Métis  thumbprints

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This article was published 03/12/2010 (5512 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Day 3 of the Free Press’s 21 Days of Holiday Cookies features Metis Thumbprints. We will be publishing one cookie recipe every day — Monday to Saturday — till Christmas.

Ruthie Lepp has been working on perfecting Swedish thumbprint cookies for over 30 years, sometimes with her sisters. (She has 10 sisters, spread around the world.) This festive version combines the sweetness of brown sugar with the tartness of cranberries and is called a Metis Thumbprint in honour of her friend Emma, who just loves them.

Métis  Thumbprints

227 g (1 cup) butter, softened
125 ml (1/2 cup) brown sugar
2 ml (1/2 tsp.) vanilla
2 eggs, separated
500 ml (2 cups) flour
250 ml (1 cup) shredded sweetened coconut

Cranberry filling:
500 ml (2 cups) cranberries, fresh or frozen
125 ml (1/2 cup) brown sugar
250 ml (1 cup) water

For filling: Simmer ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pot for 5 minutes or so, stirring often, until some berries start to pop and filling starts to thicken. Let cool.

For cookie: Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and vanilla and blend. Add flour and mix just until blended. Roll into small balls, about 2.5 cm (1 in.) in diameter. Roll in beaten egg white and then in coconut. Place on cookie sheet and press thumb into centre to make an indentation and flatten cookie slightly. Fill with 5 ml (scant 1 tsp.) of cranberry filling and bake 10-15 minute until set and golden. Cool on racks.

They are best the day they are made, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.

Alison Gillmor
Writer

Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.

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