Honey-Roasted Peanut Thumbprints Recipe (2024)

By Melissa Clark

Honey-Roasted Peanut Thumbprints Recipe (1)

Total Time
25 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
4(523)
Notes
Read community notes

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich in cookie form, these nostalgic treats are just as appealing to grown-ups as they are to kids. Using a combination of honey-roasted and salted peanuts gives them a sweet-salty complexity, while a shot of citrus zest adds brightness. Feel free to substitute other jam flavors for Concord grape. But don’t use jelly: It’s too thin and will melt right out of the cookies as they bake.

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Ingredients

Yield:About 3 dozen cookies

  • 1⅔cups/230 grams chopped honey-roasted peanuts
  • 2cups/250 grams all-purpose flour
  • ½cup/110 grams dark brown sugar
  • ½teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), cold and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 2large eggs, separated
  • 1tablespoon vanilla extract
  • teaspoons lemon or orange zest
  • cup/95 grams chopped salted, roasted peanuts (or use more honey-roasted peanuts)
  • About ½ cup/160 grams Concord grape jam (or other thick jam)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (36 servings)

153 calories; 10 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 54 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Honey-Roasted Peanut Thumbprints Recipe (2)

Preparation

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them.

  2. Step

    2

    In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together 1 cup peanuts and ½ cup flour until the nuts are coarsely ground. Pulse in remaining flour, sugar, salt and nutmeg, then add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pulse in the egg yolks, vanilla extract and zest. Continue to pulse until the dough is well combined and starts to clump (but doesn’t form a ball).

  3. Step

    3

    Working with 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, form the mixture into 1-inch balls.

  4. Step

    4

    Put the egg whites in a shallow bowl, then beat them lightly with a fork until frothy. Put the remaining ⅔ cup chopped honey-roasted peanuts in another shallow bowl, and stir in the salted, roasted peanuts.

  5. Step

    5

    Dunk each ball of dough first in egg whites, then in the nuts, rolling to coat the balls well. Place the balls on the baking sheets 2 inches apart. Using your thumb, press an indentation in the center of each round of dough.

  6. Step

    6

    Using a small spoon (an espresso spoon works well), fill the indentations with jam. Bake until the edges of the cookies are just golden, 12 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Ratings

4

out of 5

523

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Cooking Notes

Carolyn R.

Can these cookies be made in advance and frozen?

Maureen M Thompson

If you fill indentations after cooking no worries about jam or jelly. Just make sure indentation is deep enough so that it will hold jelly after cooking as they expand a bit

Laura

Stacking and shipping jam-filled thumbprints can be challenging as the jam tends to stick to other cookies and packing materials. I have found that putting chopped nuts/coconut/etc (depending on the flavors involved) on top of the jam before backing gives just enough "height" above the jam filling to prevent sticking when stacking/packing thumbprints.

christina

Very tasty. Do not omit the salt - really adds dimension to the roasted honey taste.

Aleta Kennedy

I would add that the chopped peanuts reserved for rolling on the outside of the dough need to be FINELY chopped and 2/3 of a cup wasn't nearly enough for the way I roll, apparently :)

Noelle

I am happy to report to the other commenters that you can refrigerate the rolled balls, pre-egg white wash and nuts; I did so for 24 hrs and allowed them to soften for 30 minutes or so before trying to make the thumb print and fill. They turned out great!Question for NYT: I found the orange zest to be a bit off putting. What is the reason for zest in a peanut butter cookie?

Bell

I take cookies out when half baked. Then add “thumbprint” with a spoon and jelly or jam. The cookies will need 1-2 more minutes baking because not only did the cookies cool, but also the oven cooled from opening it.

JS

I found the cookies to be dry, crumbly and flavorless. I kept revisiting the recipe while prepping to make sure I had not forgotten an ingredient - the dough was very dry, didn't feel right from the start.The directions were confusing. There are two types of nuts, but Step 2 refers to "peanuts", not specifying type. Step 5 refers to "nuts". Directions typically state up front that you need to separate an ingredient into separate portions (1 c and 2/3 c).

Isil

I am surprised to hear people find this lacking flavor. I made it with exactly the ingredients listed, but instead of pulsing butter and flour ( thought it would make a very flakey pie like dough which I did not want to) I mixed the ingredients in a usual cookie fashion. Butter and sugar creamed, ground peanuts, eggs and flour at last. The result was a smooth peanut colored and shaped dough. It was easy to shape, and the cookies came out beautiful. I omitted orange zest, and filled w/ plum jam.

gregg

This recipe really didn’t work out. The cookies themselves are very bland, and the dough does not hold up to being prepped for jam. I ended up with a bunch of peanut balls.Doubt I will cook this again, but I would recommend forming the cookies flat, not as balls.

MRB

I’m filing these “fussy but worth it.” They really are not very sweet and I found the orange zest added a lot of depth. I DO NOT have a large food processor. I chopped the first cup of honey roasted peanuts in my small processor until it was almost a butter and then added to my stand mixer and did the rest on low speed in the mixer. It worked great.

Laurie

I used some leftover chunky peanut butter that dried out and some leftover mixed nuts chopped finely for the coating. Came out great

Ards

This is in dire need of more sugar, possibly 1 full cup packed brown sugar or 1/2 C. white sugar plus the 1/2 C of brown sugar called for. Otherwise, a delicious crunchy cookie.

Ingrid de Meur

I just made these and definitely chop the nuts for coating very fine (which I did not do). Also I put them in the fridge for half an hour before starting the coating process. Much easier to work with that way.

BST

Made these as part of my holiday cookie giveaway. I found some chile-spiced peanuts at one of the local Asian grocery stores (sold in snack-sized bags near the checkout register) and added them to the mix of peanuts for rolling the dough balls in. It added an interesting dimension and just the smallest bit of heat. I’d make these again, even though it was a bit of work, because I’m tired of the cream cheese cookie dough for thumbprints.

Mary

We've got a few "must have" holiday cookies and the rest are always trying something new. I'm not sure where these will end up. First, I dare you to make these in 25 minutes! That's about how long it takes to clean the kitchen after. They really came together fine other than being too large a batch to fit in my food processor. I made 44 cookies and would not want them any larger than that. If made them again I'd use salted butter for a more peanut buttery taste.

Allie

I used the base cookie recipe, and it's amazing. So delicious. I used almonds instead of peanuts, because that's what I had. Also used lemon curd and apple cider jam for the filling,again because that's what I had. Came out beautifully. I added an extra egg yolk to the dough because I'm at high altitude. Super easy recipe, and I will be making again.

Doug

I had to substitute Butter Toffee peanuts because I could not source honey roasted. I also forgot to add the brown sugar (oops!) but they taste ok given the amount of sugar from the nuts and jam. It’s probably why I had so much trouble with the baking time.The orange zest is really nice. I may try it in another peanut butter cookie recipe in the future!

Alison

These were quite good, but not entirely worth the effort. I found them too rich and shortbread-like, with not enough to balance the butter. I'd suggest modifying an existing peanut butter cookie recipe by adding whole peanuts, and using that dough onward.

Fran

These were great; melted in the mouth. I used Bonne Maman Intense strawberry jam and it worked well. Upped the salt a bit to get that sweet/salty combo.

Olivia

I'm not sure why the comments beneath this recipe lean negative because these are so tasty! They have a really nice chewy texture and taste like PB&J--the lemon zest brings out the flavor really nicely. I am a student and do not have a food processor so I crushed the peanuts and cut in the butter by hand in a bowl and they turned out great.

Dianne W.

Very bland.......no peanuty taste at all. Will not make again.

Glen Forrester

I made these for Christmas and everyone loved them! What surprised me the most was how people commented on how beautiful they were as well.

Ann G.

A question for Ms. Clark. This recipe uses regular roasted and salted peanuts and honey roasted peanuts. Is it fair to assume the peanuts in step 2 are regular peanuts only? Or are they a combination of the honey roasted and salted peanuts?I liked this recipe. The cookies are tasty. I found that if I chopped the nuts beyond coarsely for step 4, they stick to the cookie better.

Amanda

Easy enough to make with kids. Very good but made only 20 cookies.

Kate

These are so incredibly delicious. I was skeptical about the orange zest but glad I trusted it. It’s not a peanut butter cookie. It’s so very much more.

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Honey-Roasted Peanut Thumbprints Recipe (2024)
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