Mincemeat Oatmeal Thumbprints

Christmas Cookie #3! One of my greatest sadness is that mincemeat isn’t something that is around all the time. I suppose I understand if you don’t like raisins, and don’t want to deal with mincemeat, but otherwise, I don’t really worry a lot about seasonality. Our local British shop does make and sell mince pies all year round, and I usually have some mincemeat in the refrigerator, so I am never at a loss.

This year, my husband purchased a couple of varieties of mincemeat from Marks & Spencer, which thankfully we can get shipped to the States. These thumbprint cookies used the classic mincemeat, but we also have brandy and clementine mincemeat that we will use for other recipes. This didn’t use very much mincemeat, so I have some left over for another purpose. I would like to try making my own mincemeat, but I haven’t had the time to do that yet.

From starting out not being the biggest fan of thumbprint cookies, I have grown to love them. Making an oatmeal cookie into a thumbprint is a great idea, and the oat balances the sweetness of the mincemeat. When you shape the thumbprint, you have to hold on to the dough and reshape it into a circle after making the indentation. That makes a rustic looking cookie, which is fine by me! The oat cookie is crunchy, but the mincemeat maintains its softness, which makes for a wonderful holiday cookie.

Mincemeat Oatmeal Thumbprints
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
About ½ cup mincemeat

In a large mixer bowl, add the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until combined. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again on medium to incorporate. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the oat/flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate an hour, or overnight.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 24 pieces, forming a ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Flatten the balls slightly and make an indentation in the center of each with your thumb or similar implement. Fill each indentation with about 1 teaspoon of mincemeat.

Bake for 11-13 minutes, until the cookies start to brown along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from A Pretty Life