure the butter is at room temperature to make the creaming process easier.
Icing sugar: Icing sugar helps to give the cookies a melt-in-your mouth texture due to the finer grind.
Egg yolk: An extra egg yolk gives the cookies a richer flavour
Plain flour: Flour forms the structure of the cookie!
Cornstarch: Cornstarch acts as a softener in the cookies to further create that melt-in-your mouth texture. It also helps prevent the cookie from spreading too much as it absorbs excess liquid
Cocoa powder: Cocoa powder gives the cookies chocolate flavour! Both regular and dutch cocoa powder will work great here.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I keep my thumbprint cookies from spreading?

The easiest way to prevent these cookies from spreading too much is by chilling them after you have formed the cookie shape. This gives the butter time to come together.

Do I fill thumbprint cookies before or after baking?

With these chocolate thumbprint cookies, you would fill them after baking, as the chocolate would melt during the baking process.

If you wanted to use jam instead of chocolate ganache, I would fill them before baking.

Why are my thumbprint cookies cracking when I add my thumbprint?

The cookies will crack if they haven’t been rolled properly. Make sure the ball of cookie dough is completely smooth before pressing on your fingerprint. If there are cracks in the cookie dough ball before pressing on the heart shape it’ll only accentuate those features.

How long do these last?

These will last for 2 days in an airtight container at room temperature, or 4 days in the fridge.

Can I change the filling? Or use a different kind of chocolate?

Yes! I used milk chocolate in mine as it is a little sweeter and compliments the cookie. However, feel free to change it to semi-sweet, dark, or even white chocolate. Keep in mind that the texture of the ganache will differ when using different kinds of chocolate. A white chocolate ganache will be a lot softer, and a dark chocolate ganache will be a lot firmer.

If you don’t feel like filling these with chocolate you can fill the cavity with jam just before baking for a classic jam-filled cookie.

Let’s Get Cooking

If you liked this recipe make sure to leave me a comment and rating down below. I’d love to know how it went! Also, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @catherine.desserts.

Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok for more of my baking creations and updates!