Strawberry Jam Pineapple Thumbprint Cookies (aka the Christmas Napalm Cookies)

Want to bake unique, delicious Holiday cookies this year? You will love the recipe below for our family favorite: Strawberry Jame Pineapple Thumbprint Cookies. (Just don’t injure yourself like I did- Read on!)

My husband I both grew up in households with overachieving mothers who loved to bake, ESPECIALLY during the Holidays. We had a gorgeous multi-tiered silver cookie tray that came out every year and was loaded with at least a dozen different types of Christmas cookies. Looking back, I am in awe. How did my mother handle that every year while having child baking assistants who were more into flinging sprinkles at each other and eating the dough?

I still feel that deep need each year to bake multiple batches of Holiday cookies though it often stresses me out. Don’t get me wrong, I can be a great baker (I certainly had lots of practice as a kid), but there is something about baking under perceived pressure that makes things go a bit awry. This year, I wanted to send some cookies over to the neighbors to say thank you for sending us Christmas dinner, as we don’t have any family around during the Winter months. So I selected my favorite recipe from my childhood Christmases to make- Strawberry Jam Pineapple Thumbprint Cookies.

These are THE BEST thumbprint cookies ever. The dough has crushed pineapple in it, which make the cookies so tasty when set off with a dollop of strawberry jam on top.

The dough came out perfect, and even better once I placed it in the refrigerator to firm up over night.

So then it was time to make the cookies and bake them. I couldn’t remember how much strawberry jam to put in them as I hadn’t made these in several years, but as we made the cookies, I told my husband to make sure there was a good thumbprint in each cookie and to go sparingly with the jam. Well, we still overestimated on the jam. Maybe it was because we were baking on Pampered Chef Stoneware baking sheets? Once the stoneware was hot and cranking, the strawberry jam overflowed like mini volcanoes on most of the first sheet of cookies and boiled on the stoneware.

Before the whole thing cooled and stuck together I quickly tried to get the cookies moved off the stoneware sheet and onto the cooling racks. Well, I moved a little too quickly. I slid the cookies onto the baking sheet and then managed to get boiling jam stuck to my finger. I screamed and ran to the sink to run my finger under cold water. And in classic McMahon style, my husband ran to the freezer and grabbed the only ice pack he could find- one the size on my back. So I am standing there with my finger wrapped in a GIANT ice pack while trying to direct my hubby to finish the cookie rescue operation.

Needless to say I have a blister on my finger and thanks to my husband, laughing at me, my favorite recipe, the Strawberry Jam Pineapple Cookies, will forever be known as the Christmas Napalm Cookies.

Here’s the recipe…Proceed with caution but they are still REALLY, REALLY good!

Strawberry Jam Pineapple Thumbprint Cookies

2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
½ cup crushed pineapple, well-drained
1 t. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
Strawberry Jam

Cream the butter, then add sugar and eggs and beat. Stir in drained pineapple and vanilla.

Sift together flour, soda, powder and salt. Add and blend into dough.

Chill dough. Drop on well-greased baking sheet. Press finger in top and fill with dab of Strawberry jam.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes (bottoms should just start to brown). Makes 4 dozen cookies.

(If using stoneware baking sheets, remember the time varies based on how fast your baking sheet heats up, so make sure to watch and adjust times appropriately. Also, if you leave items on your sheet after they come out of the oven, the stoneware will continue to bake them because it retains so much heat).