Lemon, Raspberry, Cream Cheese, Cookies…what’s not to love with this combination?

I bought a good number of different ingredients right at the holidays in order to do some massive baking to take to my family Christmas weekend…and the baking never happened.  So at home sat a variety of yummy things just begging to be used–but I didn’t want what I planned for back in December…I wanted something lighter and more “fresh” tasting.  (I don’t know if that really makes sense, but it sounded good in my head.)

I couldn’t find a recipe I really liked, so I did what I sometimes do and I made my own!  The Lemon Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies were born.  And trust me, they don’t disappoint!  I have some pictures of the process below…with the full recipe at the bottom of the post.  Enjoy!  Oh, and be ready to eat a lot of them…

The ingredients are pretty simple–lemon cake mix, vanilla extract/flavoring, lemon juice, an egg, cream cheese, butter, and seedless raspberry jam.

You start by basically whipping the cream cheese and butter…which quite frankly I could have eaten by itself…

It’s up to you whether or not you want to chill the dough before you start working with it–I didn’t, and it turned out fine.  Just a little sticky!  Form the dough into approximately 1-inch balls, and then pat them semi-flat (in other words, make them look more like a cookie and not a ball).

Take your thumb, or any thumb nearby, and make an indention in the top of the cookies.

Add your jam to the indentions.  Or like I said in the photo, JAM ON!

Bake them for 8-10 minutes (or 12-14 if you have my oven) and be prepared to enjoy their deliciousness!

Now for the recipe…

Lemon Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Makes: 2-3 Dozen                                                Preheat Oven to 375º

Ingredients:

• 1 – 8 ounce Package of Cream Cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup of Butter, at room temperature
• 1 – 18 ounce Box of Lemon Cake Mix
• 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of Seedless Raspberry Jam

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375º
• Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy
• Gradually add half (1/2) of the cake mix, vanilla, lemon juice, and the egg until dough is smooth
• Stir in the remaining half (1/2) of the cake mix
• Chill the dough for 15-30 minutes in the refrigerator (optional)
• Form dough into 1-inch round balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets
• Pat the balls into a slightly flat cookie shape
• Using your thumb, create an indention in the top of each cookie
• Spoon the seedless raspberry jam into each indention, begin careful not to spill over the edges of the cookie
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the bottom edges begin to brown slightly
• Cool for a few minutes on baking sheets before removing them to wire racks to cool completely

And this is what you’ll be rewarded with when you’re all through!  Trust me, they are really good!!!

Please let me know if you decide to make them, and let me know what you think when you’re done!  What would you do to improve them?  Do you have any great homemade cookie recipes to share?

Thanks for stopping by!

 ***I looked at a good number of recipes in order to come up with mine, but here is a basic one that I found and used in my adaptation.***