Swedish Thumbprint Cookies



 I have been wanting to bake some new cookies for Tony but can't really find cookies that I wanted to bake (cos I wanted something simple) and something that both Tony and I like to eat. Suddenly, I remembered Hari Raya is just around the corner.  My muslims friends and ex-colleagues used to bring alot of home-made cookies to share during this festive period and I really miss those cookies. So internet is the place where I can source for Traditional Hari Raya Cookies.

But what is Hari Raya ?

Hari Raya Aidilfitri (also known as Hari Raya Lebaran, Hari Raya Idul Fitri, and Hari Raya Puasa, literally “Celebration Day of Fasting”) is the Malay term for the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr or Id-ul-Fitr.

It is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan / Ramadhan, the Islamic holy month of “Puasa” (fasting). The holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period. It is celebrated starting on the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal / Syawal.

On this day, Muslims all over the world offer a special prayer in the morning and later visit their relatives and friends. The young will seek forgiveness from elders for their past misconduct.

I am going to bake this Swedish Thumbprint Cookies adapted from here. 

Ingredients:
225g Butter, softened
100g Castor Sugar
250g Plain Flour, sifted
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence 
Enough strawberry jam (I used some chocolate chips on the Fillings)

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
 2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add sifted flour and vanilla essence, and mix well.

3. Shape dough into 1/2 inch diameter balls and place on a lined cookie sheets. (Place the cookies with gap apart else the cookies will end up sticking together just like mine. That is why my cookies do not looked nice and round. The recipe I adapted should look round and nice.)
4. Tab your thumb with some flour before you imprint your thumb in the center to make an indentation.
5. Fill with your favorite jam or preserves.
6. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.
7. Remove to cool on wire rack.

Some suggestion after my 1st attempt - Maybe you can try to put the filling of jam or chocolate chips into the centre of the ball and shape it into a ball, which means that the filling is inside the dough and not on top of the dough.

The cookies may not looked good in term of appearance but it was delicious and most importantly, it's really simple to bake which is the plus point! I will definitely bake it again!