Strawberry Heart Thumbprint Cookies

Strawberry Jam

1. Add the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a medium-sized heavy bottom pot and heat over low, stirring so the sugar dissolves. Turn heat up to medium-high bringing it all to a boil. Gently mash the strawberries and stir often as it cooks and thickens. It will be ready when it reaches 221 degrees. Add to mason jars and let cool before storing in the fridge and using.

Cookies

1. Cream Butter and Sugar: Add butter and sugar to a medium sized bowl and use a hand mixer to cream. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract and whisk for another 30 seconds.
2. Add Flour: Add flour and salt to a small bowl and mix. Add to creamed dough and mix until well combined.
3. Chill: Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.
4. Preheat Oven: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with either parchment paper or a cookie baking mat.
5. Roll Dough: Roll out the dough into 1 inch balls, approximately 16.
6. Coat with Almonds: Add egg white to a small bowl and whisk. Roll each dough ball in the egg white and then in the chopped sliced almonds and return to the baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes.
7. Thumbprints: Remove the tray from the oven and quickly use your thumbs or fingers to press into the dough balls at an angle from the center of the dough ball on one side of the ball and then another angle from the center on the other side of the dough ball to create a heart shape. Reshape the cookie as needed to get the heart indent and shape as desired.
8. Final Bake: Return the tray to the oven for the final bake of 8 minutes.
9. Fill with Jam: Remove the tray from the oven and let the cookies cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before using a small spoon to fill the heart indents with the strawberry jam.
10. Enjoy!