Jam-Filled Thumbprint Cookies

I haven't yet found a recipe for thumbprint cookies that really wows me, but I do like this one well enough. The photo is from a platter of cookies that I'd taken to a holiday party. Any flavor of jelly, jam, or preserves can be used; raspberry and apricot are two of my favorites, but for these cookies I made them 'tropical' or 'Hawaiian' by using pineapple preserves and sprinkling them with toasted coconut before putting them into the oven. To keep my fingertips clean I use a thimble to make the thumbprint indentation, and to save time I put the jam into a pastry bag and pipe it onto the cookie (if you do this and use preserves of any kind, be sure to use a tip large enough for the pieces of fruit to pass through and maybe even pulse the preserves in a food processor to chop the fruit up a bit).

Jam-Filled Thumbprint Cookies (adapted from allrecipes.com)

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla

1-3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup jam or jelly, any flavor

Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla together; gradually add flour. If dough is too soft to handle, place in refrigerator 30 minutes or longer. Roll dough into nickel-sized balls; place on cookie sheets and using your fingertip, press an indentation into the center of each cookie. Fill indentations with jam. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on bottom; cool on wire racks. Makes about 100 small cookies.

Options: Can roll balls of dough in sugar or finely-chopped nuts before placing on cookie sheets, or dust cookies with powdered sugar after baking.