Easy Lavender Thumbprint Cookies with White Chocolate Raspberry Filling
I love a thumbprint cookie. You’re telling me I get a delicious cookie AND there’s a gooey filling inside? Sign. Me. Up. These lavender thumbprint cookies make up everything I love about thumbprint, but with a floral and fruity twist. Plus, they come together so simply but give an impressive bite.
Last year, I made these rosemary thumbprint cookies, and they had a little viral moment on social media for me. I found many of my Team Herbs-in-Baked-Goods people from that recipe, so I knew I needed to recreate a spring/summer version as well. Because who doesn’t love a buttery, soft cookie filled with goodness?
If you love these lavender thumbprint cookies, please rate and review it below and tag @accentgolden in your posts on social!
WHAT IS A LAVENDER THUMBPRINT COOKIE?
The taste and texture of the actual cookie can vary from recipe to recipe. Thumbprint cookies can be anything from a sugar cookie to a shortbread cookie, rolled into a ball, and dented in the center before baking.
These cookies are made with a lavender shortbread using fresh or dried lavender. Before we bake, we make that classic dent in the middle. For the filling, you’ll cook down some fresh or frozen raspberries and fold them into white chocolate ganache. Remember, ganache is just a fancy word for chocolate melted with warmed heavy cream and beaten until smooth.
Can I use fresh or dried lavender in this recipe? Yes! Many say to use a third of dried to fresh, but I prefer half, so I can taste all that good flavor! For this recipe, either use a ½ tablespoon of dried lavender or 1 ½ tablespoons of fresh, depending on what you have on hand.
INGREDIENTS
- Sugar: Brings the sweet while enhancing the moisture and soft bite in each cookie
- Unsalted Butter: Adds that buttery flavor while contributing to structure
- Flour: Helps to bind your cookie dough together
- Cornstarch: Swapped in for some flour to make an extra tender bite
- Salt: Balances and enhances flavor
- Lavender: For a delicious floral hit
- White Chocolate: Creamy, chocolatey, and perfectly paired with lavender and raspberries
- Heavy Cream: Heated to melt your white chocolate, making for a smooth ganache
- Raspberries: Cooked down and folded in for a fruity bite
Is it ok to use frozen raspberries for these cookies? You can absolutely use frozen raspberries instead of fresh for your white chocolate ganache. Frozen fruit is going to have a little more water to cook off, so it may take longer to cook down on the stove.
HOW TO MAKE LAVENDER THUMBPRINT COOKIES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY FILLING
To make your cookies, cream together your sugar and butter with a mixer until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Separately, whisk together your flour, cornstarch, salt, and lavender to combine and remove any lumps. Add your dry mixture to your wet and mix until just combined.
Once mixed, your dough will be on the crumbly side, just use your hands to press it together before covering your bowl and placing it in the fridge. The cooling time will allow your butter to firm before shaping and the flavors to meld.
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line your baking tray with parchment paper. Once your dough has chilled, roll into balls, each about two tablespoons in size. Pour your remaining sugar into a bowl and roll each ball in it; this will give a nice crunchy coating to each cookie. Place half your balls onto your cookie sheet, leaving a couple of inches of space between. Pop the remaining balls into the fridge while the first bakes.
To form your thumbprints, press your thumb in the center of each dough ball. The edges might crack a little, just press them back together. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 15 minutes. Halfway through, remove the tray and use a teaspoon to press back in the indent if needed. Rotate the tray and place it back in the oven to finish baking. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once your lavender thumbprint cookies are almost cooled, make your raspberry puree. Add your berries to a small pot over medium heat, stirring and mashing them until they cook down by half. Remove from the heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove any seeds. Set aside.
For your ganache, place your white chocolate in a heat-safe bowl and set aside. Add your cream to a small pot and heat until steaming. Pour over your chopped chocolate, making sure all is mostly covered, and cover for 5 minutes. Remove the lid, whisk together until smooth, and then fold in your raspberry puree.
Spoon your white chocolate raspberry ganache into the center of each thumbprint and top with fresh raspberries and extra lavender if desired. Allow your cookies to set for an hour, then enjoy!
3 reasons you’ll love these lavender cookies
TIPS & VARIATIONS
- The lavender flavor in this is just right, but if you’re worried it may be too much, you can always drop down to just a teaspoon of lavender instead of half a tablespoon.
- The shortbread cookie dough itself is on the dryer side. If, when you’re rolling them, they seem too dry, simply press the dough together a little more to help soften the butter. This will make them easier to roll. The same is true once you start to indent them with your thumbprint. The cookies will likely crack a little, just press them together if they do!
- If you prefer to just have white chocolate ganache without the raspberries, you can omit them completely! Additionally, you can use another fruit puree if you prefer. Strawberries would be delicious!
- To get those soft cookies, make sure to only just bake them. They will still appear pretty white, but they will set fully as they cool.
- The filling will set as it cools. While you can eat the cookies right after filling them with the white chocolate raspberry ganache, I would recommend waiting at least an hour to give the filling time to set. If eaten right away, they will likely run, but if you let them sit, the filling with hold.
MAKING AHEAD & STORING
For the lavender shortbread dough, you can make, roll, and indent it in advance. The dough will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for 3 months.
Once baked and filled, store your lavender shortbread cookies with white chocolate raspberry filling in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days or in the fridge for up to two weeks. The cookies can also be frozen for up to 6 months. If topping with fresh raspberries, your cookies should be stored in the fridge and will likely only keep for 3-4 days.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES
These Lindzer Cookies with Homemade Raspberry Jam are perfect for an afternoon treat and balance sweet, buttery, and tart deliciously. Love cheesecake but craving a cookie? These Cherry Cheesecake Cookies combine the best of both worlds. For a twist on a classic, try these soft Texas Sheet Cake Cookies topped with a fudgy chocolate frosting.
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Mixer
- Spoons
- 2 Small Pots
- Mixing Bowls
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Spatula
- Fine Mesh Sieve
Ingredients
- ½ cup sugar
- 14 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp dried lavender or 1 ½ tbsp fresh lavender
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup white chocolate chopped
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup raspberries plus more for topping
Instructions
- For your cookies, in a bowl, cream together ½ cup of sugar and your room-temperature butter with a mixer. Beat for 2 minutes on a medium speed until light and fluffy
- In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour, cornstarch, salt, and lavender
- Pour your dry ingredients into your butter mixture and stir together with a spatula until just combined. Your dough will be crumbly, have no fear! Once combined but crumbly, use your hands to press your dough together. Cover your bowl and pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes to let the flavors meld and allow the flour to absorb into the dough
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Once set, roll 2 tablespoons of dough at a time into a ball, compressing as needed to form. Roll each ball in a bowl with your remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar, and place on a cookie sheet about an inch apart
- Once your dough is rolled, use your thumb to press an indent into the center of each cookie; be careful not to push all the way through. Because this is a dry dough, it will likely crack a bit as you make your indent. Just use your fingers to press the edges back together
- Bake for 15 minutes. At the halfway mark, remove your cookies from the oven and use a teaspoon to re-form the indent as it will have likely puffed up a bit as the cookies baked. Rotate your tray and place the cookies back in the oven for the remainder of their baking time. They will still be pale, but the bottoms will be lightly golden. You want your shortbread to have a lovely chew in the middle, so don’t overbake these!
- Cool on a wire rack completely
- While your cookies cool, place your raspberries in a small pot over medium-low heat. Stir and start to mash them up with a spoon, cooking them down by half. When it’s ready, you should be able to run your spoon through the middle of your mixture to form a line, without the mixture running back together. Turn off the heat and pour your raspberries through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Use a spoon to press out any extra raspberry juice – you just want to catch the seeds here. Throw away the seeds and set the mixture aside to cool
- Once your cookies are cool, place your chopped white chocolate in an even layer in a heat-proof bowl. In a small pot, add your heavy cream and place it on the stove over medium heat. Once the liquid begins to steam and has a few bubbles around the edge, immediately pour over your chopped white chocolate. Cover the bowl with a lid or plate and let sit for 5 minutes before removing the lid and whisking until smooth. Fold in your raspberry puree as much or as little as you want to. I like a swirled look, so I just briefly fold it through
- Spoon a little bit of ganache into each thumbprint and top with any extra lavender and/or pieces of fresh raspberries
- Allow the ganache to set in your thumbprints for at least an hour before enjoying!
