These quick and easy chocolate thumbprint cookies with ganache are made from scratch. They are crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside.
Chocolate thumbprint cookies are considered to be one of those CLASSIC cookies that every person should have in their recipe collection.
I make these cookies A LOT during the Holiday season for parties and even to give to family/ friends as a wonderful homemade gift.
Best of all, they are quick and easy to make and require NO CHILLING!
These are just as delicious as my Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies and Jam Thumbprint Cookies.
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These cookies are loaded with CHOCOLATE!
There is cocoa in the cookie dough and once they are baked, they are filled with rich and creamy chocolate ganache.
If you don't want to fill with ganache, you should check out this list for other filling ideas...
These classic chocolate thumbprint cookies can be filled with a wide range of FILLINGS:
- Nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, walnuts e.t.c)
- Pretzels
- Candies (m&m, hard rock candy, Hershey's chocolate Kisses e.t.c)
- Chocolate chips (dark, milk, white, toffee chips, peanut butter chips, peppermint chips)
- Sprinkles
- Dried cranberries and raisins
- Berries (maraschino cherries, raspberries, strawberries e.t.c)
- Caramel sauce
- Jams and preserves
- Nutella
- Peanut butter
- Melted chocolate (dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate)
- Frosting
They are ADDICTIVE and meant for all the peanut butter lovers out there!
But anyways, let's get back to these chocolate thumbprints...
I like to roll them in granulated sugar, which truly results in the BEST chocolate thumbprint cookies ever!
They are CRISPY on the outside but SOFT and CHEWY on the inside.
I haven't seen many chocolate thumbprint cookie recipes that require this step but I HIGHLY recommend you do this since that's what takes these cookies to a whole new level!
Since Christmas is about 2 months away, I made some chocolate peppermint thumbprint cookies by filling them with melted peppermint chocolate and topping them off with peppermint chips.
They have the perfect BALANCE of chocolate and mint flavor and are so PRETTY!
Recipe FAQs
More Easy Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Sugar Cookies
- Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
- Triple Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies
- Chocolate Cherry Cookies (Black Forest Cookies)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe
Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
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Ingredients
Chocolate thumbprint cookie dough
- 3 cups Flour
- 1 cup Cocoa powder
- 2 cups Sugar
- 1 cup Unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar (additional) for rolling cookie balls
Ganache filling
- 1 cup Dark chocolate melted
- 1 cup Heavy cream
- ½ cup Chocolate (roughly chopped) for decoration
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix again.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
- Dump the dry ingredient mixture into the wet mixture and mix everything until just combined.
- Scoop out small portions of the dough and make little balls roll them in a bowl of granulated sugar.
- Place cookies on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper and press your thumb in the center to make indentations.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.
- Note: When you remove the cookies from the oven, you will notice the indentations are not that deep anymore. Just press the back of a wooden spoon or the round bottom of a measuring spoon into the center again. You must do this quickly before the cookies have a chance to cool down.
- While the cookies are cooling, prepare chocolate ganache by heating heavy cream and dark chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture is smooth and glossy, let it cool down a bit.
- Then fill each thumbprint cookie with ganache and decorate with small chocolate pieces.
Notes
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Val
Brilliant idea! I've also never made thumbprint cookies and I'm really not sure why not seeing as I love baking. I never seem to rush towards cookie recipes. I have to change that. I really like the creative direction you took these cookies in. It looks like a great cookie for parties (both kids and adults).
tammy
I'm saving this recipe. Thanks for sharing it and your ideas for the cookies.
Belinda
As always, you outdo yourself! These are so precious.
Amanda
I'm with your husband. I totally thought pool balls all set up for a break. Just love the creativity there.
Classic cookie. Love. It.
Tiffany
I can TOTALLY see why you had so much fun photographing these cookies! They are so whimsical!
kankana
Such cute cookies and like the variety and creativity you gave in it. beautiful presentation too!
Sandra
I have party soon, and this post is soooo helpful because I want to make thumbprint cookies. Yours are so cute, and you thought outside of the box with filling..just perfect and very pretty!
Reem
Beautiful and such cute cookies.... YUM. I bet they taste delicious.
Magic
These are all perfectly adorable Abeer...love them
Caroline
Too cute--looks like you had fun filling the cookies with a variety of sweet treats. They all look so tasty!
paddlea
Wonderful! I love the variety and the sweet and salty combinations. It reminds me of a Mancala game!
Heather
What a cute idea! Way to think out of the box
Joyce
These cookies are so mouthwatering.
The pictures are also breathtaking!!
This is a very creative idea, to use different fillings!!
Jen
Thumbprint cookies are one of my all time favorites, but sometimes I get kind of sick of eating them. What a great idea to change up the fillings!
Alex
I love jam thumbprints, but I never thought to put pretzels and nuts in them! You're a genius.
Eftychia
It has been a month to hear from you... Are you OK? I hope you are just on vacation and there is nothing wrong going on...