Pecan Thumbprint Cookies
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These pecan thumbprint cookies are a scrumptious shortbread cookie recipe bursting with pecan flavor, with sweet Christmas-inspired icing added to the thumbprint.
I fell in love with these little gems when I was a child. They have the taste of a pecan sandy cookie with just a little extra oomph provided by the icing. Traditionally, the icing was tinted pastel when my mama bought them from the store, but today I decided to use paste food coloring for a deeper color for the holidays.
These pecan thumbprint cookies are very simple to make. In fact, I bet you already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen right now. You need flour, sugar, vanilla, butter, salt, and pecans. Then for the icing, we need confectioner’s sugar, food coloring, and sprinkles. To make the cookies, we cream together the butter and sugar and stir in the remaining ingredients. Then we add our thumbprint and bake. The final step is to mix together the Christmas-themed green and red icing, add it to the thumbprints and top it with some sprinkles.
These pecan thumbprint cookies have a buttery shortbread texture so you know they’re just going to melt in your mouth. The sweet icing is the cherry on top! But I’ve included other ideas below of what you can add to the indents rather than icing. I hope you try these little gems and please let me know if your family loves them as much as mine. I just bet they will.
What You’ll Need to Make Pecan Thumbprint Cookies:
Cookies
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Pecans
- Unsalted butter (soften at room temperature for 30 minutes).
- Vanilla extract
Icing
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Almond extract (or vanilla)
- Water
- Food coloring
- Sprinkles (optional)
How to Make Pecan Thumbprint Cookies
Cream butter and sugar together with a handheld or electric mixer until fluffy.
Mix in flour, salt, and vanilla until well combined.
Chop pecans in a chopper or food processor until very finely chopped. Mix chopped pecans into the flour mixture.
Drop cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheets by teaspoonfuls.
If you have a small cookie dough scoop, it will cut your time in half. If not, do it like I have every other year but this one and just measure out a teaspoonful and roll it into balls before putting it on the cookie sheet.
For authentic thumbprint cookies, dip your thumb into flour and press it into the center of each cookie before baking.
Here is a pan of thumbprint cookies ready to go into the oven.
Bake at 300 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until lightly brown.
Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes to cool and then remove them to wire racks to cool completely before icing.
Now make the icing! Mix together the confectioner’s sugar, extract, and enough water to make a nice consistency for icing.
Divide icing into two parts for adding coloring.
Spread a small amount of icing on each cookie in the thumbprint indention. Then add sprinkles of your choice.
Aren’t they the cutest little things? They are the most delicious cookies I have ever come across and are really quick and easy to make while looking very impressive.
Storage
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- You can freeze cookies with or without icing and the unbaked cookie dough for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving/baking.
Recipe Notes
- My main tip is to use a small scoop like I am showing so that they are all uniform in size.
- The other tip is to dip your thumb in flour before pressing it into each cookie. Otherwise, they stick to your thumb and won’t leave an indention.
- However, instead of your thumb, you can use the end of a wooden spoon or a thimble to avoid the cookie dough sticking to your thumb.
- If you don’t like or have almond extract, feel free to replace it with vanilla. In my opinion, the almond is divine in these cookies but Christy doesn’t like the taste of it so sometimes I switch it up.
- You can also use whichever color you want for the cookies. They are really pretty in pastel colors for baby or wedding showers.
- Speaking of the icing, an easier way to disperse it is to add it to a ziplock bag, snip off the end, and squeeze the frosting into the indent this way.
- If you like, substitute the white sugar for brown sugar.
Pecan Thumbprint Cookies: Recipe FAQs
What else can I add to the indent in my thumbprint cookies?
There are so many different varieties of thumbprint cookies, so here are some suggestions:
- A dollop of jam or preserves (check out our recipe here). I recommend raspberry jam, strawberry jam, or apricot jam.
- A dollop of pecan pie filling to make pecan pie thumbprint cookies.
- Chocolate frosting, chocolate ganache, or melted chocolate.
- Lemon or lime curd.
- Cherry pie filling (or the pie filling of your choice).
- Homemade dulce de leche caramel sauce to make caramel pecan thumbprint cookies.
What can I substitute for the pecans?
Walnuts are always an easy substitute for pecans. However, if there’s a nut allergy involved and you want nut-free thumbprint cookies, simply omit the pecans. This will make the cookies basically taste like buttery shortbread cookies.
You may also like these cookie recipes:
Southern Plate’s Must-Make Christmas Cookies
Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Cranberry Pecan Lace Cookies Recipe
Thumbprint Cookies with Jam or Preserves
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter or margarine
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
Icing
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- red and green food coloring
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar with a handheld or electric mixer.2 sticks unsalted butter or margarine, 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- Mix in flour, salt, and vanilla.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Stir in nuts.1 cup finely chopped pecans
- Drop teaspoonsful of the cookie dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Make an indent in each cookie with your thumb (dip your thumb in flour before pressing into the cookie so that it doesn't stick).
- Bake at 300 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Cool for 2 minutes and then remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Icing
- Mix the confectioner's sugar, almond extract, and enough water (approximately 1 teaspoon) to make a glaze in a bowl.1 cup confectioner's sugar, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- Divide into 2 equal parts and place in separate bowls.
- Add 2 drops of red food coloring or the color of your choice to the first bowl of glaze.red and green food coloring
- Add 2 drops of green food coloring to the second bowl of glaze.red and green food coloring
- Mix the glaze well until food coloring is incorporated.
- Spoon a small amount of glaze into the center of each cookie and add sprinkles if desired.
Nutrition
“Sometimes me think, ‘What is friend?’.
And then me say ‘Friend is someone who share last cookie with you.'”
~Cookie Monster
My grandmother used to make these and they are my favorite. She called them Betty’s Cookies though and I have no idea why. Her recipe is a treasured keepsake.
Suellen
Maybe she got her recipe from Betty? LOL, it is always interesting how people call the same recipe by different names.
I love these cookies and make them every year. I bake them on parchment paper and they always turn out great. However, I let them cool and then, just before serving, I fill them with either grape jam or strawberry jam. Yum!
Yum!
Thanks Janice for posting these, they look wonderful….my daughter and I will make these for Christmas…..
These look great, but is the cooking time of 20 to 30 minutes correct?
Yup. It’s good to point out though that the oven temp is lower than usual, only 300.
Yes Georgia, The cooking time is 20 to 30 minutes at 300 degrees. I cooked mine 25 minutes and they were perfect. Mama
Gorman’s Bakery @ The Heart of HSV mall used to sell these! I’ve been looking for a recipe for these for years! My favorite!! Thank you!!
I haven’t thought about Corman’s in years!!!! My Mama used to take me there when I was a little girl.
Thank you very much Janice for sharing these! My mother too used to make these cookies! I don’t have half of her recipes as there are 5 of us girls in the family, and being the youngest, I won’t see that cookbook for quite a while! 🙂 Pecans are very expensive, but well worth the taste! The fact you have them ready-available in your yard tells me you were meant to live there….after all, God knew to put you in amongst one of his greatest gifts to use them and create scrumptious goodies. That you share in His “fruits” blesses me. Thanks! Roll on Christmas!!! 🙂 P.S. Can I just say that when I saw that you had added Vanilla to your picture, I just KNEW it wasn’t one of Christy’s posts 😉 sorry Christy – but we all know sometimes you don’t include her in the picture 🙂
Haha Karla, I will pass that on to Christy. She is already thinking about the next recipe as she photographs the current one. Her mind has always been in two places at once even as a child. She just smiles and goes with it and we just smile along with her! Mama
Janice-you write wonderful posts. Thank you for sharing your recipes-these look easy enough even I might try my hand at them.
Thanks so much for the compliment. I know I have gotten a little long with the posts and am planning on shortening them up in the future. The cookies are so easy and impressive. Please give them a try. You will be amazed at how easy they are! Mama
Hi , I’m making thumprints but they keep spreading?
Please help thank you