Day 6: Christmas dainty platter all sewn up with Chocolate Thimble Cookies

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/12/2023 (1002 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A dollop of raspberry jam gives a festive look to these cookies submitted by reader Eileen Ewanchuk.

My mother made this recipe every Christmas since the 1960s and it was my favourite holiday cookie growing up. I have continued to make this recipe for my family.

When sewing was a more common home activity, metal thimbles were readily available and it was much safer to press the hot cookies with a thimble than a thumb. I have a thimble set aside just for this purpose. It’s part of the tradition.

The Christmas dainty platter wouldn’t be Christmas for me without these Chocolate Thimble Cookies. The chocolate cookies with the red jam centre are also stunning.

Chocolate Thimble Cookies

125 ml (1/2 cup) butter
125 ml (1/2 cup) light brown sugar
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
1 egg yolk
30 ml (2 level tbsp) cocoa, sifted
250 ml (1 cup) flour
1 egg white
250 ml (1 cup) finely chopped walnuts
125 ml (1/2 cup) raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 176 C (350 F). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream together butter and brown sugar.

Add the salt, egg yolk, cocoa and flour and mix together until smooth.

Shape the dough into balls, about 10 ml (2 tsp) each. This will make approximately 30 balls.

Whisk the egg white in a small bowl. Place chopped walnuts in a second bowl.

Using two forks or fingers, coat each ball in egg white and then coat with chopped walnuts.

Place prepared balls on the parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 minutes and press the centres of each ball with a thimble. Bake for 4 minutes more, remove pans from oven and press centres with a thimble again.

Immediately fill centres with raspberry jam and let cool.

— Eileen Ewanchuk

Looking for more Christmas treats? The Free Press has stored dozens of recipes from past years at wfp.to/cookies.

Eva Wasney
Reporter

Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.

Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.