Chocolate Thumbprints

This recipe comes from a blog called Elizabeth's Edible Experience and has been on my to try list forever. It is originally a Martha Stewart recipe so you know it's good! John has been working such long hours and I have been alone all night EVERY night (pity party for one please!) so I decided to bake something for him to take to work tomorrow. I had all the ingredients for this recipe on hand and figured why not.

Now... As a first grade teacher I am ashamed to admit this... but I didn't read the directions well (::bows head in shame::). If I had I would have realized that the batter only called for 1 stick of butter with the extra 1/2 stick being mixed into the chocolate... however, I did exactly what I tell my students not to do and skimmed the directions and just got to work!! However, even with my mistake, I thought these were EXCELLENT! The extra butter made the cookies even more delicate and delicious. I did catch my mistake early so I added a little extra butter to the chocolate mixture. These came out exactly as I imagined and were great!



Ingredients
Makes 2 dozen

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together 1 stick butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium high.

Roll dough by teaspoonfuls into balls, and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press thumb into tops of cookies to make indentations. (Elizabeth used a wine cork, I used the outside of a teaspoon measuring spoon)

Return to oven, and bake until light brown on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Combine chocolate, 4 tablespoons butter, and corn syrup in a small heat-proof bowl.

Set over a pot of simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth.

Allow to cool slightly. When cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture.